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Oh, God, This is Just Getting Painful

Sarah Palin has NO FUCKING CLUE what she’s talking about. I’ve heard homeless schizophrenics whose barely verbal raving made more sense AS ANSWERS TO KATIE COURIC’S QUESTIONS than this.

On Alaska’s proximity to Russia as foreign-policy experience:

Couric: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land— boundary that we have with— Canada. It— it’s funny that a comment like that was— kind of made to— cari— I don’t know, you know? Reporters—

Couric: Mock?

PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.

COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.

PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our— our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They’re in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia—

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We— we do— it’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where— where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is— from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to— to our state.

On the $700 billion bailout:

Couric: If this doesn’t pass, do you think there’s a risk of another Great Depression?

Palin: Unfortunately, that is the road that America may find itself on. Not necessarily this, as it’s been proposed, has to pass or we’re going to find ourselves in another Great Depression. But, there has got to be action - bipartisan effort - Congress not pointing fingers at one another but finding the solution to this, taking action, and being serious about the reforms on Wall Street that are needed.

Couric: Would you support a moratorium on foreclosures to help average Americans keep their homes?

Palin: That’s something that John McCain and I have both been discussing - whether that … is part of the solution or not. You know, it’s going to be a multi-faceted solution that has to be found here.

On middle-class Americans and the economy:

Couric: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

Palin: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it’s got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and getting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade — we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.

On specific ways McCain has pushed for oversight of the banking industry:

Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that’s paramount. That’s more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

Couric: But he’s been in Congress for 26 years. He’s been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He’s also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he’s been talking about - the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you’ve said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I’m just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to you.

Bonus #1: Watch tonight for Part 2 of the interview, in which Palin warns against planning for withdrawal in Iraq—apparently unaware that the Bush administration has already agreed on a date for withdrawal—and calls for a surge in Afghanistan:


Katie Couric: Why is it much more challenging there? Can you explain that?

Sarah Palin: The logistics that we are already suggesting here, not having enough troops in the area right now. The… things like the terrain even in Afghanistan and that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where, you know, we believe that— Bin Laden is— is hiding out right now and… and is still such a leader of this terrorist movement. There… there are many more challenges there. So, again, I believe that… a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there as it has proven to have done in Iraq. And as I say, Katie, that we cannot afford to retreat, to withdraw in Iraq. That’s not gonna get us any better off in Afghanistan either. And as our leaders are telling us in our military, we do need to ramp it up in Afghanistan, counting on our friends and allies to assist with us there because these terrorists who hate America, they hate what we stand for with the… the freedoms, the democracy, the… the women’s rights, the tolerance, they hate what it is that we represent and our allies, too, and our friends, what they represent. If we were… were to allow a stronghold to be captured by these terrorists then the world is in even greater peril than it is today. We cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan.

Bonus #2: In an off-the-cuff response to a reporter’s question about Islamic extremists, Palin linked Iraq to 9/11:


Reporter: Do you think that our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan—our continued military presence there—is inflaming Islamic extremists?

Palin: I think our presence in Iraq and in Afghanistan will lead to further security of our nation. Again, because the mission is to take the fight over there, do not let them come over here and attempt again what they accomplished here. And that was some destruction. Terrible destruction on that day. But, since September 11th, Americans uniting and rebuilding and committing to never letting that happen again.

The video is too cringe-inducing for me to link, but it’s available basically everywhere on the Internet.

Comments (33)

1

thanks for posting the transcript outtakes. I don't think I could have made it through all the videos without cringing up into a little ball.

Posted by boxofbirds | September 25, 2008 3:26 PM
2

I'm telling you, she makes me want to THROW things. Thank god for Maker's Mark and Judy Garland or else I *would* be throwing things.

Posted by Balt-O-Matt | September 25, 2008 3:27 PM
3

She's like the Ralph Wiggum of politics.

It's fucking painful...

Posted by Robin Sparkles | September 25, 2008 3:34 PM
4

You do realize that pointing out what a complete and utter blithering idiot Palin is makes you a sexist, right?


