Glenn Greenwald - I was so wrong on Palin

[RamboLiberal]

Three weeks ago -- before Sarah Palin's interview with Charlie Gibson was announced -- I mocked the idea that the McCain campaign was afraid to have Palin face our mighty press corps....

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I was so wrong about that -- the parts about Palin, that is, not the press (though, in fairness, Gibson was far more adversarial than I expected and Katie Couric was even better). Just watch these clips from her interview last night with Katie Couric. I'll be honest: watching this, I actually felt sorry for Sarah Palin:

I still think Palin is probably perfectly smart. And in this age of dynastic and nepotistic political power centers in both parties, I admire the fact that she created her political career out of nothing, with no parental connections or vast family wealth assisting her (the fact that Barack Obama did the same thing was, in my view, one of the very few meaningful differences between him and Hillary Clinton). I still think her selection was a very politically shrewd move by the McCain campaign. And I remain largely unbothered by her so-called "lack of experience" for the same reason that this has never bothered me about Obama -- someone's judgment, intellect and views are infinitely more important than how long they've held various political posts, and the fact that someone largely exists outside the Washington establishment is, in my view, a positive -- the further away the better. In fact, one of the most disappointing (though not surprising) aspects of Obama's candidacy is how quickly and completely he's morphed into a standard Washington establishment candidate.

But Sarah Palin's performance in the tiny vignettes of unscripted dialogue in which we've been allowed to see her has been nothing short of frightening -- really, as I said, pity-inducing. And I say that as someone who has thought from the start that the criticisms of her abilities -- as opposed to her ideology -- were much too extreme. One of two things is absolutely clear at this point: she is either (a) completely ignorant about the most basic political issues -- a vacant, ill-informed, incurious know-nothing, or (b) aggressively concealing her actual beliefs about these matters because she's petrified of deviating from the simple-minded campaign talking points she's been fed and/or because her actual beliefs are so politically unpalatable, even when taking into account the right-wing extremism that is permitted, even rewarded, in our mainstream. I'm not really sure which is worse, but it doesn't really matter, because with 40 days left before the election, both options are heinous.

What seems most likely is that she's perfectly conversant in the exceedingly narrow and parochial range of issues she's concerned herself with as Wasilla Mayor and Alaska Governor -- oil drilling on the North Slope, specific local budget items, corruption issues inside the Alaskan State GOP, and evangelical and religious matters. She really doesn't seem to have any thoughts about anything outside of that -- or if she does, she is suppressing them -- and is thus capable of spouting little more than empty right-wing slogans. That's what makes all the issues raised by the excellent on-scene reporting by Salon's David Talbot more significant than it otherwise might be -- she could be a religious fanatic with an extremist agenda, or a power-crazed, vendetta-fueled, secrecy-obsessed Cheney-ite, or something else altogether. She may not even know what she is, and we're clearly not going to find out.

I've also thought for the last several weeks that people like Andrew Sullivan were being unduly critical of the McCain campaign's Palin media strategy. That strategy didn't strike me as particularly unusual or alarming. It's common for campaigns to be selective about their chosen interviewers, and it didn't strike me as significant -- or bothersome -- that they wanted to give Palin some time to acclimate to the national scene and prepare herself before submitting to standard press questions. I was wrong about that, too.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/25/palin/

[BlooInBloo]

1. "I still think Palin is probably perfectly smart" - BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[anigbrowl]

2. Bullshit. She's a product of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum

I mean there's only 675,000 people in Alaska. That's less than a lot of congressional districts. Getting her elected as governor was a breeze for a national political organization, even one run by wingnuts. She's a pure Manchurian candidate, and the GOP campaign was cranking the bullshit meters as high as they would go so she could just talk about bullshit topics. Now this economic crash has come along and she can't string a sentence together.

[OmahaBlueDog]

9. Exactly. She is there to fire up the GOP base on the wedge issues

The GOP knows they have nothing else to run on

[Cha]

4. I know..whatever Glen. And, I'd never feel sorry

for someone like palin.

[hamsterjill]

33. Me either.

I'm not going to feel sorry for her.

I don't think she is particularly smart in any respect. Average, maybe, if even that.

I think she's just good at being a bully and so far, she's gotten away with it.

[dkf]

5. I think she is smart enough, if she is interested in it.

But she has no intellectual curiousity.

Moreover, they have crushed her self confidence. She is no longer the same person we saw at the convention.

[BlooInBloo]

6. She's every bit as smart now as her 5 schools in 6 years suggests that she is.

[dkf]

12. That little factoid does make me wonder about her.

[CakeGrrl]

18. College-hopping is a red flag

and she's lucky that she isn't getting Obama-level media scrutiny, because that's worth raising questions about.

