as if Obama's victory wasn't sweet enough, we get the extra delight of watching Sarah Palin implode.

i wondered if she had any decent political instincts, and now we can see she doesn't--instead of returning to Alaska quietly, to lick her wounds and bide her time, only to try and roar back in a couple of years, she simply HAD TO try and refute all these stories, thereby keeping the bad news cycle going.

if she thinks she's going to be President and will never have to deal with a tough or "unfair" Press, she is in for a RUDE awakening.

Just like two kids in elementary school wordfight! "Did too, did not! I know you are but what I am!"

Yoou know the drill!

She nailed the immature right except it's on both sides!

Palin: "and about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there"

Sounds to me like she thinks Africa is both a continent and a country...

Ah, but can she spell Africa?

Shorter Palin: Since I can't refute the allegations, I want to know who the messengers are. I'll bet they're just more corrupt Republicans.

"if they came away with it taking things out of context and then tried to spread something on national news. It is not fair and not right."

[yoda voice]the irony is strong with this one...[/yoda voice]

gotta love when the attack dog doesn't do so well when it gets bit on the tail...

This whole mess has a very 'schoolyard' quality to it. Obviously it is satisfying to watch different heads of the Republican Hydra nip and hiss at each other but the main raction I have is relief. Relief that these people are out of power and will no longer be steering the ship.

She has such a peculiar speaking style, especially when she's speaking off the cuff. The syntax is jumbled and disorganized. I don't think it's intentional, rather it appears to be that thing stupid people do to try and sound smart. It's voodoo. Speak long enough and vaguely enough and be pretty doing it and be overly confident and you can get by without too much criticism. It works (or worked well enough within Alaskan politics) because the listener isn't quite sure what she said.

Bash Palin all you like but never forget it was mccain wh picked her and would have put her one heart beat from the presidency.

When I heard this initially, my first thought was - Hmmm, wonder if that's true. Republicans will lie about what they had for lunch yesterday, what makes this true?

Wouldn't surprise me to find out that Palin never went on wild shopping sprees (she was a bit busy, I understand)and never asked to be showered in expensive clothing.

However, the NAFTA thing rings sadly true!

". . . then those were taken out of context," . . . . "And that's cruel and it's mean-spirited, it's immature, it's unprofessional, . . . taking things out of context and then tried to spread something on national news. It is not fair and not right."

She's just citing criticism of her and McCain's statements, isn't she? No?

Oh well.

o
o

Despite all the bickering, I'm curious as to the ground truth regarding the clothes and accessories. Palin says she only asked for an occasional "diet pepper," but this dismissal doesn't reconcile with emerging details on what she and her family obtained. Someone's lying through their teeth. I could care less if her family was outfitted in style; it's the lying that matters to me.

The old adage of if you can not stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen seems appropriate here.

She can she Africa, maybe she has found the spell checker. Others who comment should find a spell checker.

So Sarah thinks it's cruel and immature, and mean-spirited, and unprofessional, and makes you a jerk, to take things someone has said and done out of context in order to smear them. Lol. I guess self-awareness was never her strong suit.

Myself included, at least a syntax checker. MS Word let me down.

Don't forget her childish, neanderthal grammar:

Palin also said she would not call on Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, to resign, although last month, before his re-election bid, she said he should "step aside" and "play a very statesmanlike role in this now." Stevens, 84, was found guilty on seven counts of trying to hide more than $250,000 in free home renovations and other gifts that he received from a wealthy oil contractor.

Three days after the election, Stevens, the longest serving Republican in Senate history, is about 3,500 votes ahead of Democratic challenger Mark Begich with thousands of absentee ballots to be counted in the next two weeks.

Said Palin on Friday: "The Alaska voters have spoken and me not be a dictator, won't be telling anyone what to do."

When asked if she would call on him to resign, Palin said: "Not after the will of the people has been made manifest via that vote."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081107/ap_on_el_pr/palin_clothing#full

Even if that's supposed to be something like this --- "The Alaska voters have spoken and me, not be[ing] a dictator, won't be telling anyone what to do" --- remains Neanderthal grammar as it still pairs "me" with the verb "won't be telling"...

