Sarah Palin...why?

[Lord of Hunger]

Another hot topic question: Why do a lot of people intensely hate Sarah Palin?

 

This is something I have really never understood. When George Bush was President, I understood that about half of the country and possibly more hated him because they believed he was a very ineffective president. Same goes with Barack Obama right now. However, Sarah Palin has not been President, and has only in the past three years taken a place on the stage of national politics. Aside from some not quite so intelligent comments, I haven't seen her do or say anything that other politicians haven't done.

[Ping]

Its her not so intelligent comments that give America an image of blathering idiots, and quite frankly gives the country not only a bad image, but also an embarrasing one. She doesn't know basic things: whether Africa is a country or continent, or why Korea is separated. It only hurts America's already tarnished image.

[True_Avery]

She represents a wound in a once great party, essentially. She is a loud and proud extremist who has sway with a vocal minority who hijacked the election from McCain and drove it directly into a wall.

 

My reason is this: I would have probably voted McCain over Obama if Palin wasn't around. Not 100% chance, mind you, but I was very much on the wall because I McCain has shown himself to be about as center minded as someone in his position can be, much like Obama is. Neither are bipartisan, but neither are extremists either. It didn't help that neither were really in support of any of my key points.

 

My problem was that she was brought into the equation to pull cheap votes. A terribly poster woman. She was a woman, and an extremist right wing; she pulls votes from Hilary while also appealing to a crowd that McCain did not have on his side at the time. She was not brought in for her experience or knowledge; she was brought in because she had breasts and happened to vote right. A found her very presence to be beyond insulting.

 

Not saying that Mr. Gaff over there is leagues better, but to be frank I was tired of the leading voice pretty much being the VP in the last 8 years. She stole the spotlight from McCain in nearly every way in a short period of time. Hearing the stories from McCain's camp also doesn't help, because she was apparently an infuriating woman to work with and many thought that she was almost purposefully undermining McCain's success to make herself appear better.

 

And those are just my complaints about McCain. To talk about the woman herself is another story:

 

She is an idiot. Politically speaking, a lot of our representatives are idiots. However, most at least know how to present themselves in a way that makes them look semi conscious. She apparently forgot those high school speech courses because in nearly every interview she proved time and time again that she didn't know jack about anything she was talking about.

 

Russia from her house. Not reading magazines or the news. Not being able to name and locate simple areas on a map. Her entire persona is built upon her being a less than intelligent hockey mom, and she revels in it. She, and pardon me for this... built her entire image to appeal to the lowest common denominator of her party. Sorry, but that is how I see her. She aims only to gain support from the most extreme conservatives out there while preaching about how utterly normal she is compared to all other politicians. She is -just- a hockey mom. She is -just- like middle America. She is -just- like you with her political career and millions of dollars.

 

Not only that, she she routinely insults members of her own party that are not at her level of Palin. She insults everyone on the coast, both liberals for being liberals and apparently for conservatives being too liberal for her taste. She spits on bipartisanship, demands change and movement for her party (which, I must add, is ironic considering she is supposed to be "conservative"), and so many other reprehensible things.

 

Like, say, how she is a massive, and proud hypocrite. She preaches anti-abortion, abstinence, wait till marriage, and all that great stuff and follows nearly non of it herself. Her daughter gets pregnant out of wedlock, underage, and she uses it not only as a political talking point (using her daughters stressful problem as a way to garner numbers), but as an example of... why abstinence works? It is also great of her to demand that rape victims don't get abortions, but required them to pay for the $500+ rape kits in full since she doesn't believe in "handouts". Let us not also forget her railing on Hilary for pulling the "sexist" card but then whining like a f***ing child afterward that she was only disliked because she is a "strong woman".

 

When the election was said and done, she revealed herself for the drug addict she was. After all her railing again Obama for being a "celebrity", and the democrats for being cheap media whores, and railing on mainstream news for how much they didn't "get" the "real" American people... what does she do? She goes on a country wide tour to preach. She writes books and makes millions off her own image. She then QUITS HER JOB AS AN ELECTED OFFICIAL OF THE STATE OF ALASKA to join the mainstream media and get her own show.

