Skip Navigation

The Daily Dish - 2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan

Revisiting The Palin Farce

By The Daily Dish
Jan 9 2010, 12:32 PM ET

I don't have the book yet - they have an insane embargo on it - but this nugget is worth chewing over:

In the days leading up to an interview with ABC News’ Charlie Gibson, aides were worried with Ms. Palin’s grasp of facts. She couldn’t explain why North and South Korea were separate nations and she did not know what the Federal Reserve did. She also said she believed Saddam Hussein attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

People ask - and some junior apparatchiks like Continetti even write books trying to understand - why liberals, independents and non-fundie conservatives "hate" Palin. The answer is: we don't hate Palin. I sure don't. I'm just mesmerized by her as the biggest freak show to be given this powerful a role in America since Michael Jackson. As the record shows, I was not predisposed against her. In fact, the idea of Palin - the feisty right-feminist who took on special interests and reformed government, while skinning caribou with her bare teeth - was as appealing to me as it obviously was to McCain. And I'm not even starbursted by her boobies.



But it became almost immediately clear that she knew nothing about anything, had a private life that you usually see hashed out on Judge Judy, covered up her total lack of governing competence with so many lies they were hard to keep track of, and had next-to-no knowledge of any domestic or foreign policy issues, including energy. Isn't that enough to regard her nomination is a total farce, the biggest insult ever delivered to voters since ... well, Dan Quayle, who was far more informed, smart and serious than Palin ever was.

The idea that this person was qualified to run a country in one of its most serious crises, economically and militarily, beggars belief. The recklessness it revealed in McCain showed that he too was simply unqualified for high office, gambling with the core security of the US for cheap tactical advantage.

Presented by

More at The Atlantic

Anne Rice, 'Secret World of Arrietty': The Week Ahead in Pop Culture The Week in Pop Culture
Iran War Would Cost Trillions: Will the GOP Pay More Taxes for That? Would the GOP Raise Taxes to Fund a War With Iran?
Using the Internet as Matchmaker: The Drawbacks to Online Dating The Drawbacks to Online Dating
We Don't Need a Digital Sabbath, We Need More Time You Don't Need a Break From Technology
In Memphis Classrooms, the Ghost of Segregation Lingers On In Memphis Classrooms, the Ghost of Segregation Lingers On
Special Report
The Civil War National Portrait Gallery The Civil War
President Obama reflects on what Lincoln means to him and to America, in an introduction to our special issue. Read more ›
View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

Athens in Flames

Feb 13, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)