I'm not an educator (like my sister with whom I've discussed this), but I could tell you - and she confirms it - that there's something wrong with someone who needs to change schools so often to eke out a single undergrad degree. If only someone had vetted her records or investigated her reasons for transfer...

[chatnoir]

25. Has anything regarding her academic records come out apart from that?

5 colleges in 6 yrs is a big red flag in and of itself - can't believe more hasn't come out on her in this regard.

[Zodiak]

27. Just for the record

I had a long string of colleges, myself.

TAMUG
Galveston College
University of Houston
Washburn University
Midwestern State University
Ohio State University

I didn't get my undergrad until Midwestern. Mom got laid-off from her job and had to quit TAMUG, paid my own way to an A.A.S. at Galveston college....went to UofH for a couple of semesters before I moved to Kansas (Washburn), had a heart attack and had to work for years to pay off my student loans so I could attend MSU and get my undergrad degree. Got my Masters there, too.

And I got my Ph.D. at Ohio State University. I am an entomological physiologist.

So I've done the rounds. What I think is more important than the number of universities is the actual performance at said universities. People have some really screwed up life histories that necessitate a change of venue.

But I want to know what lil' miss prissy-pants got for grades. For me, there was hardly a B in my entire record. I would wager that she performed at the Pretzeldunce's level of performance.

[chatnoir]

38. lol I think I need to look up "entomological physiologist"

You've worked insanely hard, I'm sure. Her, I really doubt it. You ended up getting a PhD which is no mean feat. Somehow I think they would be shouting it from the rooftops if she ever had good grades, not to mention honor roll or high ranking, the way they always bring up her being point guard on the HS basketball team.

It would be interesting to know what kind of grades she was pulling in. Of course things happen in life and sometimes it necessitates transfers but in her case I think it is indicative of sth else. She has 0 intellectual curiosity nor any interest in the world around her. I would be surprised if all the transfers were due to life difficulties/circumstances and not mainly that she was a poor/unmotivated/directionless student.

Also, 2 of the 5 schools she attended are 2 yr community colleges AFAIK which makes one wonder also about grades and probation. Her schools with the dates:

Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu - Fall 1982, Business Administration
North Idaho College (a 2 yr community college), Coeur d'Alene - Spring & Fall 1983, General Studies
University of Idaho, Moscow - Fall 1984 to Spring 1985
Matanuska-Susitna College (another community college), Palmer, AK - Fall 1985
University of Idaho, Moscow - Spring 1986 to Spring 1987, Journalism, specialty Broadcast News

Her bio Sarah states she also first attended the University of Hawaii at Hilo after HS but left after several weeks due to the rain (?). The school registrar has no record that she ever enrolled, however. From: http://letustalk.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/sarah-palin-attended-5-different-colleges-in-6-years-before-receiving-degree/

Palin, the governor of Alaska, first went to the University of Hawaii at Hilo in 1982 after high school, staying only a few weeks because of the constant rain, AP said, citing the biography “Sarah” by Kaylene Johnson. The school has no enrollment record for Palin, AP said.

Palin, then known as Sarah Louise Heath, enrolled at Hawaii Pacific University in the fall of 1982, and switched to North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene for two semesters in 1983, AP said. Palin then attended the University of Idaho in the fall of 1984 and the spring of 1985, moving to Matanuska-Susitna College in Palmer, Alaska, for the 1985 fall semester, according to AP. Is this a classic case of failing upwards?

She returned to University of Idaho in 1986, AP said. Palin earned a Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987, according to a biography on her Web site.

Federal privacy laws prohibit the schools from disclosing her grades, and none of the schools contacted by The Associated Press could say why she transferred. There was no indication any were contacted as part of the background investigation of Palin by presidential candidate John McCain’s campaign.

“Our office was not contacted by anyone,” said Tania Thompson, spokeswoman for the University of Idaho in Moscow. Palin was born in Idaho and her family moved when she was only a few months old to Alaska, where she was raised.

According to a biography — “Sarah” by Kaylene Johnson — Palin and three friends went to the University of Hawaii at Hilo after graduation from high school in Alaska in 1982. But they left after a few weeks because of the constant rain there, the book said.

The registrar at Hawaii-Hilo has no record that she ever enrolled, school officials said Thursday.

[Iris]

16. who is "they"?

[dkf]

23. Her handlers.

Whoever is trying to mold her into a VP Candidate.

[Kalyke]

32. No intellectual curiosity.

She's Bush with lipstick. Period.

[RichGirl]

7. The way they have been padding her resume...

...hockey mom, PTA, point guard in high school...you know that if she got really good grades in school or college we would know it.
Nothing she has said thus far shows any indication of intelligence.

[Iris]

17. the way you put it, she sounds like a real "man's man" Well, excpet for the hockey mom part

and the PTA stuff...

