Sarah Palin - Ignorant Wingnut

I urge all of you to read Sarah Palin's responses to a questionnaire from the Eagle Forum concerning her issue positions when running for Governor in 2006.  What leaps out at you, among other things, is that Palin embodies the kind of aggressive, right-wing know-nothingism that has made the GOP the Stupid Party.  My personal favorite:

Q: Are you offended by the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

SP: Not on your life.  If it was good enough for the founding fathers, it is good enough for me and I'll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.

What does one say about this kind of ignorance?  Wasn't this what prompted the Burr-Hamilton duel?

But the more salient part of the questionnaire in light of today's events is this:

Q:  Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?

SP: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support. 

Q: Will you support efforts to raise or lower the mandatory age of education? Why or why not?

SP: No, Again parents know better than government what is best for their children.

With respect to abortion, Palin could not be more extreme:

SP: I am pro-life.  With the exception of a doctor's determination that the mother's life would end if the pregnancy continued, I believe that no matter what mistakes we make as a society, we cannot condone ending an innocent's life.

So there you have it.  I am sure that Bristol Palin felt she had total freedom to choose to have this child.  (I also love the idea that a shotgun wedding is the Palin's preferred approach to this situation.  No wonder she and John McCain are "soul mates."  They evidently grew up in the same era, notwithstanding their 28 year age difference.)  And, of course, Hillary voters will generally see the world the same way.

The Obama camp has been unwilling to discuss Palin's daughter to date and probably rightly so -- but some surrogate -- ideally Hillary Clinton -- should take her to task on this stuff. 

[h/t to the People's Forum for highlighting the "Pledge" quote -- I might have missed it otherwise.] 

 

Comments

[ikl]

Um, no, people should leave candidates' children alone. Just like Obama said today. And that goes for surrogates too.

[Sir Charles]

Ikl,

I don't mean that they should attack Bristol Palin in any way. I think they need to highlight the fact that if candidate Palin had her way, all of our children would be bereft of education in this important subject and would have no options should they find themselves pregnant. This is wacko extremism and needs to be fought. Aggressively.

[David]

Someone hasn’t picked up on this???? Check out her answer to #11

The Pledge of Allegiance wasn’t written until 1892 , LONG AFTER the “Founding Fathers” had passed on. And the words UNDER GOD werent inserted until 1954, at the urging of the KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS (who, I dont think, were ever considered the Founding Fathers). What a joke - she isnt even cognizant on her own countrys history.

[Sir Charles]

David,

Read my post -- It was my first choice for ignorant wingnuttery.

[br]

Charles,

I don't think any surrogates need to do anything yet. This is the most epic flameout I have ever witnessed. I think the Democrats don't need to do anything but make magnanimous statements and stand out of the way.

[Stephen]

I've emailed this today to some close friends, but concerns over the Palin children are misplaced. No one at Cogitamus - indeed no Democrat I've seen - has attacked their children in any way.

I went through seminary, and both my wife and I have held ministerial positions at churches. We have been told by professors, pastors and district superintendents (like bishops) that pastors' families are under scrutiny at all times, not only by parishioners but others in the community as well. Our kids' behavior and even that of their friends is going to be under the microscope.

Is it fair? No. Is it just how it is? You bet it is, and literally millions of people live with this kind of thing every day. So I have no sympathy for politicians.

That doesn't mean we should attack or insult politicians' children, the way McCain did with Chelsea Clinton. But to suggest that Sarah Palin faked a pregnancy in order to hide her daughter's "shame" wasn't an attack on her daughter. And to suggest that extremist rightwing sexual attitudes tend to result in the opposite outcome of what's intended, as Palin's family helps prove, is again not an attack on Bristol Palin - who is, if anything, to be pitied.

Nor should we shy away from suggesting that forcing a 17-year-old to marry some guy - who knows how old he is - because of what is possibly one sexual encounter is bad parenting.

[TxSaintsFan]

Well, put me in the 'ignorant wingnut' column. Like Sarah Palin, I believe sex education is a parental responsibility, not that of the public school system.

I've had the opportunity to browse DailyKos and a few other 'left of center' websites, and I am stunned by the level of hateful speech exhibited, a level of which far exceeds that I've seen on the 'right of center' websites.

We should be able to find ways to respectfully disagree with each other without resorting to name calling.

[Lisa Simeone]

I have to go with 'br' on this one:

"This is the most epic flameout I have ever witnessed."

Sir C and litbrit know that earlier today, about an hour before the story broke, I made a highly uncharacteristic prediction (uncharacteristic because I usually don't make them, about anything!) -- that Palin would pull out, citing "family reasons" or whatever. Then this story broke. Now I see it as even more likely. I think more stuff is going to hit the fan, especially as she goes out on the campaign trail.

(Then again, maybe the sympathy factor negates all of that, and people will rally 'round, and get pissed off at the media and the Democrats in general for piling on. So I guess it's now a half-hearted prognostication.)

In any case, totally agree with Stephen that my heart goes out to this poor girl, who has been dragged into the national spotlight by no choice of her own. This, frankly, seems to me the most damning thing about Palin in this whole episode: allowing her daughter to be used in this way. She never should've accepted the VP nod. I think this is clearly a case of a politician's ego/career coming before everything else in life (yes, I know, history is rife with examples).

