Mmmm...Brawndo!

Be kind -- I think she is speaking in tongues.

Sadly, us political junkies and policy wonks are not going to decide this election, it's the people out there who pay attention sporadically, if at all. This is incoherent to us, but how does it play in the hinterland? We might not want to misunderestimate her appeal.

The amazing thing here is that John McCain is running the most incompetent campaign in history (Sarah Palin is just one aspect of this), and yet the polls have the election as very, very close.

Be afraid.

Look, I know this is crazy, but whenever I see John McCain on tv now I think - Manchurian Candidate. If he gets in, well, we're screwed.

I've seen something like this before. It was named Stockdale.

Your last two sentences, Kevin, capture so much in so few words.

I'm with mert7878. I don't think this plays that badly to a lot of voters.

Worse than this, I think, is McCain's debate duck. Even unsavvy voters understand it for what it is.

It'll be sweetjustice if McCain's undoing is his own feeble fuck-ups than the spectacle of Ms. Palin.

Not an impressive answer. She seems to be over coached, as many other politicians have seemed in the past, searching her mind for talking points rather than answering questions. She also needs to loosen up.

I doubt that she is dumb (and I think she is smarter than Biden), and as a practical matter, her only performance that will matter much is at the debate with Biden. She needs to get better than she was in this clip by the time of the debate.

we've already entered the world of Idiocracy...

Ow! My Balls!

The look on Couric's face is priceless. She's trying super hard to understand WTF the candidate is saying.

Place your bets as to what will be the crisis to prevent her from debating. I'm betting her daughter has a "miscarriage."

As to Kevin's snark about whether she had cracked under the pressure of running for VP, I don't see that but if Kevin asks it about Palen, doesn't he have have to ask it about Biden (FDR going on television to explain the 1929 stock market crash - if she said that, Kevin would declare her a moron)?

Biden made a dopey gaffe but everyone knows he was talking about FDR's fireside chats.

But nobody knows what the hell Palin is talking about.

So Brian, you're OK with Palin as maybe the prez? Can I get a witness?

I'm with you on this 100%. Many of us had an early inkling that the lights were on but no one was home between the ears of Sarah Palin but this is downright frightening.

I believe it calls into question even her claim to have graduated from college. I heard her say something like this: I, along with other americans, "WERE" devastated....Isn't this English Grammar 101? High School English Grammar 101 at that.

This woman has absolutely no depth to her whatsoever;obviously no worldview (other than what she can see from Alaska) and no innate curiosity or average intelligence to make coherent sense with any of her answers to questions she's asked. The stammering, stuttering, and obvious lack of grasp of even the most fundamental communication tools tells me that she is not innately bright nor is she educated at all.

Surely she has no qualification (other than playing Governor of a state the size of Austin, Texas) for only 86 days (Legislature up there wore "Where's Sarah?" buttons - guess she was hiding like a mushroom from all of them, too? ) One can only imagine what a horrific governor she's made.

There was a very serious recall for her Mayorship of Wasilla and I believe we're seeing prima facie evidence in these interviews which tell us precisely why.

I believe that McCain has slapped the american people in the face with his capricious, reckless selection of this abysmal neophyte; it's on the order of treason in the estimation of an increasing number of folks.

Way to Troll Brian.

Her biggest problem, other than possible empty-headedness, is that she clearly has no past knowledge of any of these issues to give her a conceptual framework to plug the talking points into.

She is even worse than Bush in this respect. Even with Bush's legendary lack of curiosity about the world,he had learned something about the world from being around capable curious people discussing domestic and international affairs all his life.

The only serious connection she has ever had to people overseas is that witch-hunting priest from Kenya!

Sarah McQuaylin has given the moniker "ditzy broad" a new face!

Poor Katie Couric! This had to be one of the most ridiculous interviews she's ever had in her entire career.

Clearly, she had to be mumbling under her breath the entire time: WTF???

Palin giving interviews reminds me of how she shoots poor helpless animals....from an airplane while they're running.

I believe there's an apt metaphore here!

I doubt that she is dumb (and I think she is smarter than Biden)-Brian

This is piles of nonsense.

There's really no evidence to suggest she's smart, and certainly none that suggests she's smarter than Biden.

Your statement only makes sense if you replace "think" with "wish", which is probably your best hope here.

She scares the hell out of me; and John McCain looks like he is in another world.

Who's Palen? Anyway, what is she looking at? She looks down occasionally - does she have notes? It does seem she is just searching for some relevant talking points based on some key words in Couric's questions. Give her credit, though - nothing about the bridge to nowhere or McCain's POWness.

Life's just not the same when no one is giving you a pass for being cute and bubbly anymore.

I was waiting to see if she was going to say, "But the bailout has electrolytes...."

Either Obama wins this election or the American public does not deserve to vote. There really is no excuse.

This reminds me of junior high school when one of your classmates obviously did not prepare for their final presentation and is blowing it so badly in front of the whole class that all you can do is feel totally embarrassed for them. God, this woman is less articulate than a lot of those slacker kids who never bothered too study but she is actually running for V.P. Pathetic.

More like Professor Irwin Corey than anyone else I can think of.