Posted by Mr. X | September 25, 2008 3:34 PM
5

I've never had a Judy Garland, what is it?

Bourbon and Seconol?

Posted by NapoleonXIV | September 25, 2008 3:36 PM
6

I think the scariest thing I've learned about religion in the past few weeks is how it completely blinds its adherents to the faults of another adherent in the context of an election.

If Palin were only mildly religious -- a classic Northeast WASP, say -- I bet even the wingnuts would be asking WTF.

I'm absolutely certain that had McCain nominated a russet potato and claimed it as born again, the evangelicals would be saying how wonderful the potato was, how experienced, how nice...

Ugh.

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | September 25, 2008 3:37 PM
7

Every time I read anything she's said, she reminds me more and more of this lady, and gender has nothing to do with it.

Posted by Matt Fuckin' Hickey (New Linkage!) | September 25, 2008 3:42 PM
8

Lets be honest, she answers questions like a pageant contestant. Which she was. Shock of Bavaria.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | September 25, 2008 3:46 PM
9

@5--Haha. I'm *listening* to Judy Garland. C'mon, Get Happy!

Posted by Balt-O-Matt | September 25, 2008 3:47 PM
10

And that was some destruction.

Golly.

Posted by EmilyP | September 25, 2008 3:48 PM
11

Uh...doesn't she pretty much hate women's rights too...just like those America-hating terrorists? Just sayin'

Posted by Amy | September 25, 2008 3:52 PM
12

And I thought it was painful to listen to Dubya with HIS word retrieval issues. I don't think I've ever heard a less articulate politician-- whose JOB it is, by the way, to BE articulate. I have to work far too hard to dig out what exactly she's trying to say. To quote Charlie, "That was a lot of words".

Posted by Suze | September 25, 2008 3:58 PM
13

Palin bit my wookie.

Posted by stinkbug | September 25, 2008 4:03 PM
14

Oh. My. God. I've farted better responses than Palin can give. My brain is bleeding.

Posted by Miss A | September 25, 2008 4:16 PM
15

It makes my brain shut down from the trauma of trying to follow her crazy thoughts.

Posted by Greg | September 25, 2008 4:24 PM
16

wtf, I obviously meant "Palin bent my wookie." a few posts above this one. sorry for the typo.

Posted by stinkbug | September 25, 2008 4:41 PM
17

@16 I don't know I suspect that Palin would bite your wookie.

She would saure as hell track, shoot, skin and cook it so I see no reason why she wouldn't bite it.

It's probably related to polar bears and I am led to believe that she authorised the hunting of those.

Posted by Malcolm in Sydney | September 25, 2008 4:54 PM
18

I have met severely mentally disabled people that are able to form better arguments than Sarah Palin. I have cut off desperately wasted degenerate drunks that are more clear with their thoughts.

Sarah Palin continues to amaze me with her daily nonsense. She is like an advent calendar of stupidity.

Posted by kerri harrop | September 25, 2008 5:20 PM
19

#6: Funny, but if you head deep into darkest Evangelical-land (I know it's scary, but just try to avoid making any eye contact with Pat Robertson's image & you'll be fine), you'll see that the whole Palin/religion thing might not be paying off as expected:

http://www.cbn.com/board/eboard.aspx?bkey=PalinMedia&p=4

These are the God-guys, and they don't sound all that happy (though for their own completely irrational reasons).

Posted by SL | September 25, 2008 5:52 PM
20

Can someone explain where the nut-job shoot-em-all right-wingers get the "They hate us for our freedoms" bullshit? Seriously, why do they repeat this mantra of theirs so much? Didn't any of them read any of the books or analyses of the 9/11 attacks?

How come every time some beady-eyed lunatic shrieks that line out people don't stand up and correct them?

Posted by dr_awesome | September 25, 2008 6:42 PM
21

I really wish she'd gotten an "and such as" into the middle of her "what with the freedoms and the democracy and all" answer.

Posted by Darcy | September 25, 2008 6:47 PM
22

@20: Didn't any of them read any of the books or analyses of the 9/11 attacks?