 

This shows just how much of a hypocrite she is and how hollow many of her attacks on Obama ended up being. This also showed she is incompetent, and unable to be trusted as a political figure. I'm sorry, but you don't just walk out of office because you want to do a book tour. You get elected by the American people and you do your damn job until your term is over or you are literally kicked out. She didn't even have a good reason, like, she slept with 50 hooters girls. No, she left because she "could do better work among the people" which means this: She left because she wanted more media attention, and wanted more people getting to their hands and knees and kissing her shoe.

 

She, in one package, represents, in my opinion, everything that is wrong with modern day politics. She did everything just to get into power. When she tasted more of it, she twitched for more like a heroin addict. She said and did anything that would get her attention and love and more of her drug. She doesn't care if it is good, or back news; as long as she is in the news. She proved she never really cared about politics, or helping her people, and really even doing any work at all; she was in it because it put a spotlight on her and she just loves every second of it.

 

The very idea she thought and thinks she can get that close to the presidency is insulting. It is insulting that she thinks the public is that damn stupid. She may appeal to the lowest common denominator, but that is all she does and will always do. The very thought that she thinks she could even attempt it at this point is an insult to every facet of this country. She insults the very image of America.

 

I'm sorry, but you respectfully disagree with people. You yell and say "NO!" in the middle of a speech. You give them the bird. But you do NOT tell people they are not American, and don't belong in this country. You don't call "middle" America the true and real Americans and slap everyone on the coast, especially since I know, coming from a conservative area, that you have supporters out here. You don't go on a campaign to try and insert into the public mind that Obama is a Kenyan immigrant who doesn't deserve the spot. You don't call people terrorist lovers while we are still recovering from the largest terrorist attack in our history, and fighting in a war against terrorism.

 

That is appalling. That is thoughtless. She continually skirts the line of being just a, dare I say it, "evil" and manipulative witch. She insults everything the Republican party once stood for. She spat in the face of McCain to go on her hate speech tours and utterly destroyed any chance of him having a future political career. I knock McCain for choosing her before researching, but I am still going t put most of the blame on her for going overboard and using pathetic scare tactics employed by the mainstream media, and echoing of the f***ed up scare campaigns after 9/11 that scared the entire country to the point of giving Bush the highest approval rating in American history.

 

While your point rings true that she is not the first, or only "politician" to do this... she is the loudest, proudest, and has a cult following that is steadily growing. She gets the hate because she and the others of her vocal minority have chosen to put themselves in charge of their party for what they perceive to be the greater good.

 

And this is just me. I've heard far more convincing arguments for why she is a plague from McCain supporters and center minded Republicans. Many don't think she is quite the idiot that I do, but I don't meet many who don't concede that she was the driver that crashed their election. Frankly, most people seem to hate her because I think most people are level headed, intelligent people a lot of the time. Those against her hate her because she represents what they hate, and those that are in her party hate her because she only continues a negative stereotype about them.

 

She is effectively a female version of a former member here. He listened to no reason. No point. Regardless if it came from his group, or the opposing, he was here only to preach; not to talk. It eventually came to the point where he was effectively universally hated here. The liberals hated him because of his opinions. The center minded hated him because he believed his opponents to be Nazis. And, members that shared his party hated him because he only made their image and opinions appear much worse in comparison because he never helped, only hurt. Logic, reason, opposing opinions, etc meant nothing to this kid because he 100% believed himself to be the epitome of the American citizen and all others to be raving, anti American Nazis.

 

That is why people hate Sarah Palin. She, by being an extremist partisan, cannot do good. She can, in the end, only hurt. The only good that is going to come from the burning ashes she leaves in her wake is the possibility that a newer, brighter GOP will be born and learn from her mistakes. She may not be president, but she has left her mark on her party and, with the birth of the Tea Party, her mark may be the reflection the political parties desperately need.

 

MODERATOR NOTE: Please do not reference board members negatively. Name has been snipped. - Sam

[Blix]

It's a number of things but from what I noticed is that there were a few instances where she could have worded some things differently or could have acted more professional (I've noticed at least one instance where she was really emotional and almost crying, I am not sexist or anything because I would be typing the same thing if Joe Biden did it) I just think that during an important interview that could more or less determine the final outcome of your running mate, that you should be as professional as possible.

