Response to a Sarah Palin comment

As writes:

Actually, there is NO way Palin could not have known that Africa is a continent. It's the McCain people who are idiots. Their desire to smear Palin is so great that they are making up absurdly viscious rumors like this.

The average person's lack of knowledge of geography is legendary.

If you polled 100 mothers of pregnant unmarried teenage daughters, and asked them basic questions like "what is Africa?", the majority would get these very basic questions wrong.

You don't have to be smart to become a governor, you just need to get some people to vote for you. No one is shocked when some dumb but pretty and perky girl is elected homecoming queen. "Real" elections aren't that much different.

Normally, for important political positions such as governor of a state or vice president of the United States, the selection process weeds out the dumb people before anyone ever gets to cast a vote, but somehow the normal process got bypassed multiple times for Palin.

Comments

[Ngomo]

Interesting. You might be amazed at the number of Africans who do not know that Africa is a continent! The average IQ for sub saharan Africans is well below 80. Those of us who can get out will do so, and sometimes that is the first we learn that Africa really is a separate continent!

[Peter]

So ... now that the election's over, and Palin will be fading back into relative obscurity, what are you going to be obsessing about all the time?

[Uptown Brown]

"Those of us who can get out will do so, and sometimes that is the first we learn that Africa really is a separate continent!"

Were you driving the cab I was in Halloween night? For a guy that didn't know Africa was a continent, you know NYC pretty well. Nice work!

[Vim]

Ngomo: Tell me more. Are you saying your relatives and friends are unaware of what they are living on? What do they think they are living on? Like a giant turtle or something?

[miles]

Sigma,

The Fox News story, which cites "sources in the McCain campaign", is almost certainly a load of bullshit and if you are as media-savvy as I think you are, you should know it.

There are many, many politicians that I'd rather see be president (or vice president) than Palin, however, the Neo-Conservative slime machine will go to work on her and revise this election as NOT A REPUDIATION OF THEIR POLICIES, BUT OF PALIN. Palin did not cost Juan Yosemitie-Finance-Deform-RINO-McCain this election. John McCain being a lefty-Republican cost himself this election.

The primary process is broken when it elects someone who only got roughly 30% of the primary vote as your nominee. I think that the primaries should all be proportionately delegated, with no "winner take all" states. You should not win all of a state's delegates with 20-something percent of the vote. The candidates with the top two delegate counts, if no candidate got at least 50% of the vote, should have a one-day run-off. If we did this, Mitt Romney would no doubt have been our candidate, and Fred Thompson would have been a good choice to be our presidential candidate. We would have won the election.

The Repubs elected the one guy who literally helped write the Amnesty bill, which infuriates the base. He also helped author legislation (which gloriously failed) with Russ Feingold, that would have made the media a stronger component than ever in determining which candidate gets elected because it attempted to monetarily castrate the public's ability to fund those candidates and the subsequent airtime that could be bought to voice their opinion on issues. For those in the know, this was a super-bad piece of legislation that would have made incumbents harder-to-defeat than ever before. Guiliani would have done better than McCain.

We are through with Palin, unless she gets elected to the House or Senate from Alaska. But lets not blame the loss on her shoulders. There is no telling how bad McCain would have done without her. I think she probably got him a good five million voters that would have otherwise have stayed home.

This strike me as one of those cheap smears that end up circulating and can't be squashed no mater how untrue they are. Much like the Dan Quayle "Latin America" thing. Never was true at all but once gabbed about sticks in the back of the mind.

How would this even have plausibly come up? A debate prep coach asked her to name the Continents and the major rivers in the world? Come on.

BTW- I see that US Snooze is shutting down its magazine. As I predicted a long cold winter for these media types is beginning now that their last orgy is over.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081105193713.q6msg0kc&show_article=1
Its well known that the Washington press core has been pining away for fancy parties that the Bush White House has no interest in holding. Now there will be a chance for the political hack to get seated at the same table as Ellen Burstyn or some D celeb and get once last free meal before they are cashiered for good.

[Jonestown]

The intelligence of most Africans seems so low that they probably have never thought about anything outside their village or town. If raping a small virgin child can cure AIDS then anything is possible.

[razib]

palin is pretty and has a way with words and a lot of self-confidence (not uncommon with a certain type of attractive woman). no surprise that in a very small state she managed to get elected (alaskan's don't own most of the state even, so the argument about size doesn't make sense).