[chill_wind]

31. Very true-- we would know it.

[Liberal Gramma]

35. Exactly!

If there was any substance in her resume, they'd be bragging about it. Having to mention hockey mom, PTA, point guard....that's filler to hide the lack of qualifications we'd be looking for if we were hiring an office manager, let alone a VP.

[Orsino]

24. She was smart enough to build her little Wasilla Mafia...

...and to take it with her to Juneau, there to keep the government in line with bullying and petty vendettas.

Yes, she has a kind of smarts similar to *'s, and perhaps even more of it. She's not had a chance to build a national power structure, though, so we are seeing her now without her safety net--and borrowing McCain's. She's failing because she hasn't been allowed a chance to do the only thing she's any good at (besides looking pretty).

[Cosmocat]

34. Yeah ... if it is funny how MSM types ...

have to put in SOME hair brained, obligatory nod before they simply state the truth about republicans ...

She simply is the most backbiting, aggressive fish in a small and REALLY murky pond that is Alaska politics. You don't have to be "smart" to get where she has gotten, just an R in a heavy R state, and being more of a snake than anyone else.

[crossroads]

37. I agree! Well said... nt

[democracy1st]

3. yea Glenn you were wrong alright,who on earth couldn't see thru that BS

[derby378]

8. Glenn should just retire and take up a new hobby in a quiet rural neighborhood...

...and thus make way for some objective journalists who can see Slappy the Dodo Bird for the political and intellectual travesty she really is.

[barack the house]

10. He just sounds like he didn't do his research on Palin and gave her too much credit with R after>

the name it's usually trouble.

[obiwan]

11. There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity.

Sarah Palin is ignorant. Deliberately ignorant.

[Bravo Zulu]

20. There's nothing more dangerous than

"stupid and mean" posing as "smart and diplomatic".

[A-Schwarzenegger]

13. She's no more dumber than a lots of other people that runs things.

:*

[genna]

14. Let me ask why he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt when her credentials were known

and knowable before she ever started lifting her 'opinion' up for public scrutiny.

This woman is not competent for the Presidency nor does it seem like she is knowledgeable enough to govern a state in this union.

The fact that these big meanie media types don't want to call out her deficiencies means that the entire industry needs to be given sensitivity training on competence.

[arewenotdemo]

15. Smart enough to believe in Jesus horses.

[chatnoir]

26. Er, "jesus horses"? Dare I even ask?

:dunce:

[arewenotdemo]

36. dinosaurs

http://www.wikiality.com/Dinosaurs

:)

[chatnoir]

39. OMG lol

Now don't I feel :dunce:

[jeanpalmer]

19. IMO Couric andGibson were way too easy on her

They pinned her down on a few obscure issues, that made her look really simple-minded and not ready, but most of it was very nuanced -- not to us, but to the average American. My guess is the average American thought she answered just fine.

What they failed to do was to delve into more troubling aspects of her. Like her religion. Anyone watching that Pastor Muthee video where she looks like she's in a trance and the pastor is trying to drive demons out of her and get her elected can only conclude she belongs to a cult. She needs to be called on that. That's way outside the mainstream of what the average American will accept. Show the video to her and have her comment on it. Also, her book banning episode. Why did she do it. Does she really believe that attitude is acceptable. And sending our soldiers into war as a "mission from God." How does she know it's God's will to go to war? Who told her?

Like I said, they were easy on her.

[underpants]

21. Couric bailed her out when Palin was clearly out of it

Couric gave her "mocked" and if she hadn't we could have very well had a long span of dead air.

[tavalon]

22. Uh-oh, now she'll get the pity vote!

[daggahead]

28. Some of those on the right are trying to say this:

We (Dems) have been told that:

Sara Palin cut funding for special needs students.

Sara Palin cut funding for pregnant teens.

They are saying:

she actually nearly tripled funding for special needs students as part of an overall education budgeting reform.

she actually more than tripled funding for pregnant teens.

Can anybody refute these rightie claims with actual citations from Alaska's newspapers or government sites?

Thanks!

[Kolesar]

29. Greenwald was wrong about the Dems supporting "the bailout" , too...eom

[Warren Stupidity]

30. dynastic and nepotistic political power centers in both parties

Like the OBAMA dynasty? WTF? Senator Clinton lost in the primaries, the dynastic problem is all over on your side Glenn. Take your Mea Culpa and Fuck Off. Take Andrew Sullivan with you.

"I still think Palin is probably perfectly smart" - no Glenn, she is Miss Teen South Carolina and she would be president if the ailing Gramps gets himself elected.

"nothing short of frightening -- really, as I said, pity-inducing" - make up your mind. You understand that she would be in charge after Gramps kicks the bucket? Pity? Wtf?

I'll get right back t'ya aboot da restaya essay Glenn.

Country First? Oh Really?