DISQUS

Laguna_b · 4 months ago

She can't even finish out ONE term as a "Governor" (if you can count a state with a population smaller than Oklahoma City) and she wants to be President????

Richard Nixon had been a potent and power force in politics for years. Even if you don't like him you have to give him the ability to understand in depth and an intellect that was well respected. Sarah? just a bimbo......who got lucky.

Dave_in_Gainesville · 4 months ago

...which just might be the biggest difference of all. A careful and scientific analysis of the question once concluded that Nixon's IQ was probably somewhere between 145 and 155. I'm no scientist, but I'd be willing to bet a lot a money on the "under" for Ms. Palin.

Besides which, she's running from something -- and my personal pet theory is that the something is coming from Bristol. That's the only plausible explanation I can think of for the combination of the inexplicable surprise, the late-Friday-before-a-holiday-weekend timing, the nervous, rushed press conference, and the "four yeah's and one HELL yeah" comment. My guess is that either Bristol (a) has some more news for her mom, or (b) is sick and tired of playing the loose slut to her mom's cross-riding routine, and is ready now to blow the lid off. At all events, the HELL-yeah comment was more interesting than anything else Palin said yesterday by a *country* mile -- and probably contains within it the thread of just what exactly has been going on.

badbee · 4 months ago

I doubt that she would finish the IQ test either.
She went to a lot of colleges before she finished with them, maybe she wants to try being Governor of some other states.

Meffy · 4 months ago

"I doubt that she would finish the IQ test either."

She would probably get angry in the arithmetic section, when she kept insisting her calculations showed 14 but the right answer was 18.

jayjaytee · 4 months ago

I don't think Ms. Palin is stupid - anything but. I do think she is a delusional religious fanatic, exacerbated by the irrational sense of entitlement that seems to be the prevailing condition of the religious right - just because she wants to be president, ergo, she should be, and you'd better get out of her way as she steamrolls forward ... right into the reinforced concrete-and-brick wall of reality.

Dave_in_Gainesville · 4 months ago

I'm with Meffy -- you got everything right except the 'not stupid' part.

Meffy · 4 months ago

I do think she's stupid about many things, shrewd (not smart) about others, but that wasn't my point. I was referring to Palin's insistence that she believed David Letterman's smutty joke was aimed at her fourteen-year-old daughter, not her eighteen-year-old abstinence-only poster child.

Meffy · 4 months ago

P.S.: The rest of your assessment seems right on target to me.

Joe517 · 4 months ago

That was as good as your CyberCookies.

laughingdog · 4 months ago

So, basically Palin's ambition is only exceeded by her own laziness and self-importance.

Meffy · 4 months ago

And her presumption, and her callous disregard of everyone else (including her own family members), and the simulated pathos of her faked victim/martyr complex.

Also fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency and an absolutely fanatical devotion to herself (which you already said, more or less) and nice red uniforms.

pbrower2a · 4 months ago

Precisely. Her histrionic personality causes her to insist upon being the center of attention with nothing ever going wrong. She can't accept that criticism goes with the territory. That;s not how things go at the highest level of politics for more than a moment at a time.

Not all publicity is favorable, and even rock stars, top athletes, film stars, and prime donne get criticism at times.

I used to think her the "Eliza Doolittle" of politics -- now I think she's the "Lena Lamont" -- and if she doesn't clean up her act she could become the "Nora Desmond" of politics.

Dave_in_Gainesville · 4 months ago

HAH!!!!

Laguna_b · 4 months ago

Why do we have to have all these blessings happen at once? Ensign, Sanford, now Palin? None of them have time to truly play out for max benefit! I got to thinking, if I were a woman voter and heard Sanford talk about how deeply in love he was with Maria, and how he was TRYING to fall back in love with his wife......then you Barack Obama taking Michelle to NYC for a Broadway Play and dinner....and the republicans criticize it....then he takes her to Paris for the weekend....and the Republicans criticize him.....FAMILY VALUES means beating up gays and denying them rights....nothing else....certainly does not mean monogamy......sorry I wandered off topic ;)

Dave_in_Gainesville · 4 months ago

Yeah, I think if I were David Plouffe I'd start right now on the compilation of Republicans using the phrase "sanctity of marriage" to play over and over again if any Republican opponent in 2012 starts in with that sh*t.