[Interahamwe]

Jonestown,
Google, Yahoo or whatever "Yakan of Allah Water" for a fun and informative read.

[slwerner]

HS - "Normally, for important political positions such as governor of a state or vice president of the United States, the selection process weeds out the dumb people before anyone ever gets to cast a vote, but somehow the normal process got bypassed multiple times for Palin."

Palin may not be, as they say, the "brightest bulb in the box", but I find it unlikely that she did not know Africa was a continent. And, while I do agree with you that she isn't all that smart, she would have been amply qualified to fill the ceremonial post (regardless of what it could or should be) of Vice President.

Frankly, being mayor of a small town requires more brain-power than it would to be VP. You, like the other political snobs in the media, were focused on the wrong “administrative” issue altogether. The positions that require the experience and brain-power are Sec. of State, Nat. Security Advisor, Sec. of the Joint Chiefs, Attorney General, White House Legal Counsel, and perhaps the Sec. of the Dept of Energy (given the prime importance the department at this time). The rest, just like the VP slot, are just figurehead positions to be handed out as political rewards.

If you want to see if a presidential candidate is going to choose smart competent people to work with, ask them to name their picks for their cabinet – forget who they choose for VP (which has historically been more geared to picking up the electoral votes of key states anyway).

[slwerner]

Miles - "the Neo-Conservative slime machine will go to work on her and revise this election as NOT A REPUDIATION OF THEIR POLICIES, BUT OF PALIN."

Excellent analysis, Miles!

[Scrutineer]

This is what rational commentary on Palin looks like:

David Frum criticizes the Palin VP pick. - http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2VhOWE0N2VkOWI3MDdlODRlZWE4ODljMDc2NjliZDk=

David Frum doubts the "Palin doesn't know what Africa is" story. - http://frum.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTA3MDY2NGE3ODFjYjViNjhlOGFkMWZiNzYwZWRmYjY=

[Old News]

What liberal press?

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/214673.html

[Brutus]

A better indicator of stupidity is giving serious consideration to Caroline and Bobby Jr for United Nations ambassador and environment csar, respectively.

Obama will continually reveal what a lightweight he is, just as Sigma's IQ must be reexamined given his repeated assertions that Obama has an extraordinary intellect.

[Patrik]

@Half Sigma

You are inconsistency and overt irrational bias is disappointing, to say the least. You assert that she is a moron, based on hearsay. She may well be --- but you do not mention the many gaffes of Beavis Biden and BHO.

BHO, Constitutional Scholar Boy-Wonder think that there our union is comprised of 58 states. I would have flunked 5th grade had I thought that.

["Over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in 57 states? I think one left to go."/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGH02DtIws

Why does that (amongst many, many others by both BHO and BeavisBiden) get a pass, but the Palin hearsay does not?

Clearly, she is being 'Quayled'.

Imagine had Bush made the 58 states comment? Jesus Titty-fucking Christ. We would have never heard the end of that.

----------

BTW it is ironic that the McCain staffer are trying to pin their failure onto Palin, by saying she is tupid. After all, who picked her? So, who is stupid?

[Steve Schmidt: The driving force behind John McCain
...
The Republican presidential candidate's chief strategist has shaken up his campaign with an approach that has left many heads spinning.
...
The effort peaked with the choice of Palin as McCain's running mate. Convinced that McCain needed a dramatic gesture to make the race competitive, Schmidt pressed McCain to pluck the Alaska governor from obscurity.]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-schmidt6-2008oct06,0,555417.story

[Patrik]

You are inconsistency

should be:

Your inconsistency

[R. Heydrich]

better indicator of stupidity is giving serious consideration to Caroline and Bobby Jr for United Nations ambassador and environment csar, respectively.
-Brutus

And according to the Not Yet Known Hewbrew's comment and link to a Telegraph article the other day, John Kerry is being considered for SOS. I wouldn't let Kerry use scissors by himself. He is an insufferable loser and such a dithering fuck-up that I would cross the street if I saw him coming and then jump in a cab. For Obama's sake, I hope that it isn't true. That guy is poison. Of course, the PRC and Putin must be besides themselves with glee, not to mention muslim loonies.

[Patrik]

Speaking of BHO appointments, there is some fuckin' crazy rumor that Oprah is being consider for ambassador to the UK.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/3246459/Oprah-Winfrey-could-be-US-ambassador-to-Britain-claims-former-diplomat.html

We do know that BHO will staff his administration with a bunch of affirmative action blacks, but if the Oprah rumor is true, what a fuckin' nightmare that would be.