I'd say this pretty much sums it up: huh?

Sarah Palin is a blithering idiot. I've encountered deranged, paranoid schizophrenic homeless people ranting on the streets of DC who were more coherent and made more sense than she does in this interview. She shouldn't be elected to national office, she should be committed to a mental hospital.

An empty vessel.

But Palin's got what religious nuts crave!

If there ever actually is a VP debate, then her incoherence might turn into an advantage. Think about it. It's essentially like trying to argue with with a crazy person. You drive yourself insane just trying to follow her arguments. At what point does Biden start sighing and rolling his eyes? When does he become so exasperated that that he can't hide it in the tone of his voice any longer? He's only human after all. All she has to do is act confident, no matter what she says, and half the audience will think she's a winner. It's TV. Image trumps everything.

Do you think this is because people are tired of beating up on her, because the notion that she's a hack is pretty much in place? There might be something to that.

There might also be the idea that everyone kind of things her and McCain will lose, even by people that don't like Obama. It's held together by an assumption that enough people will come to their senses to give Obama and Biden a victory. This one I am little unsure of, but I wouldn't rule it out.

The bailout is going to help with health insurance for family???

Well that certainly is news to me. It so much money maybe it outa help out with other things.

But seriously, wasn't this taxpayer "heist" only for investment bankers? Palin seriously has NO clue.

I know what illustrations I'll be doing tomorrow TGIF Cat Day. An Illustrate of a couple of cat burglars by the name of Dubya and Dick Cheney doing the heist of the century.

Huffington Post has this to say: Dick Cheney's signature is all over the controversial features of the Paulson bailout plan.

Lucy,

I'm not only okay with Palin being president, but also okay with Obama being president, notwithstanding his very modest experience level and qualifications.

My view is that all these folks are good and smart people who will step up, be serious, and do the very best they can on the big issues if they become president. Even Biden falls in that category, although he is a weird duck.

Obama likely would hurt the country short term on his leftist domestic policies, but the country can live with and recover from that with a new election in four years.

Palen does have to loosen up and lose the focus on talking points.

This reminds me of seeing Janes Addiction a long time ago. On that day, George HW Bush had a heart attack and power was briefly in Dan Qualye's hands. Perry Farrell went to the mic and said: "I don't care what you think of George Bush, but if you think Dan Quayle should be president, you're a f***king idiot." And then the band went into "Idiots Rule." The sad thing is that if Palin ever becomes president, we will wish for Dan Quayle.

I've watched a couple clips with the sound off.

Palin is a real flirt, isn't she?

Brian -- "... do the very best they can on the big issues..."? Have you been in a coma for the past 8 years?

Sigh. It's pretty clear that the meme on the Right now is that Palin's gaffes = Biden's gaffes, so pot, meet kettle, etc. Lord knows Biden's mouth is by now well worn and stretched from all the times his foot has been in there over the years, but there's a difference between the occasional "gaffe" (accidentally going off message, saying something embarrassing, getting tongue-tied or losing your train of thought, mixing up some facts or dates) and a persistent display of ignorance, confusion, mendacity and the basic ability to string a thought together that's not on a teleprompter in front of you. Why conservatives are convinced that any idiot off the street is capable of mastering the enormously complicated issues facing a national leader with just some "brushing up" beggars belief. That she lets herself be used like this is the only thing more incomprehensible.

The amazing thing is that she seems to be getting even worse in her interviews. Compare the Couric interview with the Gibson one. The surprising thing to me is I haven't even see posted what I believe to be her worst moment, when she tries defending Rick Davis.

I don't know if she's stupid or not, but clearly she has no interest in politics, at least national much less international politics. I'm a sports who doesn't follow hockey at all. But if you gave me a couple of weeks to bone up on it along with some good tutors, I'm sure I could sound knowledgeable in a short interview session. I might still get a lot of basics wrong such as what an icing call is and butcher recent hockey history, but I could be articulate about the subject because I like sports and would know how to frame the subject. Palin doesn't seem to have even a basic grasp of politics, and so listening to her is like listening to me try to BS someone about wine, a subject I truly know nothing about nor have any interest in.

I imagine the people who signed off on this pick pictured her being a dim congressman or governor, but I suspect even they overestimated how prepared she was.

Now you know why McCain had to slow down the bailout: he has to find a way to cancel the Palin/Biden debate -- at all costs. Watch this space, tomorrow McCain will say that he just can't make it to Mississippi.

My view is that all these folks are good and smart people who will step up, be serious, and do the very best they can on the big issues if they become president.

Brian, honey, running the United States of America is not the Special Olympics where everyone gets points for "doing their best". Lives, futures, and security are at stake here and if you're under the impression that all it takes to lead America is a bit of gumption and an earnest twinkle in your eye, well.....

Shit, whatever. Vote Gomer Pyle.

This campaign has gone seriously off the rails. I've never seen anything like it, but everyone is still nattering on as if this is business as usual.

Kevin, thanks for saying this. I've been wondering if I've been hijacked to a parallel universe where there is not a single grown-up to be found.

Glenn Greenwald is pretty funny today.

