Sunday, February 7, 2010
Politics / Woods Sarah Palin Goes to Opryland and We Can't Stop Talking About It
Posted by Jeff Woods on Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 8:42 AM
But what was that scribbled on the palm of her hand? And you thought she was so clever and off the cuff during the Q&A after her speech. Hah! Some eagle-eyed tweeter discovered she was reading little notes she had written on her hand. Blow up the picture and you can make out the words "Energy", "Budget [crossed out] (Cuts)", "Tax" and "Lift American Spirits." Pith thinks it's endearingly folksy, but this HuffPo blogger is outraged:
Crib Notes? This potential presidential candidate and "movement" leader was using crib notes to answer basic questions? This would mean:A) That she knew the questions beforehand and the whole thing was a farce. (Likely.)
and
B) That she still couldn't answer the previously agreed-upon questions without a little extra help.
If true, this is supremely rich coming immediately after a speech in which Palin took a shot at President Obama for using a teleprompter to read his prepared speeches.
As for the ultimate meaning of the speech itself, which included many memorable new lines and a lot of the same conservative pablum, there's much disagreement. Is she running for president or not? That's all we need to know. Newsweek's Daniel Stone thinks Sarah was so polarizing that this looks like the beginning of the end of her presidential ambitions.
Elections are won and lost in the middle, not on the extremes. And Palin's fiery rebuke of Washington may have firmed her base, but it did little to widen her appeal to moderates and independents, two groups without which she'd have a real tough time passing the threshold of electoral votes. (At one point, she even mocked the majority of voters who voted for President Obama, asking them "How's that hopey changey thing working for you now?")Is that hope? Nope. For that, we must go to the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, who's pretty sure Sarah's going for it. "Sarah Palin gave a campaign speech," he writes. "And that's pretty much all you need to know. So much of a campaign speech was it that I am revising upward my estimate of the chances she runs for president in 2012." It looks like Ambinder is right on. Sarah tells Fox News she "would be willing" to challenge Obama in 2012.Which is to say that electorally speaking, tonight's speech may have been a self-inflicted wound for Palin, offering ammo to opponents to argue that she's simply too far right and too niche to win widespread support for national office. Speeches like this make the people who love Palin love her even more, and the people who don't ever more certain why they don't. In other words, Palin further polarized herself to the American public.
Comments (31)
Showing 1-31 of 31
First she makes a snarky remark about POTUS and a teleprompter and then is too stupid to at least HIDE her 3rd grade style notes she has written on her hand ? She's waving it around like she wants to get caught and THEN tries to wipe it off on her leg?
And yes, they were answers to pre-approved questions. She needed help in remembering " Lift Americans Spirits "????
Obama went for hours taking questions from Dems and Repubs - none pre-approved and most, really hard hitting. Didn't even break a sweat.
She used notes to lambaste our President in a manner that was more befitting a nasty 14 year old than someone who seemingly wants to run for office. What a shallow woman she is .
like
dislike
Yeah, beauty is only skin deep. And Sarah is a gasser. Worthy of my vote because of it.
Shallow is good. Limits the damage she'd be likely to do.
Gotta agree with Larryr. What can go wrong if we elect another George W. Hoover? Reagan proved deficits don't matter. Let's unilaterally start another expensive unnecessary war. Let's continue our politics of division. See what's it's done for Northern Ireland and Iraq? And as for Mrs Palin, how can we go wrong with a congenital liar leading the country?
http://bit.ly/dxn78F
The key note speaker what a laugh, The audience clapped for her out of politeness and to keep from falling asleep. I feel like a fool because I watch the entire speech, hoping for an inspiring moment that never came
You sexist libs just can't stop bashing Palin you are so afraid of her. We need a real President like Palin, not a man who has not even proven he's legally President. We need someone unafraid who will make Obama show a birth certificate if he really has one. This is what you dems fear most!
LOLOLOL, We may need to have sara show her birth certificate. How can you be afraid of a nincompoop? It,s like cleaning out a litter box...just scoop it up and put in the trash where it belongs. The only fear-mongers I have seen are teabaggers/gop. They have been singing fear for yearsss.
