So what do people think about Sara Palin - Intelligent or Idiot?

[Skyhook]

Whatever names you call her or labels you attach to her, you have to attach those names and labels to large swaths of America - they're going to be voting for her.

YouTube - "Idiocracy" introduction - the future of human evolution pmsl

[ReverendJay]

People get the government they deserve.

Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free :: General :: Sociology :: Social Sciences :: Nonfiction Books :: Bookstore :: Hong Kong Online Shopping

It was impolite to wonder why our parents had sent us all to college, and why generations of immigrants had sweated and bled so that their children could be educated, if not so that one day we would feel confident enough to look at a museum full of dinosaurs rigged to run six furlongs at Aqueduct and make not one unreasonable point that it was batshit crazy, and that anyone who believed this righteous hooey should be kept away from sharp objects and their own money.

In June 2007, a Gallup poll found that 68% of the Republicans surveyed said that they did not believe in evolution at all. And this was the ascendant political power of the time.

...it was the modern American right that consciously adopted irrationality as a tactic, and succeeded very well.

I am not obligated to treat transparent lunacy as though it were worthy of respect simply because it happens to be popular. I am not obligated to be that nice a person. And neither are you.

[BenderBends]

All I am saying is.... look what Obama got elected on. Three words .. "Yes we can" and a LOT of money from Penny Pritzker. .

And the fact that he had no real opponents. Running against Palin and McCain is like bringing a gun to a knife fight. You may not like Obama, but he is no where near as dumb or pathetic as the other 2. He was the best of the worst.

[shri]

>> And the fact that he had no real opponents.

Billary.

[ReverendJay]

YouTube - "Idiocracy" introduction - the future of human evolution pmsl

How have I not heard of this movie before? Definitely on the list for this weekend, thanks for posting this clip, absolutely hilarious and spot on.

[BenderBends]

>> And the fact that he had no real opponents.

Billary.

Well yes... Billary should have won.. But I think that came down to the old question of "who do you imagine becoming president first: a black man or a white woman?" i think too many people thought it was safer to go black then femme fatale.

but im talking about against the repubs he had no real threat.

[gunsnroses]

Why is there even a need to give a thought about "Sarah Palin"??

[Football16]

McCain was not mainstream Republican even though he liked the reputation of being maverick. As his opponents point how he was not so much a maverick as he is erratic. Not sure who said that.

Obama is no dummy by any account.

Palin is a dummy by all rationale accounts.

While I can not find Bill Clinton's quote on how the USA runs the risk of becoming a nation of people who want elected officials thinking just like them I did find a Canadian quote that much describes what has happened to politics and people in the USA with Canada not far behind:

"I also recall an extremely predictive and insightful speech made by the Rt. Hon. Robert L Stanfield at the University of Victoria in 1975, where he argued that the growth of single-purpose, uncompromising special interest groups and lobbies would very much weaken parliamentary democracy and the political parties who are its servants."

This is from speech by Hugh Segal (Conservative).

While this actually did not occur exactly as he said it would what has happened is that the politicians instead of laying out a vision of what they want to do send out messages that touch these special interest groups and they get enough of them out to bring in more and more until they get elected.

His paper says that what the best politicians do is give out a sense of hope. You could add Obama to this list. Pallin gives out hope to her base of whack jobs and morons. It might not play well in Alaska now but to the thumpers this is what they want to hear.

"What politicians like John Diefenbaker, Bill Clinton, Pierre Trudeau, Margaret Thatcher, Brian Mulroney, Ronald Reagan, Tony Blair and Jean Chrétien have viscerally understood and practiced despitetheir vast differences in policy and perspective, is the advancement and promotion of hope. Hope is more than just an aspirational part of the discourse of civil society; it is an essential ingredient in the positive mix that encourages volunteers, community leaders, business professionals and union and feminist organizers to work hard to achieve changes they feel will help and strengthen society."

Of course there are those times when they don't vote in a gov't the vote one out.

As long as we just want guys in office who think just like us we will get gov'ts just like they are now in the USA and Canada.

[Mat]

I'd say it depends on how you define smart.

[shri]

>> I'd say it depends on how you define smart.

Smart is usually someone as clever as me. So I'd reckon it depends on "who" not how you define it?