Greenwald previously said Palin was smart, and now he says that, http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/?source=rss “>“he was so wrong about that”.

In the YouTube video above, Palin is clearly reading from note cards, so I guess she can't remember what she is supposed to say about the bailout. Strange how Bush didn't even give McCain a clue about this bailout thing.

I could not agree more. Well said!

Personally, I think Katie Couric is an asshat, and am ashamed that people consider what she does "journalism" but her faces when she interviews this woman are priceless.

And Brian, stop, please just stop. I get that the candidates will not be conversant in every single topic...but at least have a shallow knowledge of the issues.

Its not that the things that she brought up weren't relevant--because tax deduction, trade policy, and decreased spending are relevant issues--it was just incoherent. You can tell that she had been studying up with talking points and freaked out when she couldn't think of the right thing to say. She's out of her league. And unlike others, I'm not going to give her the patronizing pat and say its not her fault---it is her fault.

She knew what she was signing up for and is ill prepared for the job. While it is unfortunate, she put herself in this position.

I was just talking to my sister about this, and she has begun to wonder if John McCain hates America for picking a VP running mate that is so inept---I just think he wants to win. And the conservatives that continue to defend this side show have demonstrated that they value power over principle.

Cassandra said: I believe that McCain has slapped the american people in the face with his capricious, reckless selection of this abysmal neophyte; it's on the order of treason in the estimation of an increasing number of folks.

I could not agree more. Well said!

Astonishing. She is speaking in fragmented sentences in the passive voice. Most people -- even illiterate ones speak in simple, declarative sentences in the active voice. You would say, "John did it to Joe." Palin is saying, "The deed, ah, er, was done to John, by, you know. Joe. Astonishing. Just astonishing.

I don't know if she's stupid or not

I do.

Cassandra,

FYI, you could fit the entire State of Texas into Alaska -- twice -- and have a bit of room leftover. A population of 670,000 rattles around in that immense vastness. With two U.S. Senators and a Congressman, they are vastly overrepresented ;-)

Technically, what she's doing is called "word salad" or "confabulating". The words not only have no connection at all to the question, they don't even have any connection to the other words.

You can sure see why they had to hire a city manager to do her job after she was elected mayor.

I agree with you, Kevin, and was making the same comment to my family this evening. I am beginning to feel sorry for Sarah because she really is in over her head. It's really sad. However, she made her choices, now she has to live with them.

This whole thing is a dream, right?

How long before we see the Sarah Palin/Miss South Carolina YouTube mashup?

Both palin and McCain are an embarrasment to their Party and to the Public as well. Both are now in the mode of avoiding the Press under the fear that they will show themselves to be what we all know they are. Totally incompetent. More of the Same.
Bailing out of the debate is just another avoidance. They fear the debates because they know they will be exposed.

Much more important than the effect of the interview itself is what it portends for her debate performance. She is a trainwreck waiting to happen.

That's assuming, of course, that they let her debate at all. They're going to keep the crazy tactics coming hard and fast:

http://theenlighteneddespot.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/mccain-incites-more-sports-metaphors/

All you guys are so smart. Part of the problem is that we expect politicians to answer questions in the normal politician way, like Bill Clinton and Biden, so that when people appear on stage who don't yet know how to play the game, some people equate that with stupidity or incompetance. So when Obama puts a bunch of "uh's" in his answers or Palin loses her confidence and resorts to talking points, the opposition blasts them as an empty suit or dumb.

jb,

Bush on big things?

A. Seven years without a terrorist attack on U.S. soil or, as far as I remember, witout the death of a single civilian.

B. Taliban routed, Hussein gone, Kadaffi surrendered, N. Korea causing no trouble, suffering in Africa significantly diminished.

And re-elected by the American people. Not bad for a dunce.

Lefties frequently call republicans stupid -- Bush, Reagan, and Ford, to name a few. You also used to call Truman stupid. Now Reagan and Truman are headed to the ranks of our greatest presidents. Maybe Palin will join them someday.

Brian: let me remind you of something:
1.-"7 yrs-no terrorist attacks..."
A. We probably wouldn't have had 9/11 if the Bush Admin had been on their toes.
2.-"Taliban routed"
A. I don't know where you're getting your news but Afganistan is a potential bigger mess than Iraq.
3.-"Kadaffi surrendered"
A.- Upon negotiations started before Bush came into office.
4.-"No. Korea causing no problem"
A. Again, where do you get your news? Clinton had them signed , sealed and delivered and then along came Bush. He finally reverted to the Clinton method but even today No. Korea is causing a problem.
5.- "Suffering in Africa is significantly diminished".
A. I have to laugh over that one.

6.-"re-elected by the American people.-Not bad for a dunce"
A.- It's the American people who feel like a DUNCE. What's his poll numbers?

I feel sorry for her. Why she said 'yes' to be the VP nomination I'll never understand. She has no interest or understanding of world affairs or national politics. She's the mayor of Mayberry.

Reagan is not now, nor has he ever been "one of our greatest Presidents." This idiotic lie is one of the right-wing troll's most obvious tells.