 

I think another reason why there is a lot SP hate is her usage of the media to get attention and her jumping to get her own show.

 

I personally don't harbor anything against Palin, I think if McCain had anyone else he would have still lost to Obama in the end...he just had way too much flair and support behind him to not win the election.

[Arcesious]

The lust for power is a terrible thing.

 

'Often those who shout loudest say little of value.' I think that's pretty much sums up what I think about extremist groups.

[Samnmax221]

I'm sure George Bush would have been perfectly likable if he hadn't been president, can't say the same thing about Palin.

 

I hate her and her folksy bull****.

 

EDIT: Also she carries her downs syndrome child around like a loaf of french bread. He's basically a prop.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

i really like that simile

[Bob Lion54]

Charisma. She didn't have it. Well, that's not entirely true. She had negative charisma.

 

It's really that simple. People talk about grand ideas, but in the end, who we elect is a popularity contest.

 

McCain was hard to really be passionate about, either as a supporter or detractor. He was just kind of boring.

 

Obama was "Mr. Charisma." He spoke well and people generally liked him.

 

Biden is sort of like McCain. Sure he has his supporters/detractors, but most people don't care about him. He might gain more publicity as time goes by, but right now, he's the least known about VP we've had in a while.

 

That leaves Palin. People like to point out the negative things about her political career, but every other politician's past is just as bad. Any conservative website can list as long as list of "bad things" Obama has done as Palin has. But we like him, so unless we are ultra conservative, we ignore them.

 

Palin was an easy target, too. People like to equate speaking ability to intelligence. I honestly don't know how smart she is, but she certainly didn't know how to make her self look intelligent. People decided she was dumb and went with it. She certainly wasn't witty and did make her self look really dumb.

 

But why do people really, really dislike her? Because she doesn't realize just how uncharismatic she is and keeps trying. The media knows this and they also know people love to see her on TV. We say we don't, but if she wasn't on TV, then we couldn't get mad at her being on TV and we love to be mad at people once we decide we don't like them, so they get good ratings by putting her on TV and making her look really bad. Luckily, she makes it easy on them.

 

Politics is a lot like Professional Wrestling. The only difference is that the heels don't know they are supposed to be the bad guy, but reporters do.

[JediAthos]

I'm not going to go into a long spiel about why I dislike this woman...Avery did that for me I'm simply going to say that Sarah Palin is very much like Kate Gosselin in one regard..someone should tell her that her 15 minutes of fame are long since over.

[Pho3nix]

I don't hate her, I just think she's an idiot. And a prime example of the type of people that should never be involved in politics.

[Totenkopf]

Really, Ave, don't hold back. RE McCain, he lost b/c he didn't have the gumption to win. BO ran vs Bush's record and painted McCain as Bush. McCain didn't try too hard to break out from that and thus screwed himself. Frankly, I've never heard anyone say they voted for BO b/c McCain had Palin on the ticket. They voted for BO b/c they foolishly believed his rhetoric about "change" and many of them now have expressed feelings of buyer's remorse.

 

As to Palin, she was vilified b/c the other side was initially frightened of her. Her initial appearance on the campaign trail reignited the embers of a dying campaign and thus made her something of a perceived threat. Their response was classic Alinsky:destroy her (everything from scurriless charges to nuissance lawsuits). Her missteps didn't help her, but didn't make her look any dumber in the end than Biden (who like most dem pols got a pass from the bulk of the press) or even some of BO's gaffes (eg. 57/58 states?). In the end, though, she was simply not ready for prime time. Seems to me that the bigger mistake, though, was the Reps picking McCain, not McCain picking Palin. You can't really hobble the ticket of a person that's not trying very hard to win in the first place. Still, I don't expect to see the Reps pick her anytime soon b/c she's a polarizing figure (but then, so is the president) and the goal should be to win the next election, not merely put forth a candidate.

[Darth Avlectus]

My my. For someone so utterly insignificant, some people get awful sore and angry about her. Makes me wonder just how much she actually did on her own versus just how much effort and attention is given by visceral malicious people specifically looking to destroy her. There's a saying: if you *truly* don't care about someone, then you can't really hate them. But please, don't let me rain on your parade. Continue with the amusing fuming and chafing (oddly sharing many characteristics of fear and paranoia) over this woman who apparently is supposed to be an idiot.