Look, as President you give your buddies and cronies fun little ambassadorships full of meaningless pomp and circumstance to countries that are unimportant, say, Austria, Norway, Hungary etc etc

But you need a professional, experienced diplomat to manage the special relationship between the US and the UK.

[AS]

Check out Daniel Larison's excellent posts on Sarah Palin's deficiencies:

http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2008/09/27/a-world-of-hurt-there/

And also:

http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2008/11/05/ignorance-is-strength

[Patrik]

@Half Sigma

Off-topic but I thought you would enjoy this article as I did:

http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/michael-crichtons-question/

[In memory of Michael Crichton, who died Tuesday, let us consider a question that preocuppied him: How do we separate science from religion in environmentalism? As a spinner of sci-fi horror stories himself, he had a finely honed skepticism for the apocalyptic scenarios presented by environmentalists. In a speech in 2003, he argued that environmentalism was a modern remapping of Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths:

---->There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.<----]

Crichton was 100% right on. I'd also recommend his well-argued speeches and essays such as:

http://www.crichton-official.com/speech-alienscauseglobalwarming.html

wherein he shreds the high-priests, I mean, er, the 'scientists' promoting the neo-socialist global warming hoax.

RIP.

[Asher]

Watching the GOP faithful come out defiant about a potential Palin run in 2012 is a very surreal experience.

I wonder when the GOP is going to figure out that its only path to victory is getting 70+ percent of the white vote.

[slwerner]

Amongst those on the right who did not support Palin as VP, there are those who are far more rational and level-head than is HS. They weren't impressed with her abilities and qualifications, but they did not descend into the "trashing" behaviors one normally expects from the left.

Lawrence Auster "On the story about Palin's ignorance" http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/011809.html

[John Smith]

So be happy that the American people rejected Palin. It's a good day for this country.

[Turambar]

Ok- so are we all pretty clear on this Africa story being fake now?

In comparison 95% of British college students studying to be history teachers dont know who Christopher Columbus was.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/why-christopher-columbus-is-history-and-why-many-wouldbe-teachers-know-nothing-about-him-456171.html

The article notes that they have had to cut back on history to get kids "engaged" in global warming.

I really dont want to hear from EMEA about who knows what, and what the US should be doing in our own country.

[Barrayaran]

FWIW, the Quayle-Latin America anecdote began life as a joke by a Republican speaker, not as a smear; of course the attribution of the quote helped it circulate.

[Chris]

It's amazing that someone as smart as Half Sigma still thinks Palin had something to do with this election's outcome. Or that others think that McCain being a "lefty" Republican was a factor.

Voters act out of a sort of pure animal logic. They looked around at a disintegrating economy and increasing national crime situation. They perceive the war in Iraq and Afghanistan to be a failure. They held the incumbent president and those congresspeople up for reelection accountable for this situation.

That's it. That's all that happened. No one was in control. McCain couldn't have done anything different. The bulk of voters made up their mind months or years ago. Nothing would have changed.

Not picking Giuliani instead of Palin.

Not nominating Mitt Romney instead of McCain.

Not somehow getting Hillary Clinton nominated because she would be easier to defeat than Obama.

Nothing. The challenging party was always going to beat the incumbent party this year.

This election was decided by Nov. 2006 - at that time the anti-Bush trends in effect were already quantifiable in polling places across the country.

As a low-IQ, red state exurban religionist who finds Palin a more viable 2012 candidate than Romney or Giuliani, I find Half Sigma's sentimental attachment to the idea that the national election is some sort of "contest" very quaint and amusing. It's simple primate behavior, very quantifiable and predictable. And some of us out here predicted the result way back in 2005, and planned and profited and will profit yet more from that deduction.

[Underachiever]

"Stapleton says that during a briefing session, someone asked Palin to explain the McCain-Palin stance on an issue, and as she was responding, "in the middle, she said, ‘country of Africa’ and somebody instantly wrote it down, and said, 'Oh, my God, she thinks it's a country.'"

But Stapleton insists, 'She knows it's a continent. It was just a human mistake, just like Obama saying 57 states. I don't think anyone ever doubted that Obama knows there are 50 states.' "

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/11/palin-aide-offe.html

[Renfro]

I can sympathize with Ngormo above. I have worked on several contracts in Africa. The lack of trained and trainable people for mid and upper level positions is most striking. No way a region can advance itself without the human capital.