Bush's "accomplishments" come in three categories:

1) Under Bush's watch we had the single most effective terrorist attack on our soil - not a good sign. Brian counts this as one of Bush's accomplishments (though, to be fair, Brian is a drooling moron and thinks that Bush equaling Clinton's non-terrorist attack on American soil is "positive accomplishment").

2) Under Bush's watch the Taliban is pretty much back where it was before he spent billions bombing remote villages. Sure, there's a new mayor in Kabul, but he's dependent on the power of the US military. No points to Bush there.

3) Used fearmongering and unprovoked assault on innocent Iraqi population to become "Wartime President" along with gaming the alert system to win narrowest election of said "Wartime President" in history. Fail (though to be fair, the populace should have recognized before 2006 elections that Bush's "short victorious war" was nothing of the sort).

In other words, Brian has nothing in terms of governing and is cheering only because Bush pulled off electoral victory.

"A. Seven years without a terrorist attack on U.S. soil or, as far as I remember, "witout the death of a single civilian."

Same as Clinton 1993-2000.
And of course you're cherry-picking your 7 years, and your geography, to avoid mention of 3000 dead on 9/11/01, and 4000+ US dead in Iraq.

"B. Taliban routed, Hussein gone, Kadaffi surrendered, N. Korea causing no trouble, suffering in Africa significantly diminished."

Taliban regrouped and controlling much of Afghanistan; OBL still at large; N Korea with several nukes, and now restarting plutonium production; about $3T on the national debt; lower job approval than Nixon at the height of Watergate. Falling real incomes, stagnant stock market, financial meltdown.

"And re-elected by the American people. Not bad for a dunce."

He wasn't elected by "the American people" first time round. Gore won the popular vote; analysis of so-called "overvotes" showed Gore won Florida as well.

Worst. President. Ever.

[..even without mentioning the blatant criminality and pure evil of the torture policy]

Is it my turn to be vice-preznit yet? Come on! I can do better than that nimrod...

"Lefties frequently call republicans stupid -- Bush, Reagan, and Ford, to name a few. You also used to call Truman stupid. Now Reagan and Truman are headed to the ranks of our greatest presidents."

You seem confused. Truman was a Democrat. And I've never heard anyone call him stupid.

As for Reagan, it's now pretty well established that he was suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's in his second term. And really, that's the most generous interpretation we can put on his behavior in the Iran/contra scandal, where he authorized the illegal sale of arms to Iran and the illegal funding of the contras and then claimed to have forgotten about it.

Here's a little tip for Sarah: less time on hair and makeup, more time hitting the journals and books.

FACT: Alaska contains Mount McKinley.

FACT: John McCain was a POW.

FACT: The trade we can't see scary thing like all Americans I'm ill they bailout and one in five jobs in health sector.

FACT: Snow machines.

Put all of these FACTS together, and what do you get? Obviously:

CONCLUSION: Ronald Reagan was the Greatest President of All Time!

Please come back when you can afford to make a purchase. Your kids are starving. Carl's Jr. believes that no child should go hungry. You are an unfit mother. Your children will be placed in the custody of Carl's Jr.

Carl's Jr...”Fuck You, I'm Eating.

Okay folks, you all think Reagan was a dunce and Bush is both a dunce and has accomplished nothing/worst president in history. I'm confident nothing will change you mind. We'll leave the correct judgments to history, which will have more wisdom with the passage of time than any of us can muster today.

Good night and good luck to whoever is elected president in 40 days.

Just like her state, Sarah Palin's brain appears to be a vast wasteland largely devoid of human intelligence.

I agree with Scotttap. I think the Dems need to be careful. Image IS everything, and the Right can twist things in bizarre ways. Both Biden and Obama need to be careful in dealing with her and about her.

That said, she seems completely incompetent. She can't answer simple questions????? My roommate nailed Katie's question with NO prep whatsoever. Has no one in the McCain camp prepared her at all????

This may draw a sympathy vote for her.

And Brian, I think you post these things so people will respond to your outrageousness. You're seriously going to defend Bush?? -- hands down the worst president ever. Let me state it simply so you can understand: BUSH IS A LIAR. He flat out lies. He lies so much his pants have been on fire for 8 years. The Iraq war is a money-making scheme for his cronies. He used 9-11 as an excuse to rape our basic civil liberties, plunder our Treasury and destroy the U.S.'s good reputation in the World. He's a criminal.

And really, "Hussein gone"??? Are you kidding?? Aw, don't tell me you still believe the lies that Bush and Cheney tried selling everyone? That's so cute and retro. Hussein is not Bin Laden; they're not friends; they're not cohorts. They're actually enemies. Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11. Nada, zip, zero, zilch, bupkis. Or as they say in Palin land: Nyet. (That's Russian for "no.")

(Hee, I have more foreign policy experience than Palin.) =)

And terrorist attacks? How many have there been ever? Clinton had 8 years without a single one. Are we saying only foreign attacks? Then the last one was Pearl Harbor.

The Taliban? Bush pulled troops out of Afghanistan to send them to Iraq before the job of routing the Taliban was done. The Taliban is resurgent, opium production is at an all-time high (which finances their war against us), and American generals on the ground report that we are not winning.