As a child in the 50s and 60s I was drilled constantly with facts that today's children or even the generation immediately following me scarcely emphasize. In my jobs and non-work life since some have come in handy, some not. I imagine a great deal of what I've found trivial a President would put to good use, if for no other purpose than impressing others as genuinely intelligent and well rounded. The more studious of my classmates likely could have filled in 90% of the nations of the world on a map, diagrammed a sentence, nailed a good deal of the periodic table, performed any number of intricate mathematical calculations and told you the plot and characters of several dozen classic works of literature. Today I venture you could earn a PhD in Economics without benefit of any the aforementioned skills. Also, the school systems all along your degree path would be quite happy to accommodate your avoidance of said learning. I hate to sound like an old curmudgeon but kids today just don't get put through the same wringer we did 40 years ago. Likely nor did Palin.

I still keep thinking that she is confusing Africa with Australia. She was studying for a multiple choice test and the press/public was giving an essay.

The irksome ingratitude of a diva

Wow. This stinks.
Palin ought to be on her knees thanking the McCain camp for empowering a faux-panel to help whitewash her Troopergate sins away! That effort probably saved her political career.

If I was a McCain loyalist, I'd treat Palin's comments as an invitation to open warfare.
She has shown herself to be a despicable traitor to the War Hero.
How could she stab John like this?
Wow... Go get her guys...

We should all decry the treatment of Sarah Palin by her fellow Republicans. Now, she is not my favorite politicians, and her views are anathema to me, but she is quite appealing and has accomplished a great deal. For her handlers to reveal instances of limited knowledge that were uncovered in prep sessions is reprehensible. She did nothing to embarrass the campaign with these statements. The privacy of internal prep sessions should have been respected.

I think that Palin is probably quite smart and I suspect that much of the knowledge limitation stems ftom a poor early education, which she never overcame by reading extensively. What these unwarranted disclosures do reveal, however, is the incompetence and indifference of those who chose her as the vice presidential, nominee.

homer www.altara.blogspot.com

I thought it was hilarious (and also important) the way both Olbermann and Maddow took a closer look at her words. Did you notice she threw in the word "dictator" at one point!? Huh?! The more she talks, the more you see there is nothing there...and all this stuff about how it was all sexist--and that somehow in Alaska they don't have this nastiness...

To think she and McCain could have won is pretty creepy.

'She's fully vetted' he angrily told reporters the day after the infamous: "What's the difference between a Pit Bull and a Hockey Mom?" speech at the RNC. Angry at them for even asking. Angry at all of us for wanting to know basic tings.

I don't recall ever such a campaign with such blatant, repeated, overt attempts to dumb us all down and silence us. Not just the media, but all of us. We all who had questions were suddenly suspect. And then Obama was suspect. And anyone who supported him was suspect. Michelle Bachman's ludicrous suggestion was just the tail end of a long attack attempting to demonize intelligent skeptics.

God, it sounds like she's trying to defend herself by claiming she never out and out declared her lack of knowledge - when, in fact, I'm sure the anonymous staffers concluded how ignorant she was based on the entire gestalt of her conversation about international affairs. "Well I didn't SAY XXXX." No, darling, but everytime you opened your pie-hole you revealed plenty.

She doesn't appear to know what "discretion" means, either.

By speaking at length about the campaign's criticism yesterday, Palin has only produced yet another series of stories...

She's speaking to her angry base now and she wants more media coverage of this. All the criticism of her unfair treatment at the hands of the media (skipping criticism of the McCain people the reporters got this stuff from) is to feed resentment among her whack-job supporters that she was robbed of the vice presidency, and to build determination for her next go at national office.

That, and Rachel may be right--it certainly sounds like she's gunning for a job as Maverick Media Reformer via some Fox gig or similar! I can't wait.

As has been noted by several above, her denials regarding Nafta and Africa are somewhat confused and vague. Which has to argue that there's something to these claims.

Look, I don't think she's stupid, although she's clearly no genius. But she's uneducated and proud of it. Her oldest child skipped college and went into the Army; her next child is pregnant and I wonder if she'll even graduate high school. It's no shame not to go to college... but it does say something about the values held by the Palin family.

Why this matters: she's now a leading figure in the Republican party, and possibly to be their nominee for President in 2012. That's just not good for the country, regardless of whether you think it gives a temporary tactical advantage to the Democrats.

Yeah, it was nasty to go after Palin that way. I'm not surprised she responded, and I'd disagree with Steve that she shouldn't have. The charges were potent enough to end her national aspirations.

It's nevertheless hard to have too much sympathy for Palin. She seems so comfortable with lying on demand that whatever she says is open to scrutiny. And while I don't want to be too harsh about her unusual speaking style, it doesn't leave the best of impressions.