 

I don't really see what's the big deal about her anyway. Though in side note relation to the election I am surprised just how many young adults with a teaching oriented career ahead of them have no clue who Bob Barr is. Guess being well read on everything now only applies to what you want it to be, which is the same thing as the ignorance they accusingly hiss at other people for having. Pot. Kettle. Black.

[Tommycat]

Palin's missteps could easily been attributed to her just not being ready for the attention she got. Mc Cain didn't lose because of her. More like he lost in spite of her. I pointed out before the election that it seemed as if he was intentionally TRYING to lose the election(And with the economy looking the way it does, it's not hard to imagine why).

 

I personally don't like Palin though. She was the worst person to pair with McCain. She's hard Right, where McCain is far more centrist. She made gaffes. But fewer thn Biden. But she was very much in the spotlight. She outshone the the presidential candidate and that is why the media attacked her with such vigor. McCain was semi-forgettable. Nothing really stood out about him. SHE on the other hand had one fatal flaw. She never knew when to STFU! She set the tone of the campaign far more than McCain did. And it wasn't a good tone. Like 2kHz feedback on a loop through a 1000W PA. She tore up our collective nerves very quickly. She became the Republican equivalent of Hillary Clinton. Not a good position to be in.

 

I wouldn't exactly call Obama centrist. At least not to the extent as McCain is Avery. I'd have voted for Lieberman. I couldn't vote for Obama. Obama campaigned as far more left(that's American Left not Political Compass Left before someone decides to note that he's center right on the international scale of left/right forgetting that most of American politicians fall in the right/authoritarian quadrant). And has since gone on to promote several Leftist ideals.

[Ping]

Speaking in practical terms, McCain choosing Palin wasn't exactly a good idea, since he pretty much undermined his own argument on how Obama was inexperienced.

[Totenkopf]

Take a wider look at that though and ask why the dems put an inexperienced candidate on the top of their ticket when the reps were putting it on the bottom of theirs. Practically speaking, not a particularly good idea. But then, I guess they figured they could run anyone in light of "Bush fatigue" and that it didn't matter how green they were.

[True_Avery]

Really, Ave, don't hold back.

Hey, he asked

 

RE McCain, he lost b/c he didn't have the gumption to win. BO ran vs Bush's record and painted McCain as Bush. McCain didn't try too hard to break out from that and thus screwed himself. Frankly, I've never heard anyone say they voted for BO b/c McCain had Palin on the ticket. They voted for BO b/c they foolishly believed his rhetoric about "change" and many of them now have expressed feelings of buyer's remorse.

Fair point on McCain. As far as buyer's remorse... seeing as the way out campaigns are run on pretty much straight faced lies it seems everyone has buyer's remorse for roughly the first year. Since approval ratings seem to run on magic and current events... well, yeah.

 

It is a complicated and ultimately unwinnable game as long a you're playing. Bush's tough decisions cost him to the point of having the lowest recorded approval rating, but lately, now out of office and out of making tough decisions, his ratings have been climbing at a pretty decent rate while Obama's continue to fall because he is, well, doing a ton of stuff and what the American people seem to really dislike is a president that does stuff.

 

One of the most intelligent things I ever heard Bush Jr. Say was that history would end up being a judge of him, and that Presidents are almost always hated for tough decisions. Knock him for a lot, but approval for him has been growing and this current administration still stands by the middle east war.

 

I like to think of it like getting a new pair of shoes. Figure out the metaphor yourself or I could go on for ages

 

As to Palin, she was vilified b/c the other side was initially frightened of her. Her initial appearance on the campaign trail reignited the embers of a dying campaign and thus made her something of a perceived threat. Their response was classic Alinsky:destroy her (everything from scurriless charges to nuissance lawsuits). Her missteps didn't help her, but didn't make her look any dumber in the end than Biden (who like most dem pols got a pass from the bulk of the press) or even some of BO's gaffes (eg. 57/58 states?). In the end, though, she was simply not ready for prime time. Seems to me that the bigger mistake, though, was the Reps picking McCain, not McCain picking Palin. You can't really hobble the ticket of a person that's not trying very hard to win in the first place. Still, I don't expect to see the Reps pick her anytime soon b/c she's a polarizing figure (but then, so is the president) and the goal should be to win the next election, not merely put forth a candidate.