[A]

I find the naming of gov. Palin's children disturbing.
What are they, like Bristol, Trig, Deuteronomy? What the hell? I also can't stand this woman's voice. And is it just me, or does she have that vacant Scientologist-type stare? We need serious leadership, people! The gop needs to quit throwing up abortion as a red herring to get us off more immediate discussions we need to have in this country! We can argue semantics over our moral code after we end the two wars we've barged into, fix the oil problem, and navigated the Russo-Georgian conflict. I am ashamed we're that far gone in America that we didn't all laugh out loud when we heard McCain's choice. Now, the more I read about crazy gun-totin' lady, it seems more sad than funny, not unlike McCain himself... We are so screwed if these morons get elected and continue to run us further into the ground.

[Joe Klein's conscience]

TxSaintsFan:
Have you been in a cave? Do you ever read Red State? Malkin? Listen to Rush Limbaugh? What you don't seem to understand, because most of the lefty sites have comments(and some even have the ability to post diaries), is that anyone can create an account and comment. Turdblossom himself can create an account at the Great Orange Satan if he wanted to and no one would stop him.

[Sir Charles]

TxSAintsFan,

I have a 15 year old son -- my wife and I are pretty comfortable talking about matters sexual and have very liberal view on such things. He would rather have a root canal before talking to us about such things. I am extremely grateful that his school has an excellent sex ed program that obviates the need to hold him down and scream the essential facts at him.

I suspect that you are kidding yourself if you think that you are better situated to teach this subject than an outside educator. Obviously Sarah Palin was no great shakes in this department either.

With respect to the notion that right wingers are more civil -- well, that's just silly. Not to mention the low level of literacy in the comments sections on those sites.

[Lisa Simeone]

Sir C, that link you provided to the Eagle Forum questionnaire? It now bounces you automatically to the McCain site: http://www.johnmccain.com/gustav.htm

[BruceMcF]

The attack must be be focused on McCain ... "McCain picked this social extremist to reassure the social extremists in his party that he was committed to criminalizing abortion."

[Stephen]

I've had the opportunity to browse DailyKos and a few other 'left of center' websites, and I am stunned by the level of hateful speech exhibited, a level of which far exceeds that I've seen on the 'right of center' websites.

Let me translate this comment into coherent language:

"Well, I for one am SHOCKED! Shocked, I tell you, at the level of vitriol found on liberal websites! Oh, how I long for the day when civility ruled our nation's discourse! Now excuse me, I have to forward an email which proves that Barry HUSSEIN Obama was Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein's love child. Then I shall chuckle heartily at a joke which involves a wetback, a ditzy broad and an uppity Negro, after which I will order my wife to fix me a sandwich and get me a beer."

[Sir Charles]

Lisa,

Is that true? That's unbelievable.

Stephen,

Ha! So much better than my reasoned response. I don't know what got into me.

[Sir Charles]

The link just worked for me at 11:10 PM.

[Corvus9]

Lisa, I don't think Palin will withdraw. To do so would be to admit defeat. It would mean McCain admitting, after having forever, and I mean forever, his nomination has been locked up for ages, he still failed to pick a worthy running mate. And that would mean he just didn't have the skills to be president. If Palin leaves, then McCain campaign has lost. He will always have a better chance with Palin then without her, unless she actually gets convicted of something, so I just don't see it happening.

[insultant]

The mere sight of Sarah Palin as a top candidate for VP will only embolden our enemies to attack us. I'm so embarrassed.

[Rebecca Burt]

Palin: She has next to no experience in government. When ask about national security back ground or knowledge regarding foreign affairs the best Ms. McCain could come up with was “she lives right by Russia.” She has only traveled outside the country twice in her life.

She was associated with to a 3rd party which among other things supports allowing Alaska to secede from the United States and feels the only thing wrong with the John Birch Society was it was to liberal! Her husband “First Dude” was registered as a member of this party between 1994 and 2004!

She tried to have a local Librarian fired for not banning books. She used her political office to try to have fired and smear a state trooper who is in a custody battle with her sister. She is being investigated for this and is worried enough about the outcome to have recently “lawyered up.”

Palin currently has pretty messy family issues. She recently gave birth to a son with Downs Syndrome and has a 17 year old daughter who is pregnant. Ironically she has fought sex education in the schools and availability of contraception for minors. I am glad she was able to make the choice to carry her disabled son to term…we all need the right to make our own choices!!!

She believes that for 9 months a woman has no right to control what is happening to her own body and is basically nothing more than a baby container. She does not believe in a women’s right to choose to end a pregnancy, even if she has been raped.

She does not believe human pollution has anything to do with global warming (even Bush has had to back down on this one). Is so in bed with big oil she is willing to watch as the polar bear and beluga whales become extinct, rather than slow the possibility of drilling. She would open up one of the last great wilderness on earth to exploitation by oil interests.

She laughed when hearing a fellow Republican woman being called a bitch in public (she and the woman had disagreed on several issues) I guess this does make her on par with McCain who thinks it is alright to call your wife a cunt in public.

She has been repeatedly described as stubborn with a vicious streak – even by family and friends. (nick name Sarah Barracuda)

Has an undergraduate degree in Journalism for a small obscure university.

She did fund raising for Sen. Ted Stevens (think major Alaskan corruption) and accepted money from the same sources as Sen. Ted Stevens. She pushed for the “bridge to no where – the flipped when convenient to do so.

She has been named Sen. John McCain’s VP selection for the Republican ticket. Sen. McCain is 72 years old and has reoccurring cancer as part of his health history. One can not help but question Mr. McCain’s judgment regarding her selection. John McCain has made a calculated choice in selecting his VP, that has unfortunately put an undereducated, inexperienced right wing nut case a “heart beat” away from becoming President at a time when our Nation faces some of the most complex and volatile issues it has in decades. I VOTE FOR A PERSON BASED ON THEIR STAND ON THE ISSUES – NOT THEIR PLUMBING!!

PUMAS eat Barracudas for breakfast!!!!