If she survives Troopergate I think she'll still be a presence, if only because the cultural right seems to feel like it needs her. They may not be able to determine the nominee in 2012, but they can at least make a great deal of noise. Palin seems all too happy to help out.

bible spice is just now finding out what the rest of us have known since the days of lee atwater: you trust the ethics of republican campaign operatives and you're gonna get burned.

I don't like Sarah Palin for a number of reasons, but for her to say that her anonymous critics in the McCain campaign are cruel, mean-spirited, immature, unprofessional, and jerks calls for just one reaction:

Well, Duh. Lady, what did you expect?

Although it's been a while since I went to high school this whole scenario hes a distinctly high school style drama queen style smell to it.

Dr Lemming@10.49 is correct. Lord knows I can't stand Sarah Palin, but I do think it's damn cowardly of the McCain camp to speak "anonymously".

If they have something to say about Palin's behavior, then campaign "insiders" should be upfront enough to publicly say give their names.

I despise McCain/Palin, but I have to disagree with the direction of this thread. Palin is correct in her criticism and smart to get it out there (I would not have used the word "jerk" myself; that does sound a bit childish). The ex-McCain people are backstabbing and scapegoating her to protect themselves and to drive her out of Republican politics, and she absolutely needs to fight back. And IMHO she is also right on an absolute basis as well: the McCain people's behaviour is reprehensible.

Cranky

There's nothing like a little post-election comedy! Is anyone surprised that there is no honor among the thieves?

Her oldest child skipped college and went into the Army; her next child is pregnant and I wonder if she'll even graduate high school.

Actually, her oldest child didn't graduate high school. It appears her second child, who'd already missed up to eight months of school in the last year due to mono, has now stopped going altogether and won't graduate either, and her second child's fiance has officially dropped out. Having #3 and #4 constantly on the campaign trail this fall means they haven't been near a classroom for a while, either.

The truth of the matter is that Palin thought Nafta was a skin care lotion.

No, she thought it stands for "Need Another Fifty Thousand for Accessories," according to Letterman.

Eventually I'll tire of making fun of Sarah Palin. But I feel it's best to just let the process happen naturally instead of pushing it.

Anyone interested in this topic shouldn't miss Gracchus' excellent diary over at the Great Orange Satan: The rider and the horse; or Why Fox is Throwing Palin Under the Bus.

Much safer to destroy her NOW than to let her build herself up and run in 2012, where she MIGHT win the nomination because of her attraction to the smalltown and southern white folks who actually provide the votes. She's attractive and hits all the right-wing sweet spots. She seems one of the people. The rich do NOT want a choice between her and Obama

Bottom line: the rich folks who run the GOP are destroying her so she doesn't have a chance to screw up 2012.

The election of Barack Obama shows that the color of one's skin need not be an impediment to the highest office in America.

The ascent of Sarah Palin shows that intelligence and education are still dangerously undervalued as qualifications for higher office in America.

I know she didn't win, but any system that entertains the thought of her in national politics is a system that is well and truly broken.

Chris S@12:06PM has some good points."...any system that entertains the thought of her in national politics is a system that is well and truly broken." What we are seeing is the exposure of a system that has been artificially propped up by poor journalism and the unwillingness of the leaders of either party, and the rest of us, to elevate the discourse to one of self-examination and authentic reform.

Slightly off topic: Barack Obama is not "purely" a Black Man; he is of mixed race, at least 1/2 "white" since his mother is identified as Caucasian. Do we know her pedigree? Is she of European descent? It probably does not matter in the larger scheme of things, but I find it interesting that we generally identify a person of color(African roots) as black. Sometimes I cannot even tell the color of someone identified as Black. Look at Colin Powell. Or Harold Ford. I saw the Mayor of Newark on TV the other day and was not sure if he is Black. So, this whole color thing is a distraction. As MLKjr said, in paraphrase, one is not known by the color of his[her] skin, but by the content of his[her] character. We are not there, yet, but it is a place for which I yearn.

I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation
peace,
st john

"...and about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context..."

The funny thing is that Palin doesn't dispute the rumours regarding the Africa statement. She only states that they were taken out of context. Which leaves that she actually WAS confused about the status of Africa. I am, though, still trying to figure out how it could have been "taken out of context".

Jeroen, everyone: I think Palin was just quoting the charge and not expressing her continued view that Africa is a country. Even the worst person would correct that later, and I don't even believe she was that dumb to begin with. I think she may have bumbled around at some point when talking about the issue, to give some little thread for a putup job to be contrived.

Also, the towel story is fishy too since SS Agents (I know that abbr. looks fishy, but what else?) would have checked and opened the door first. I think Palin is being screwed so to speak by some McCain operatives etc. feeding trash to the media. We don't have to believe everything we hear from "sources", Absolute knows we've been lied to before.