Palin's missteps could easily been attributed to her just not being ready for the attention she got. Mc Cain didn't lose because of her. More like he lost in spite of her. I pointed out before the election that it seemed as if he was intentionally TRYING to lose the election(And with the economy looking the way it does, it's not hard to imagine why).

All fair points, but if I may:

 

McCain did not seem to be an unstoppable train, but his approval ratings, if I recall correctly, didn't start to really fall until Palin took full rein. He did get a very nice boost when she first arrived, but every interview and speech since just seemed to make people walk away from McCain in droves. Does not mean they went to vote for Obama, but his supposed approval ratings weren't looking great.

 

It also didn't help that, from my point of view, the two campaigns became much more attack based when she arrived. Not to say both were not flinging words at each other at every opportunity, but she came in and helped move the "Obama is not a citizen" and "Obama loves terrorists" angle into a campaign that, I thought, was previously making fair judgments on Obama's character. Even if many of Palin's problems were somewhat valid, she blew them up to the point of ridiculousness.

 

McCain seemed to almost start following her like a puppy to its mother. He repeated tag lines she created, helped in attacks she and others extremists helped orchestrate, and generally looked even less ontop of his game, like he realized that his all or nothing last bet ended up in a loss. I'm not saying he was working 100% before her, but what little he was working towards seemed to have been ripped out of his hands so she could get just those few more minutes on the television screen, going so far to demand to organizers that she do speeches that McCain was required to do on his trail.

 

It is hard for me to pin how much he actually wanted to win because, outside of his occasional expletive ridden rants in the Senate, he seems to be a pretty humble guy. If I had to make a knee jerk judgement of him based on what I've seen of him, I'd say he did want to win but started to crumble at the celebrity status part of the election season. Stage fright if you will, and his costar was a woman who stood on stage proud and soaked in as much of the crowds attention as she could.

 

In Barack Obama's case this worked to his advantage. Being the far more charismatic between him and Biden, anything Biden did and said was sort of drowned out by Obama's speeches and character in general. Biden screwed up just about as much as Palin, but he was the backdrop to Obama. Attention was not solely on Biden, as it should be. He is the VP and shouldn't be taking in all the light and attention.

 

The trouble with in-versing this is that it paints the wrong picture. McCain was a pretty calm, humble guy on the trail and, I think, displayed a pretty decent amount of... chivalry? I thought Obama displayed plenty as well, which is good reason why both of them ended up against each other. The problem with bringing Palin into the picture was, well... She is practically a bad stereotype of the "15 seconds of fame" person who jumps in front of an active news camera and waving to her parents. She utterly stole the spotlight from McCain, which sadly ended up being not too difficult.

 

However, it was not her place to do so. It was not her election. She was aiming to be the VP, who's job is to essentially sit behind the president and act as a back canvas. By having the spotlight, she essentially brought the curtains down around him. Nobody cared about McCain anymore. She did the majority of the speeches from then on, ate up more camera time, and got him to parrot beliefs that he recently admitted to never truly believing.

 

or, to put it much better:

I personally don't like Palin though. She was the worst person to pair with McCain. She's hard Right, where McCain is far more centrist. She made gaffes. But fewer thn Biden. But she was very much in the spotlight. She outshone the the presidential candidate and that is why the media attacked her with such vigor. McCain was semi-forgettable. Nothing really stood out about him. SHE on the other hand had one fatal flaw. She never knew when to STFU! She set the tone of the campaign far more than McCain did. And it wasn't a good tone. Like 2kHz feedback on a loop through a 1000W PA. She tore up our collective nerves very quickly. She became the Republican equivalent of Hillary Clinton. Not a good position to be in.

This.

 

I still think that if McCain had grabbed a more competent person to roll with the final results may have been a lot, lot closer. Chances of him winning may of still been a pipe dream, but I would have preferred to see him going down fighting than being reduced to the ashes he was by the end of that election. Palin went on to write books, make millions, turn her back on the voting population, and sell herself to those she despised while McCain gave a humble, small room apology and practically disappeared with his image in tatters.