You're right, by the way, being christian means nothing to the Christians on the political right. There isn't a christian among them.

gypc_dave · 4 months ago

I need to finish my book on "Xtianity: A Peculiarly American Religion." Not nearly enough people hate me ...

michelle2008 · 4 months ago

I'll buy your book, gypc_dave--get going on it! ;-)

sylhines · 4 months ago

There you go, the last three weeks have been a bonanza of campaign gold for the democrats in 2012.

Joe517 · 4 months ago

Maybe. Depends how the next 3 years goes.

jerry4ever · 4 months ago

I also be saving all the tapes of librul Mitt Romney running for governor of Mass in 2000.

BTW he did finish his term, but he basically quit governing after Repubs suffered major losses in mid-term legislative elections.

gypc_dave · 4 months ago

Hey, if the Republicans can base entire campaigns on wandering off topic, you can be forgiven for a bit of observational meandering.

pbrower2a · 4 months ago

For all his faults, George W. Bush seemed to have an unobjectionable family life.

It's getting unreal.

shawsr · 4 months ago

To compare Palin to Nixon is like comparing an apple to a rock. Flawed as Nixon was, still he was an experienced and intellectually capable politician. He was in charge. He was no one's puppet. He could make rational decisions and could command confidence from those who worked for him. Even though he lost to Kennedy (barely) in 1960, he did not plaster the headlines with scandal, investigations and poor decisions. Nixon had command of the issues of his day. He could give a press conference and did not have to worry about rambling on with idiotic jibberish. Also, after his loss to Kennedy, half the electorate and the media did not remember him as some buffoon. Palin, on the other hand, is inexperienced, intellectually challenged, and consistently makes erratic and irrational decisions. More than half of the electorate either views her as a conservative nut, or someone interesting to laugh at. And finally, I believe that this electorate, at least more than half of us, can see through the hype. We remember George W. Bush, and we don't want another one in the White House, even if she has nice legs.

Meffy · 4 months ago

You seem to have caused a rift in the socio-political continuum. Two versions of you coexist concurrently. Fascinating. *hands you the astral duct tape*

novowel4me · 4 months ago

Think he worked on two drafts and both posted. Left one, came back rewrote from memory punched and voila. I've done it. Liked the content, though.

Meffy · 4 months ago

Yup, the time stamps suggested that when they were still in the minutes. :-}

gypc_dave · 4 months ago

"...running from the governorship -- rather than for it -- is hardly a recommendation for the presidency. It's like walking into a job interview as an air traffic controller and telling the hiring authority that you quit your last job as a crossing guard because the pressure was getting to be too much."

That pretty much sums it up for anyone who takes politics seriously.

politicsjunkie · 4 months ago

Best applicable line from the article:
And, as Nixon once said, "A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits."
Applies to women as well Sarah.

Joe517 · 4 months ago

On my piano teacher's door there were 2 statements.

A WINNER NEVER QUITS AND A QUITTER NEVER WINS!

Good, Better, Best
Never Let It Rest
Til Your Good's Better
And Your Better's Best!

jayjaytee · 4 months ago

Another difference: Richard Nixon wasn't crazy. Sarah Palin is.

MackTheAbsurd · 4 months ago

Nixon was Paranoid.

ShmaCantLogin · 4 months ago

Nixon wasn't crazy? Come on. Have you heard some of the things he said?

"You know, it's a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana are Jewish. What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob? What is the matter with them? I suppose it is because most of them are psychiatrists."

"I don't think a woman should be in any government job whatever. I mean, I really don't. The reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic. And emotional."