Thank-You tea party I have had more laughs watching you this weekend..kinda like Saturday Night Live ...
Sarah Palin is a different kind of republican. She lkies oppisite sex. If Katie Couric could bring her down just think what North Korea or Iran could do....She is a scam just like the Flea Baggers!
There was nothing of substance.
Q: How do you combat terrorism?
A. WE WIN!!!!!!!
Silly, typical rebel rousing Palin stuff…take it seriously at your own risk. There is nothing behind the curtain.
Palin said “I am proud to be an American” 20 times and kept looking down at crib notes on HER HAND!!!! C’mon!
For 100 grand Palin should at least memorize her propaganda.
How rich that she read her talk in a sing-song voice as she ripped Barack Obama for using a Teleprompter. Once she left the speech for the Q&A, she really went off-message, as well as nearly off-English. (Even though it looked like, at one point, she was reading answers off of her hand.) “They’re not knowin what are we gonna do if we don’t have Tea Party support” was one of my favorite head-scratchers, a great echo of “when Putin rears his head.”
Jeff Woods is just jealous because he is not as pretty as Palin is. That's all it is.
Anyways, Sara says the Tea Party is a call to action. So last night after The Speech, me and the two guys who attended my two-part seminar on How To Spot A Liberal and How To Surprise A Liberal, went into enemy territory, East Nashville, and went through a hands on learning experience on everything I taught them. We went through all of the steps that you have to go through to accurately "spot the liberal." Of course, this was an easy assignment because it was East Nashville. But you got to start somewhere. After spotting them, we went through the steps on how to surprise them. And surprise them we did! We ambushed two of them and gave them wedgies!!!!! Let's just say their experience with the Tea Party Movement was something that they will never forget.
NoBama in 2012!!!!!
Jump all over Sara if you will but none of you Dems. have shown me one thing that Obama has done right.Ms.Palin may or may not run,however this president has more to worry about than getting reelected.
AWP, those were not liberals, that was a wind farm! You, Don, and Sancho quit banging your heads against metal pylons!
Frederick - Here's a partial list for you of things Obama has done right, written by Robert P. Watson, Ph.D.Coordinator of American Studies, Lynn University.
Instituted enforcement for equal pay for women
Beginning the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq
Ended the previous stop-loss policy that kept soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan longer than their enlistment date
Removed restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research
Federal support for stem-cell and new biomedical research
US Auto industry rescue plan
US financial and banking rescue plan
Ended the previous policy; the US now has a no torture policy and is in compliance with the Geneva Convention standards
Expanded the SCHIP program to cover health care for 4 million more children
Signed national service legislation; expanded national youth service program
Ended previous practice of having White House aides rewrite scientific and environmental rules, regulations, and reports
Making more loans available to small businesses
Authorized construction/opening of additional health centers to care for veterans
Deployed additional troops to Afghanistan
New Afghan War policy that limits aerial bombing and prioritizes aid, development of infrastructure, diplomacy, and good government practices by Afghans
Marvin,
It still isn't good enough for the Tea Babblers and Republicans .If Obama had put in all Republicans in Cabinet post,given a ultra conservative male judge. Cut taxes for the very rich and thrown the poor,middle and Democrats in the ditch it still wouldn't be enough.
The law of White Only America saids only White ultra conservative who passes a test may hold the office of the White House and then that man has to abide by the Conservative law of the land.
If Palin reaches the Oval Office she will be only a pair of legs as my husband said at dinner ,she mouths what she is told to say. My husband doesn't vote ,doesn't care about either party ,to him they are all crooks.
He is also Jewish and I asked how he thought our community would recieve her and he laughed. Sarah has legs and breast and nothing betweeen her ears and that's how the GOP wants their leaders to be.
THE OBAMA RECORD, a longer list from Robert Watson is here:
http://www.andrewtobias.com/bkoldcolumns/100120.html
I'm afraid Mr Obama will never be white enough to satisfy some people. Sad.