Well she does get some of her education via books....

Palin: "I'm not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world.

No, I've worked all my life. In fact, I usually had two jobs all my life until I had kids. I was not a part of, I guess, that culture. The way that I have understood the world is through education, through books, through mediums that have provided me a lot of perspective on the world."

Posted by stinkbug | September 25, 2008 7:26 PM
23

Dan Quayle - penis = Sarah Palin

Posted by east coaster | September 25, 2008 8:19 PM
24

http://www.historysgreatestmonster.com

Posted by skye | September 25, 2008 8:38 PM
25

Forget Biden--I want to see her debate George W.! As long as we accept that the 2 year long campaign is all about entertainment, we might as well make it as entertaining as possible.

Posted by Concerned Canadian | September 25, 2008 9:36 PM
26

Why doesn't Katie Couric just off Sarah Palin and proclaim herself the VP candidate?

She's obviously smarter, stronger, and way more qualified than Palin.

Posted by Will in Seattle | September 25, 2008 10:52 PM
27

She's sooooo CUTE!

Like a Tickle-me-Elmo doll...
With tits!

Oops, Elmo's smarter!

Posted by Don'tPullTheDanglingString! | September 25, 2008 11:58 PM
28

If she and McCain get elected, I'm auctioning myself off for marriage to a wealthy Russian industrialist to escape the madness this country has become...

Posted by femanon | September 26, 2008 1:00 AM
29

I watched the interview in full, and I must say that it is quite scary that she is running for such a powerful psoition.

She is what is commonly known as a bulshitter, and just talks bollocks - as you can tell from the transcript.

So what if Alaska's close to Russia, there aren't many places which are much further away from Moscow!

Posted by Ben | September 26, 2008 3:45 AM
30

Putin flies in and rears his head? What is he, a dragon?

Posted by Dennis Raines | September 26, 2008 9:38 AM
31

. . . Palin's inverted elitism escapes MSM.

** Junk-food faith for a fat-head nation **

• Palin"s political ideology is theology •

Welcome to "Gilead." Once part of America, it is a nation controlled by fundamentalists and their transnational corporate overlords. (Search: dominionism) **

In The Handmaid"s Tale, Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood evokes a dystopia where women have been stripped of all rights. Gilead is Ameristan, christian Taliban included. (DVD: IMDb.com/title/tt0099731) **

• Ameristan - growing an ignorance base •

The US is an aberration among developed nations in its affinity for xian enthusiasms and in its failure to accept basic truths like evolution. A plurality of Americans think that evolution does not take place. (http://pewforum.org/surveys/origins/) **

A nation overwhelmingly god-fearing also overwhelmingly rejects science. Millions lack a critical intelligence to evaluate the garbage they stuff into their brains. **

Palin belongs to them. Her disinformed science -- dinosaurs and humans walked together -- and bloated ego reinforce each other. She is a throwback to the mental and moral world before Darwin, a characteristic of fundies. **

• Poisoning society in end-of-days madness •

Palin's sexual ideology is pro-mass-death: creating disease, poverty, and ignorance by fostering overpopulation, damning safe non-reproductive sex, and blocking responsible medical research. **

She espouses ideological madness. Dominionism is a toxic ersatz for public policy, domestic and foreign. Palin proudly displays that inverted elitism common among consumers of junk-food faith. (See 1Corinthians1:18-28 esp. 27-28)

Posted by bipolar2 | September 26, 2008 9:49 AM
32

Yeah, and 0bama thinks there are 57 states. Sad year for us all.

Posted by solicitor in bulgaria | September 26, 2008 11:26 PM
33

I honestly don't think these politicians are as dumb as they sound. I think they have to dumb things down because when they speak in detail they get ignored (e.g., Ron Paul). Government is too complex, foreign policy is too complex, economics is too complex for us to choose a single person with a single package of ideologies and plans to lead us through the hard road ahead. The entire system is problematic and creates politicians that look like idiots because they can't possibly explain everything in detail to the American people. We need a new system

Posted by Kevin | September 28, 2008 3:08 PM

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