Dave_in_Gainesville · 4 months ago

Careful on the Richard Nixon *wasn't* part. I'm reminded of the story Walter Cronkite told about Nixon, sitting in a ballroom, and all of a sudden his eye was tracing along the cornice along the ceiling -- very slowly, very contemplatively, totally absorbed. "We all started looking up there too," said Cronkite, "I thought there was going to be a *mouse* up there, or something. You know what was up there? NOTHING. That's when I knew that the President was probably, literally disturbed, in some fashion: There were a hundred journalists in the room. He was totally oblivious."

michelle2008 · 4 months ago

I've done that very thing--because I do some painting and drawing, I'm always trying to look at things a different way and realize what is (or isn't) there. But never have I done it when there were journalists watching my every move! I don't know that that instance makes him crazy, but I do think he was quite eccentric (not to mention racist, sexist and paranoid!)

Joe517 · 4 months ago

Nixon was one paranoid dude. As you all know, I don't include him among the unintelligent GOP presidents and candidates. Sarah doesn't even come close to Nixon when it comes to brains. Come to think of it, she was out campaigning when they passed out 2nds on brains.

Patrick12 · 4 months ago

How can you call Tricky Dick paranoid? All he did was back up the McCarthyist delusion that communists were infiltrating every facet of American culture, oh and that enemies list thing too. Looks like the question is how crazy was he? A few sandwiches shy of a picnic crazy, the lights are on but nobody's home crazy or my favorite; THE WHEEL'S STILL TURNING BUT THE HAMSTER DIED crazy.

lessguv · 4 months ago

Another reason why Palin is no Nixon: Nixon was a crook while Palin has a crooked mind.

Meffy · 4 months ago

"What a waste it is to lose one's crooked mind. Or not to have a crooked mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."
-- not quite Dan Quayle, but darned close

A Nixon is a terrible thing to waste. :-}

Joe517 · 4 months ago

Palin's mind is not crooked, it runs in circles. Round and round it goes, what she says, nobody knows.

MackTheAbsurd · 4 months ago

Nixon was Paranoid was supposed to go here. My Bad.

KISSman · 4 months ago

No need to insult Nixon with such comparisons. Palin is in a league of her own when it comes to failure and stupidity.

Patrick12 · 4 months ago

Failure? stupidity? Stop when you get to bat shit crazy.

ratfishtim · 4 months ago

Bailin' Palin

or

Don't cry for me. Argentina

conspiracy · 4 months ago

Lets take a closer look.

Tricky Dick - 2 term Congressman, Senator and 2 term VP
Caribou Barbie - Wasilla Mayor, 2 and a half years Alaska Governor

No contest. As much as I hate to say it - an insult to Nixon just to compare at all.

shawsr · 4 months ago

There is no comparing Nixon to Palin. Flawed as Nixon was, he was a qualified politician with the experience, stamina, judgment and intelluctual capacity to be commander in chief. Just like Palin could not decide what college she wanted to attend (she changed colleges at least 4 times), here again she's doing it again, only this time she's being erratic with the governorship of Alaska. I'm no Nixon supporter, but at least I know that this man was wholly qualified to be commander in chief. The people of his day sensed this, and they easily elected to him to office in 1968, despite is 1960 loss to Kennedy. On the other hand, I am persuaded that the people of my day know that Palin is not commander in chief capable. This country does not need a figure head in the White House. This country needs and wants substance. Nixon had it. Palin does not. And quite frankly, I doubt if she ever will.

Robert68 · 4 months ago

1968 - an awful year in many respects. MLK, RFK, and the Democratic implosion allowing Nixon to sneak in as president. I can only imagine how terrible the Democratic base must have felt to see it all slip away after completely trouncing the GOP just 4 years earlier.

VeritasTruthseeker · 4 months ago

No jowls.

Meffy · 4 months ago

True, but she is equally imitable.

36763 · 4 months ago

"Why Palin is No Nixon" this is bad?

toothman · 4 months ago

uhmm also don't forget that watergate =/= troopergate. the very term "troopergate" is so rediculous it warrants pshych ward eligibility for those who take it seriously.