The history department at the school where I teach has launched a geography literacy program, openly referred to as the de-Palinization initiative (DPI).

Sarah Palin was used by McCain. Who with any intelligence would parade their pregnant unmarried daughter, plus their infant child on stage, unless instructed to do so by the McCain advisors. Even worse, Palin followed orders. That is what is really sad.

Clearly Gov. Palin is not stupid, but certainly ignorant and arrogant, which also describes many of those around her in the McCain campaign. She apparently had little idea of what she was getting into and accepted the offer of VP slot without 'blinkin', as she told Charlie Gibson.
That offer and her acceptance was everything you needed to know about her, and about Sen. McCain, as the majority of voters recognized.

And what about her medical records?

Bottom line: the rich folks who run the GOP are destroying her so she doesn't have a chance to screw up 2012. - jimBOB

jimBOB, I think you're right. I'll go one step farther and suggest that they were appalled by McCain's judgment from the beginning, and afraid of what she and her low-info religious base would do if they got the reins of power after McCain's death. They may not have gone so far as to throw the election, but I bet they weren't too unhappy that McPalin lost.

Can you imagine President Palin being as obedient to the rich party leaders as Bush has been? I don't think so. They want her gone ASAP.

This gives rise to the question of what sort of "jerk" or "stinker" she would have considered Putin or Chavez to have been.

Lord knows I can't stand Sarah Palin, but I do think it's damn cowardly of the McCain camp to speak "anonymously".

Of course - but I don't really get the impression that this has anything to do with McCain per se. From what I've been reading, it seems pretty clear that the Romney/Huckabee loyalists in McCain's camp are laying the groundwork for their 2012 run, and know they'll have to contend with Palin. So, they're trying to neutralize her.

Of course, there's every reason to believe that they're only slightly less sociopathic in their lying than Palin herself, so I think the specific charges should be met with a huge chunk of rock salt. Not that that's really necessary. Does she know what countries are in NAFTA? Who knows? Is she easily stymied by the concept of newspapers? We already know the answer to that one is "hilariously so".

Medical records are not really required of a candidate; Biden hasn't released his; Palin knew they weren't going to win 3 weeks before the election, so she wasn't motivated to release the records.

I think the person who called her a high school drama queen nailed it. Assuming she can find her way to Iowa, she won't last past the Iowa caucuses.

Continent, incontinent... Who cares about Africa? Now, *Russia* is a continent that bears watching from one's window...

"And the more the two warring factions keep this up, the worse both appear."

And this would be a bad thing because...

The original towel story didn't sound like a "isn't she low-class?" if you read it in the context of the whole Newsweek article. It was a buildup of how "feisty" the McCain campaign thought she was. I read somewhere, and now IDR, but my understanding is this whisper campaign is coming from Romney aides who went to work for McCain. And given Romney's history of starting these whispering campaigns -- he did the same thing to Huckabee, IIRC -- that wouldn't surprise me.

But reading this:
"and about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there"

Does sound like either she mangles syntax horribly or she really does think there is a country called Africa.

Continent, incontinent...

Leave me out of this!

Was the Palin/mcCain bid for the presidency

managed by competent folks?

Cointenly, they're all incompetent. nyuk nyuk nyuk

Palin's grasp of basic speech defies logic.

What I can't stand is, it's really hard to memorize what she says....because her methods of stringing words together don't fire the correct neurons in my brain!

I thought Palin had denied that she had any debate preppers. She was specifically asked about who was coaching her, and claimed she wasn't being coached.

If somebody claimed that I didn't know that Africa was a continent and that I didn't know the parties in NAFTA I would be in front of the press and be screaming about how offensive that is and that for crying out loud I am a governor etc. etc. etc. I would not be giving a gobbledygook answer accusing the other side of being mean spirited etc.etc. So, obviously this stupid woman didn't know that Africa was a continent. And BTW this idiot was a journalism major in college. I may be wrong about this but as long as it took her to finish college my guess is that NAFTA was an issue when she was in college. I don't expect her to know about various weapons systems and I don't expect her to know the various Soviet states that have become independent but you have to know that Africa is a continent.

Gov. Palin's unhinged attacks on Senator Obama increased death threats against Senator Obabam according to the Secret Service:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/sarahpalin/3405336/Sarah-Palin-blamed-by-the-US-Secret-Service-for-death-threats-against-Barack-Obama.html

How sweet of her...