And Quadaffi?? He made a strategic economic decision to get on the right side of the biggest oil junkies on the planet. $140 a barrel anyone?

N. Korea is restarting the PYONGYANG nuclear reactor as we speak (or write). Bush's bungling of the fragile nuclear detante by refusing to delist NK (as promised) has produced predictable consequences.

African suffering?? One word: Sudan.

The Bush report card:
- Peace? F
- Prosperity? F
- America's international reputation? F
- General welfare? (read Katrina) F
- Domestic tranquility? F
- America as human rights leader? (Read torture, habeas corpus, due process, extraordinary rendition, etc.) F
- America on the right track? F
- Economy? BIG FAT F
- Health of the middle class? (What middle class??) F
- Presidential approval rating? F

If this is acceptable to you, then you are clearly a different kind of American than I am. But since you are an American, I respect your absolute right to hold you're own opinion, no matter how incomprehensible it may be.

Sorry. I indicated I was leaving, but I could not resist showing you Palin's 2002 letter to a San Francisco newspaper after the 9th Circuit ruled that schools had to take "under God" out of the pledge of allegiance. It probably won't be appreciated here, but we could do worse in a VP or President.

Dear Editor,

San Francisco judges forbidding our Pledge of Allegiance? They will take the phrase ‘under God’ away from me when my cold, dead lips can no longer utter those words.

God Bless America.”

Please read this link : http://www.grizzlybay.org/SarahPalinInfoPage.htm

I am a Singaporean. But I fear for you, Americans and all the wildlife there.
God Bless.

Brian: And someone needs to pull that Kool Aid cup from your lips. It never was in the original and doesn't need to be. Don't you get it or is the Kool Aid too intoxicating?

I feel guilty doing this to you guys, but here is a nice photo tour of Palin charming New York and world leaders:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/popup?id=5884139&contentIndex=1&page=14&start=false

No Brian, no less competent candidate for VP has ever been offered by a major party. And yes, the judgment of history is in, it shows Reagan committed treason by arranging with the Iranians to release the hostages on his inaugural day. It shows that Bush's actions were an aid to the attacks on 9/11 as his posture was one of aggressive inaction.

It's not that this group is so far left, you blithering idiot, it is that your position is so far to the right that you still haven't noticed that you are part of the fringe 25% who still haven't noticed that Bush is a disastrous President unprepared for the job after eight years of on the job training.

And as woefully unprepared as Bush is to take on the responsibilities of the Presidency? I've seen Bush in action, I know Bush's competence level, Sarah Plain is no Bush.

Yes, yes, look at the pretty pictures. Sara Plain does best when all one has is her face. It's just when she opens that hole in it that she lets everyone know that there's nothing inside Caribou-Barbie's head.

Maybe the rethugs already know it doesn't matter who their candidates are or what they think or say. THEY are the ones counting the votes after the election. AGAIN.

Eric: Mayberry would have never elected sarah palin to any public office. You've insulted the kind, simple, but intelligent, often time wise, fictional people of Mayberry.

Wasila probably elected the best looking candidate, with the most friends, that year.

Interesting scenario. McCain sends Palin to campaign heavily in the northern Maine district where she had great appeal, they squeeze one electoral vote out of Main from that district, and win the election 270-268.

Brian: Interesting scenario. McCain sends Palin to campaign heavily in the northern Maine district where she had great appeal, they squeeze one electoral vote out of Main from that district, and lose the election 537-1.

Yeah, that'll work.

"Brian" is parody.

Has to be.

Not possible to actually think this way.

Palin is smarter than Biden?

Palin isn't as smart as Biden's left pinky fingernail.

Clinton does not quite get free of terrorist deaths: Feb 26, 1993 - 6 dead in WTC truck-bomb attack.

Palin acts so much like a student put on the spot without the right answer.

There were certainly terrorist deaths on Clinton's watch and it is quite possible that even if the Republicans hadn't been wasting FBI resources on non-existent criminal acts by Clinton that the same number would have occurred.

But.

Clinton made an effort to go after actual terrorism only to be accused of wagging the dog by idiots like Brian while the Republicans undermined every effort to bring terrorism to the fore.

Nonetheless, Brian knows Ms. Plain is an idiot, he knows Bush is an idiot. He even knows Reagan is in the lower third of Presidents. Brian just likes being a pain in the ass.

I personally believe that US Americans ...

Anyone with me here?

Brian 10:04,

I've really enjoyed your posts. Just promise me that you'll keep the taunting happy-thoughts coming in this space if by some evil miracle the Palin-McCain ticket actually does win the White House. Because if that happens, we're all going to need a daily dose of black humour.

PS (to Brian 10:04): Palin would do well to fall back on the Pledge of Allegiance when she has trouble answering questions, instead of trying to make sentences herself at home.

PPS (to all): I think when Palin looks down in the CBS interview, she's counting points of on her fingers, and looking down at her hands for inspiration (i.e. she's not looking at note cards). But if that's right, it's a worse sign -- she's purposefully avoiding the gaze of the interviewer.

Abominable. Another ignorant tongue-tied idiot just spewing nonsense and BS. Incompetent. Manipulative.

As a citizen, I am just insulted. As an American, I am just ashamed that our political process is so broken.