 

Despite all that, my hate is not so much for this woman in general but to the concept of her. Like I said, I essentially view her as a manifestation of everything I view to be wrong with our political atmosphere within the last 20 or so years. Perhaps it is unfair for me to paint the big target on her, and really it is only giving her more attention she so wants but I guess we'll see where things go in 2 years.

[Lord of Hunger]

Well this explains a great deal. Thank you everyone, especially True_Avery!

[Totenkopf]

or, to put it much better:

I personally don't like Palin though. She was the worst person to pair with McCain. She's hard Right, where McCain is far more centrist. She made gaffes. But fewer thn Biden. But she was very much in the spotlight. She outshone the the presidential candidate and that is why the media attacked her with such vigor. McCain was semi-forgettable. Nothing really stood out about him. SHE on the other hand had one fatal flaw. She never knew when to STFU! She set the tone of the campaign far more than McCain did. And it wasn't a good tone. Like 2kHz feedback on a loop through a 1000W PA. She tore up our collective nerves very quickly. She became the Republican equivalent of Hillary Clinton. Not a good position to be in.

 

This.

 

Corrected. Can't take credit for TC's words.

[Tommycat]

Corrected. Can't take credit for TC's words.

 

Thanks Totenkopf.

 

I do remember having to remind a few of my Republican friends that McCain was the one we were voting for, not Palin. Some really didn't like him. In my defense, I voted for Huckabee in the primary. I think Romney or Huckabee could have put up a fight. Sadly, neither of my first choices were available. and in a stunning reversal, McCain was talking about increasing taxes(indirectly by removing medical insurance from pre-tax deduction), while Obama was talking lowering them(oops...)

[True_Avery]

Whoops! Sorry Tommycat!

 

Oh, and glad we could help, Lord of Hunger

[Sir Vougalot]

Here are some golden quotes:

 

"If you want to know where Al Qaeda lives, you want to know where (Usama) bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me. Come back to the area where my helicopter was forced down with a three-star general and three senators at 10,500 feet in the middle of those mountains. I can tell you where they are."

 

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed."

 

"Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Let's get that straight. She's a truly close personal friend; she is qualified to be president of the United States of America. She's easily qualified to be vice president of the United States of America and quite frankly it might have been a better pick than me, but she is first-rate."

 

After referring to President Obama as "Barack America": "Believe me, that wasn't a Freudian slip. Oh Lordy day, I tell ya."

 

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

 

"You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking."

 

:laugh:

[True_Avery]

I like to think that Obama sat him down at some point and explained to him that someone surgically fused his foot with his mouth. Though, I did find his "this dinner is a big f***ing deal" gaff to be hilarious.

[Totenkopf]

I like to think that Obama sat him down at some point and explained to him that someone surgically fused his foot with his mouth. Though, I did find his "this dinner is a big f***ing deal" gaff to be hilarious.

 

Too bad it didn't take very well. Re the "f-word" gaffe, you'd think he'dve been around long enough to avoid those kind of mistakes.....but hey, it's Joe afterall.

[Samnmax221]

I like to think that Obama sat him down at some point and explained to him that someone surgically fused his foot with his mouth. Though, I did find his "this dinner is a big f***ing deal" gaff to be hilarious.

I don't ****ing care if the vice president says ****, or if the first lady wears shorts.

 

(everything from scurriless charges to nuissance lawsuits).

Forgive us for not wanting somebody who used their position of authority to **** over somebody because of a family grudge. It's far from the only illegal thing she's done although it's probably the most petty.

[Totenkopf]

Forgive us for not wanting somebody who used their position of authority to **** over somebody because of a family grudge. It's far from the only illegal thing she's done although it's probably the most petty.

 

IIRC she was found innocent of that charge, pretty much all of them bar maybe some minor one. The people w/"Palin pathology" can be as petty and vindictive as they want.....and have been. She'd probably still be merely the Gov of Alaska were it not for the "throw tons of crap and hope something sticks tactic". Unlike the Clintons, though, she didn't have a bunch of suckers willing to pick up her legal tab. Ce' le vie. Still, perhaps we can be spared the drama in the next election cycle and she can stick to being a cheer leader for the reps. At this point, even the devil himself is probably preferable to another BO term.