Sarah Palin thought that Africa was a country, not a continent. I just can’t say it enough: the McCain should have jettisoned Palin around 6:00pm of the day she was announced. That woman is dumber than a sack of hammers.
Being classy has nothing to do with it.
It is a fact that Sarah Paling contributed greatly to the McCain/GOP losses. It is a fact that she was there for only one purpose: to reinvigorate a flagging campaign.
It is also a fact that for someone who has attended multiple institutions of higher learning, she seems woefully ignorant of even basic geography.
I am relieved that she will be nowhere near the Federal government.
Posted by Mark Brooks on 6 November 02008 @ 12pm
Oh, and this just in: Fox ‘News’ obviously put party before country, since they had all this material that showed Palin as being clueless.
I read that their stock is tanking.
Posted by Mark Brooks on 6 November 02008 @ 12pm
Waldo,
I do believe that the R’s are on the right track in VA. Palin/Huckabee is fine in 4 years with me.
Jeff and all the rest just need to reinforce their efforts and give Bob Marshall a more prominent role in VA R politics.
They’ll be just fine and if they can line up the R Bloggers to support their efforts all the better.
I did see that the under 30’s went 2-1 for President Elect Obama. I’m sure Jeff and Co can reverse that in the Commonwealth. After all if the VA R website just has Jeff’s picture on it, it should up your write-ins for the 09 election (more time for the kids to search for sanity on the web).
b
Posted by Bruce Roemmelt on 6 November 02008 @ 1pm
The scary part is that if (when) Ted Stevens goes to jail, Palin might take his place in the Senate.
Posted by Tim McCormack on 6 November 02008 @ 3pm
This shouldn’t surprise me, but it does anyway – “Team Sarah” doesn’t care. Not about the scary lack of knowledge (I don’t think Palin would pass a citizenship test), not about the overwhelming evidence that many moderates and independents wouldn’t vote for the R ticket explicitly because of Palin, and not about polling that has Palin dead last as a candidate for 2012. They just stubbornly refuse to believe any of it.
It may be a cult. That would explain a lot.
Posted by David Weintraub on 6 November 02008 @ 5pm
Just to specify for Tim, Alaska law requires a special election in the case of a senator needing to be replaced. The most she could theoretically do is appoint herself for a month or so before the special election in December.
This came about because of the Republican governor she beat in the primary, who had appointed his daughter Senator (he had been Senator at the time) when he assumed the governorship. Alaska wasn’t too happy about that move.
Posted by Joe on 6 November 02008 @ 6pm
Careful, Bruce, with advice like that, you just might end up chair of the party.
Posted by MB on 6 November 02008 @ 6pm
MB,
the crazy Howie Dean 50 state strategy seems to have has some efficacy. perhaps the VA Democrat party can consider a 100 HOD district effort next year and a real coordinated campaign?
nah…
b
Posted by Bruce Roemmelt on 6 November 02008 @ 9pm
W/out Palin the base would have stayed home. She increased turnout and kept it closer than it would have been.
How would McCain (or Obama for that matter) have done if thrust into the Alaskan Governor’s race 60 days before the election? Would they have known the subtleties of the North Slope vs. the Anchorage suburbs? Or whatever.
She did OK. Remember, the reason libs despise her are the same reasons cons like her.
Posted by Will on 6 November 02008 @ 9pm
“W/out Palin the base would have stayed home. She increased turnout and kept it closer than it would have been. ”
This only holds if you assume that the margin of Republican voters that would not have voted for McCain otherwise was larger than the independent voters that would have voted for McCain otherwise. I don’t think that was the case.
The McCain campaign was dreadfully worried about ensuring the right’s support, but if you look at his polling data, the only time he broke 50% nationwide was after the Republican Convention, where he gave a speech saying he was going to do some things the Republicans didn’t like. I still don’t understand why he effectively ran a base maximization strategy (i.e. 2000/2004 strategy) in an environment where there was a staggering disparity between self-identified Republicans and Democrats nationwide.
He could have won it by playing to the center, grabbing moderates on both sides, nailing Obama by bringing up his liberal voting past and putting it alongside people like Pelosi and Frank, and then finishing it with a mediocre to weak showing from the far right.
Posted by Joe on 7 November 02008 @ 1am
Palin was obviously clueless on a variety of issues. But to think Africa was its own country and not a continent? Come on. That sounds more like a McCain staffer appointed to Palin trying to save their bacon in hopes of getting a new job. As much as I dislike the lady, give her some credit. She did attend 5 universities after all. You’d think one of them would make her take a gen ed course on geography or world issues.
I do believe the stories about her not taking briefings and interview preps seriously. And getting pissed/having tantrums at bad press. That seems to fit her M.O.
Posted by grs on 7 November 02008 @ 7am
Will,
What, like no other running mate could have given conservatives more confidence in the ticket? Why not Mike Huckabee? Or Rob Portman? Both very smart people who have the basic knowledge about the world not to make asses of themselves when quizzed on basic geography.
No, Palin did not ‘do ok.’ And what I think far too many people are ignoring is the fact that candidacy for the Presidency or Vice Presidency is not just about politics. It’s about the potential for that person to wake up one day and find him or herself at the helm of the world’s greatest superpower. IF YOU THINK THAT AFRICA IS A COUNTRY THEN YOU ARE TOO DAMNED IGNORANT FOR THE JOB.
It’s not a question of politics or issues that intelligent minds can disagree about. I don’t care whether you have an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ or an ‘L’ next to your name; if you don’t know what countries are part of NAFTA, don’t know whether Africa is a country and cannot name a single newspaper or magazine that you read then you have no business asking the American people to make you their Commander in Chief. With all of the best will in the world on Palin’s part, she could not possibly have done a competent job as President. It’s one thing to be getting on-the-job-training as a new President, but quite another to be attempting to catch up with GED-level general knowledge with a briefcase full of nuclear codes at your side.
The fact that McCain’s staff knew how hopelessly ignorant this woman was about things that any bright 9th grader should know about the world speaks to their recklessness. What happened to ‘country first?’ They knew what a disaster she was and yet they continued to try to get her elected rather than blowing the whistle. Politics and power first, country second.
Posted by Jackson Landers on 7 November 02008 @ 10am
Waldo Jaquith (JAY-kwith) is a website developer and political pundit who lives in the vicinity of Charlottesville, VA, USA. more »
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