Wow! Palin is a plain mistake.

Back in 'suffering Africa' we have a saying, " Shit happens".

I think we need to realize that Sarah Palin is basically our current president, dressed up in a pink suit.

The problem with movement conservatism in general and the modern Republican Party in particular -- as exemplified by Brian, everyone's favorite faux-moderate Republican concern troll -- is that she isn't embarrassing them. As Obama pointed out, they're proud of their ignorance. All the criticisms you leveled against her aren't flaws in their book, they're selling points -- after all, if you're appalled by her unreadiness for national office, it means she "annoys liberals," and that's good enough for them. (It was the same with George W. Bush, if you recall -- remember "Bush Derangement Syndrome"? The fact that liberals objected to Bush encouraged his supporters.)

I've commented before about how blatantly the power structure behind movement conservatism openly relies on appeals to emotion. Palin's popularity -- which simply can not be justified by reasonable argument -- in a perfect example.

Just for the record, Brian:

When Obama says "uh", he's thinking about how to present an idea.

When Palin says "uh", she's trying to remember what she was told to say while she fumbles with her Cliff Notes.

Big difference.

She makes Dan Quayle seem like a genius and W like an educated orator. I cannot believe more people don't see, or won't acknowledge, the huge gaffe "maverick" McCain has made by chosing her. God Bless America, indeed!

It's tough to make sense in her position because a single term names the cause of the mess: Bush administration. Inasmuch as Palin espouses the policies that led us down this road, it's hard to offer a solution. She's campaigning to aggravate the problem--another four years of economic and diplomatic malpractice. Removing Republicans from power will help in the long run. In the short run, it's already too late.

Didn't I read that she transferred to 3 or 4 different colleges before finally graduating???They sd it was because she missed her friends,then she missed her family, then she didn't like the Hawaiian winters(!!!).Whatever!!! I'm beginning to wonder, the more I listen to her talk; with her bizarre syntax and sentence structure,the dangling participles and principles,if indeed there wasn't another reason for all that switching schools.Do they ask for transcripts of VP candidates? Are they ever made public-probably not. But I wonder, in all seriousness, if there might not be some ADD or some undiagnosed dyslexia in her childhood.The fact remains that she cannot successfully pursue a concept thru to expression ,and she constantly conflates ideas and subjects without seeming to be aware of either...I cannot tell you how MUCH this frightens me.

The funny thing is that the first 15 seconds of the response was sounding coherent. Maybe we would disagree with the response, but a valid response nonetheless. But then, as she caught herself heading down a 700 Billion non-sequiter about health care, she cuts herself and revents to nonsense, just spewing out talking points. Oy.

I remember when I took the bar exam, they pointed out that if you don't know the answer, you can "vomit" on the page, as they reward the right answer but don't take away from unnecessary or wrong stuff. Maybe Palin was hoping we grade on a curve.

Go away! Baitin'!

Abandon your posts! Fleeee!! Flee for your lives!!!!!

i've figured it out!!!!!
brian = palin!!!!!!

or as Pala so eloquently put it,
"Palin happens"

Sarah woodenhead, aka Charlie McCain:

http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c197/Peregrinor/misc/cm03b1.jpg

Oh Please.. They cut the bit short before she actually got her point across. I know you democrats have a short attention span, but at least TRY to understand.
Keep in mind too, that there are a lot of people who have no clue how to address the problem let alone the ones who caused it back in Clinton's terms of presidncy. Clinton was interviewed just the other day saying that it started with him. So why don't the democrats come up with a solution?

BullSh**ting her way through. Stupid programed rhetoric.

Barnes,
Don't know about you, but I certainly don't want HER God blessing MY America. Anyone happen to get her witch doctor's Number?

Sara is an exceptional woman, but, this interview protrays her a being "burnt out" already. It is kind of sad.

When she had finished I had know idea what she said and even less of what she meant

I'm surprised the comparison to Peter Seller's characer "Chance", the simple-minded but earnest gardener who is taken as profound and ready for the Presidency, due to TV sound-bite culture and ideological confirmation bias in the movie "Being There" haven't come up yet.

The similarities are scary...

Watch the trailer and you'll see what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYLy1Yj_P_Q

If anything cries out for a compare and contrast YouTube video, this is it...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078841/

McCain and Palin... neither of them seem to be in complete control of their faculties - very scary.

I think Katie is just trying to boost her ratings. She has done tv for over a decade and Sarah is new to the game. Katie needs to look further up the road. What if McCain wins. Look who won't get exclusive interviews?
Katie, I have watched you for a decade and you can't even decide on a hair colour and the eyeliner makes my husband cry ouch. Please, give us all a break and ease up on the obvious catfight you are trying to create. The outcome is you lose even if you convince others you are the better cat.
I would like to see Katie walk in Sarah's high heels for a week. I am thinking she couldn't handle it and she might even remember how hard it was when she was just starting out in front of the camera.
Sarah has been selected by Senator McCain as his running mate and has been in the game of running for a month or more? Many think Obama was selected and Hillary elected because the Edwards affair was supressed until after he endorsed Obama? Hmmmm. No the good old boys network wouldn't, couldn't? Right.
Katie needs to remember her position should be neutral and her opinion kept to herself if she wants to do her job which is to read the news not be the news. You might want to touch base with Dan Rather for some advice on creating the news Katie. People who do their job do not have to worry about losing their job.