Right wingers live in fear. People who fear CAN NOT WIN! Sarah has the biggest set of kahuna's in the GOP right now. As long as we have right wing flea baggers and GAY POSTER CHILD like Phil Valentine I will always have a laugh. Right Wingers! What a bunch of CHUMPS!!!!!!!!
Obama has also made who comes and goes into the White House publicly available online - more transparency; less Bush/Cheney style secrecy. He also did Q&A today with Katie Couric and had no notes on his palm.
Marvin, When I said what has Obama accomplished,what I was saying is,what has he done for you? Unions ---I've been a past member for years(UAW). They're leeches and you know it if you've ever worked in a manufacturing environment.I love rich people they are some of the best people to work for.Have you ever worked before Marvin??
Frederick, all those things listed were done for the overall good of the country. So they were for me, and for you.
Sandy is right. I AM afraid of Palin, but not because she is a female. I am afraid of Palin because she is so ignorant. And in the current American political climate, ignorance rules. Thus, an ignorant Palin meets an ignorant electorate. Bush II all over again . . . in a skirt.
You betcha!
Michael, I am so fed up with Sarah using her down syndrome child as a campaign button. I f she runs for president, I'm sure we will see the" Mother of the Year" using that sweet child as a prop over and over. In her tea party speech she couldn't resist letting the world know what a heroic mom she is for giving birth to that child. I admire her for it, but STOP THE EFFORT to use the child to get votes. Also, I would like to know the last time she drove to soccer practice! We're not all gullible Sarah.
How do you know the child is Mrs Palin's? The birth certificate has never been made public.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/12/sarah-palin-has-now-made-two-very-clear-public-statements-in-the-last-day.html
A couple of words on a palm for an hour or more speech, and that bothers you? Yet the prez can't introduce people without a teleprompter and is so detached from what he's saying(reading) that he even reads something twice when he loses his place! And you have no problem with his almost never addressing anyone without the entire speech whether 2000 words or 20, on a teleprompter? I know he's brilliant because he's a Dem, but what's your excuse?
"Yet the prez can't introduce people without a teleprompter and is so detached from what he's saying(reading) that he even reads something twice when he loses his place! And you have no problem with his almost never addressing anyone without the entire speech whether 2000 words or 20, on a teleprompter?"
Ardath, go and watch Palin's nomination speech at the Republican Convention in '08. Plenty of camera shots of her behind the teleprompter, READING her speech. That's why it's funny that she criticizes Obama for using a teleprompter during a speech.
"And you have no problem with his almost never addressing anyone without the entire speech whether 2000 words or 20, on a teleprompter?"
Not even true, but a nice talking point. He stood in front of the entire Republican House delegation for over an hour without one. That'd be fun to watch Palin do that with the Democrats. Probably be lot's of stuttering and dead air.
BTW, find me a modern president who didn't use a teleprompter. Reagan used one, Clinton used one, the Bushes used them, and Obama uses them. Therefore the criticism is extremely strange.
It was obvious Sarah was shuffling and reading from papers in front of her, and then she makes a ridiculous comment about President Obama using a teleprompter. How hilarious! Then the notes on her hand just made it even funnier!
I was listening to their Tea Party speakers hoping to find out specifically what their complaints are and what solutions they have to offer. They can all say the words America,liberty, constitution, Bible, patriotic, socialist... oh and don't forget death panels,liberals and terrorism. But, when asked to give specific examples of what they are so angry about and exactly what solutions they can offer, so far I haven't heard any of them that could answer. They don't know! And neither does Sarah Palin. When asked how she would defeat terrorists she quotes Reagan's "We win, they lose"?
More than a year after her embarrassing interviews during the campaign and she still can't answer the questions. And somebody seriously thinks she could be president??
And for the talent portion,maybe she could sing The National Anthem.
The Tea Party cracks me up!
The rss feed on your site is not working with my browser (Google Chrome) how can?
Hi. I actually enjoyed reading through your current blog post!. Professional article. I would recommend you to submit blogposts a bit more regularly. In this way, with this kind of a useful weblog I imagine you could rank higher in the search engines :) . I also subscribed for your Rss. Keep up this very good work!