[Linda]

"We do know that BHO will staff his administration with a bunch of affirmative action blacks, but if the Oprah rumor is true, what a fuckin' nightmare that would be."

At least Oprah's not an affirmative action case. She made her billions competing in the free market; dominating the most competetive & improvisational field there is for a quarter century. And Obama owes his whole presidency to her. If she hadn't jumped in before Iowa, Hillary would be president.

[jimmygatz]

"I talked to Steve Biegun, the former Bush NSC aid who briefed Sarah Palin on foreign policy, and he considers the leaks against her on the international stuff "absurd."

He says there's no way she didn't know Africa was a continent, and whoever is saying she didn't must be distorting "a fumble of words." He talked to her about all manner of issues relating to Africa, from failed states to the Sudan. She was aware from the beginning of the conflict in Darfur, which is followed closely in evangelical churches, and was aware of Clinton's AIDS initiative. That basically makes it impossible that she thought all of Africa was a country."

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWViMjhiZjI4ODlkZjg0NDg5MTJmNmIwYmFiNDRmNWU=

[J]

"He talked to her about all manner of issues relating to Africa, from failed states to the Sudan. She was aware from the beginning of the conflict in Darfur,"

If she thought Africa was a country, then perhaps she assumed Sudan was just a region within that country, just like the Midwest is a region within the United States. But on the other hand maybe they just made the whole story up because they knew the public would believe it. What journalist reported this? Are they credible? But even if it is true, it's pretty low of them to go public with it.

[Sharon]

One more reason that I'm glad I didn't vote for McCain/Palin: the sniping and accusations that have been thrown at Palin indicate that not only is there no unity among McCain's advisors, but there is also no sense of integrity and no sense of decorum.
My own "hillbilly" mother taught this "hillbilly" that there are inappropriate ways to act in public and certainly there are unkind and inappropriate things to say at any time.
The question I have now is do these same people have so little respect for John McCain that they would willingly provide the country with behavorial examples which make many of us very glad that he wasn't elected? It is true that we're known by the company we keep, and John McCain is keeping company with some very questionable people. I would have respected the man a little more if he had at least quickly commented that he did not agree with the comments made about his running mate, but he didn't do that. His silence was approval of scummy behavior.

[Svigor]

"At least Oprah's not an affirmative action case. She made her billions competing in the free market; dominating the most competetive & improvisational field there is for a quarter century."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! Err...bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!

The media is all free market now? Waiter, can I get some of what she's smoking please?

[J]

Even I'll give Oprah some credit. She made it to the top on merrit. Hosting a talk show is a lot harder than it looks. It's an extremely competetive industry. It's very difficult to keep up the humour & spontaniety day after day, week after week, year after year. The market has been flooded with HUNDREDS of Oprah clones over the past 20 years, all trying to get a piece of her multi-billion dollar pie, yet despite the competition, she's remained #1 for over two decades. Everyone thinks they can host a talk show, but very few actually can. Look at all the talk shows that flop. It takes a very special kind of person to demand that large an audience for that long a span of time.

[Dan]

A previous poster had estimated that the IQs of Obama, McCain, Biden and Palin were, respectively, 140, 130, 120, and 110. Seriously, I'd shave off 10 points off of each one. The average Harvard undergrad, the pinnacle of college students, has an IQ of around 130, which I suspect, Obama possesses.

Here's a breakdown of average IQs by profession: http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/Occupations.aspx, based on data from 1992-1994. The smartest people, in order, are doctors, college professors, lawyers, and natural scientists. Engineers are just below. The 90th percentile for doctors is an IQ of around 132-133. For all those people on the internet, including this website, claiming to have 140 IQs; you'd be smarter than well over 90% of doctors. I think we seriously tend to overestimate the IQs of successful politicians. McCain has a notable problem with modern technology, despite learning to pilot fighter jets in the 50s. His IQ was probably in the high 110s or low 120s back then (smarter than at least 90% of the population).

[Jun]

"A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence"

"A fake expert named Martin Eisenstadt and a phony Think Tank fool bloggers and the MSM...."

"Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.

"And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[Teddy Atlas]

I'm just shocked that HS fell for the hoax hook, line and sinker.

I'm willing to bet he'll get five more posts out of it nonetheless.