I thought it was just me that could not make sense of what Susan was saying...so relived I have not gone senile at an early age!
Still, Bill Clinton says she is "appealing"..

Watch out Sarah, Bill has a certain reputation to protect.

Her handlers can put lipstick and spin her responses as much as they want, but after listening to her responses to KC's questions, one wonders whether this is the reason why she has been shielded from the press all along. The Palin behind the mask is gradually emerging.

Of course reader of MJ will find Palin to be completely out of her league and her answers to simple, important questions totally pathetic. Unfortunately, we live in a country filled with morons who will see this ineptitude as reassuring. And of course she said all the right things about Israeli intransigence, so it's a wash.

Talking Points Salad, well tossed.

Gag me with a spoon.

Incoherent? The question was incoherent and unanswerable. What would you expect her to say? The bailout is completely over everyone's head, especially a head as pretty as that one, and I ain't talkin' about Couric or me.

Poor America-this dipstick is one heart beat from the presidency.

I wouldn't underestimate the voters. This disastrous 8 years has left a serious injury on millions of Americans who pay attention when their personal worlds are affected. I saw a recent graph depiction from 9/1 thru today of all 4 candidates' poll numbers - ms mooseburger's path has become a solid downward slide. She is incoherent. A recent report said the campaign did a mock debate w/her & it was, in their words, not mine - "disastrous"

"Seven years without a terrorist attack on U.S. soil or, as far as I remember, witout the death of a single civilian."

How quickly you forget! How about this little quote from Wikipedia:

"The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two Democratic U.S. Senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others. The primary suspect was not publicly identified until 2008."

That's five civilians dead shorltly after 9/11. Of course none of the people that got government anthrax mailed to them were republicans.

Unfortunately I have known many people like Brian. He is no parody - he is exactly like the rest of them:

(Willfully) Dumb as Dirt.

A slightly more articulate George Bush in drag.

tomedgar@halenet.com.au

ExBrit says:
Look, I know this is crazy, but whenever I see John McCain on tv now I think - Manchurian Candidate. If he gets in, well, we're screwed!
And I say,Be ready to be
SCR***d because I have a feeling that Carl Rove will think of something ??????

Reino:
I've seen something like this before. It was named ????
poor little girl is pretending..
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oh5R1blCqlc

To J.M.Serial Liar:
I would say,some action in South America or the M.east.

ckelly DOES remind me of ME !

Cassandra,Sarah Palin's career
was about a small town local paper but she was known for her beauty pageant parties and the only reason she got into politics is when the politicians in Alaska were corrupted and the people got sick of the whole thing & they were ready to vote even for a Polar Bear if he comes
in searching for food,he'll get the job.how many times she takes the baby on stage ?
and why ? she has other 4 kids
why don't they keep the baby with someone back stage ? but we'll never be able to separate deception &politics !

For those of you who think the critics of Palen are all bad guy liberals, please go to the National Review web site and read Kathleen Parker's article on how Palen can save her party, "by resigning". Parker is about as far right as you can get without falling off the world, but does have a good dose of common sense. Read it -- she says it well.

Incoherent
Lack of Knowledge
Lack of Understanding
Lack of Comprhension
Lack of Awareness
Lack of Competence
Grade: "F"

They had to choose Palin in order for Mc Cain to look and sound smart.

WOW, what is wrong with America...people still want to vote for McCain. Palin is actually that dumb by the way... don't give her more credit than she deserves. All of you saying your voting for McCain seriously what are you smoking? Are you living in the same world as the rest of us, The U.S.A has become nothing more than a joke thanks to the republicans and their monkey running around saying whatever comes to his little brain, and McCain hes worse!!

to brian,
what rock have been hiding under? bush is a total screwup.

Sarah Palin needs to be herself and the McCain campaign "instructors" need to stay out of the way. She can speak, she can think but she is trying to follow the "instructions" and it is uncomfortable.

Couric and Gibson gave her gotcha questions. But that is politics, not journalism She is smart enough to answer even those on her own.

You Palin haters are going to land her and her family in the Naval Observatory with the sympathy vote if you keep this up.

yuo r a nitwit

Cassandra, those "Where's Sarah" buttons were because she hardly ever visited her offices in Juneau, the State Capital. Instead, she worked at her offices in Anchorage, because it was close to Wasilla, her home town (that is, when she wasn't actually IN Wasilla, collecting a per diem for being out of the Governor's residence!).

Sarah is a born fascist. She knows she's better than other people and deserves to rule them. And she knows people are so stupid they'll fall for any line she sells them. It must be terribly confusing to her, to admit that it's not working this time -- if she even sees it yet.

She's got some native intelligence, but no concept of the scale of the task of running a huge country, with very active and involved domestic and foreign policy systems. She probably thought she could just "study up" between speeches, but now I fear she's just "winging it." After all, that's how she got where she is, so why can't she just run the country that way? It works on teevee.

