The depths of Palin's ignorance

[babylonsister]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/oct/01/campos-out-of-control-populism/

CAMPOS: Out-of-control populism
By Paul Campos, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published October 1, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.


snip//

If Palin knows anything at all about national politics or foreign affairs or history or economics or almost anything else one would want a president to know something about, she has till now kept that fact remarkably well hidden.

She is, in other words, the ultimate representative of a kind of out-of-control populism. In its more extreme forms, populist resentment of elites flows from the belief that any ordinary person knows enough to be a good political leader, since political leadership is all about having the right values, and good character, and a pure heart.

This is of course nonsense. It makes about as much sense as saying that performing open-heart surgery or piloting a jumbo jet is all about having the right values.

McCain and his advisers know this, which is why they've spent the last month trying to stuff Sarah Palin full of plausible sound bites of information, so she can at least pretend to know what she's talking about when she's asked questions about the federal government or foreign policy or economics or history, etc.

It's a cynical and incredibly reckless strategy, especially given McCain's age and precarious health. (McCain's odds of dying of natural causes in the next four years are, conservatively speaking, at least one in seven).

It's a sign of how successfully political know-nothingism has been exploited in America that it's even necessary to say this: To do a decent job, the president of the United States needs to be vastly more educated and knowledgeable than the average American.

This is a necessary, though far from sufficient, requirement. And, as Palin's cringe-inducing performance on the national stage illustrates, there are plenty of politicians who are no more qualified to be president than I am to be an NBA power forward.

Consider that the most recent of Tina Fey's hilarious yet horrifying Saturday Night Live parodies of Palin included merely repeating, word for word, one of Palin's rambling and nonsensical answers to CBS interviewer Katie Couric's questions.

That fact by itself ought to disqualify John McCain from the office he seeks.

[dipsydoodle]

1. Her ignorance

knows no depths.

of topic because I think you will know the answer - what time EST is the vote ?

[11 Bravo]

2. She is a veritable Mariana Trench of stupidity.

She is the Challenger Deep of dumb ass.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. did you see what the British person had to say in the comments?!

it was priceless!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7265820&mesg_id=7265820