Forest Gump, where are you?

In any case, Alaskans get pretty tired pretty quick, of high-handed trickiness and lord-it-all attitudes. We got sick of Emperor Murkowski, and welcomed a woman who promised to sell the Governors useless jet -- that couldn't even land at half the airfields in the state.

But now she's got her own paper trail, from asking nicely (three times!) how one goes about banning books from the library, to instructing her aids and hubby not to respond to lawful subpoenas from the troopergate investigating committee.

Believe me, this woman won't serve another term as Alaska's Governor, after letting the state know just what she thinks of due process.

What the hell or heaven (if you prefer)is that supposed to mean. Seriously...can you explain what that means? I believe in God, so I should:
1. want to erase the line between church and state?
2. believe that sarah palin is competent? I'm shaking my head. That post doesn't even qualify as a non-sequiter. Its nonsense.

It's clear she was using this interview to help her family and friends play talking-point bingo. You know, that's the new hot game sweeping the Republican Party where you get a game card with all the talking points scattered on a 5x5 grid and whoever gets five-in-a-row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally first wins.

She's a verbal pinball wizard...she's got a supple list of talking points she must include before TILT.

I guess this truly is one of those times where the American people may well get the government they deserve.

Please supersize our critical thinking abilities before it's too late! Want fries with that?

I think there McCain bears an uncanny resemblance to Charlie Chaplin in LIMELIGHT... That is not a good thing.

exbrit...you're absolutely correct. manchurian candidate: How else would the neo-cons protect their interests. If the americans buy into this crap of $700 billion protecting main st. they'll believe anything! Watch out Future!!

She has no idea. I only pray that she realizes her limitations and goes back to having babies. SOON

rah Palin Unplugged: English as She is Not to Be Spoken!

Sarah Palin Unplugged: English as She is Not to Be Spoken!

by Leinad Moolb, [humorist, repeat, HUMORist, pls don't take offense!]

NOME, ALASKA -- In order to get a good reading on who
Sarah Palin really is and what planet she comes from, it's best to get
a copy of some of speeches and interviews and see firsthand and up
close and personal how she literally mangles the Queen's English, and
plain American English, too. For this alone, she will go down in
history as the one of the most interesting vice-presidential
candidates ever to come down the pike, or Wasilla's Main Street, as
she likes to say in her folksy, end-of-the-road, Down Home Alabama,
Alaskan way. Pure theater! Pure language magic!

Take this quote from her recent debate with "Joe". According to the
CNN transcript of the show, Governor Palin did one amazing thing with
language that is worth archiving forever.

PALIN: "There have been times where, as mayor and governor, we have
passed budgets that I did not veto and that I think could be
considered as something that I quasi-caved in, if you will, but
knowing that it was the right thing to do in order to progress the
agenda for that year and to work with the legislative body, that body
that actually holds the purse strings."

Read the part again that goes "in order to progress the agenda for
that year". Do you see how Palin uses "progress" as a verb there?
Well, it's not a one-time thing. Actually, she does it all the time,
24/7/365, and she has done it all her life, apparently, or at least
all her life that she has been speaking English. I am not sure what
language she spoke before.

Now here's the smoking gun: A Christian radio reporter who once
interviewed Palin at the Governor's Office in Alaska's rainy state
capital of Junea -- named after Joe Juneau, if you must know -- noted
on his blog: "I interviewed Palin three times, twice before the
gubernatorial election and once in her office in Juneau, after she had
won. At the time, I was keeping a blog about Alaska issues, and I
wrote about the first interview and the second interview (but not the
third, strangely, though I do recall that she read off of note cards
in that interview as well as in the other ones)."

This KNOM radio reporter even danced with the newly-elected governor
at an Inauguration Ball in Nome, he told his blog readers. Cool. (He
is now living in South Africa. Alaska sends her people far and wide.
Her former humorists, too.)

Well, back to the story at hand, and to make a long humor column
short, as I was saying, the radio guy in Nome, who is now doing
missionary work in South Africa, noted this on his blog -- and what he
said is startling: "One thing I remember about her was how she uses
"progress" as a verb and not a noun, as in "we want to progress these
issues for Alaska" instead of "we want to make progress." It drove me
nuts then and still does, when I saw her use the phrase in a recent
interview some place."

So let's look at that recent Joe-Sarah debate quip at the beginning of
this column again. Scroll up or just look down. Your choice. And spot
the CAPS!

PALIN: "There have been times where, as mayor and governor, we have
passed budgets that I did not veto and that I think could be
considered as something that I quasi-caved in, if you will, but
knowing that it was the right thing to do IN ORDER TO PROGRESS THE
AGENDA for that year and to work with the legislative body, that body
that actually holds the purse strings."

Progess as a verb. What's up with that? This is something that Maureen
Dowd might want to discuss at some point in order to progress the
national agenda, too.

------------------------------------------------

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Leinad Moolb is a former Alaskan humorist who now
practices humor in far-flung lands across the wide blue yonder seas
where he can even see China on a clear day from his apartment window.
It's not Russia, but it's close. Contact Leinad Moolb at:
leinadmoolb@gmail.com