Flutterby™! : Sarah Palin silliness

Sarah Palin silliness

2008-09-02 13:10:14.153093+00 by Dan Lyke 19 comments

QOTD: From this list of questions sent to 2006 candidates for Governor of Alaska, where the question was:

Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

Sarah Palin replied

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

As was said over at Danger West, "If English was good enough for Jesus...".

And, of course, even the mainstream media is questioning Sarah Palin's stance on sex education issues given that her 17 year old daughter is 5 months pregnant.

It's like the Republicans actively want to lose this election.

[ related topics: Religion Quotes Politics Humor Sexual Culture moron Education Alaska ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-02 13:24:21.700984+00 by: JT

On the bright side though... she's one of two people who responded to the questions. It'd seem even worse if she hadn't answered anything at all. I'd rather know where someone stands than to read "No Response, No Response, No Response, No Response..."

That being said, I don't like her... but I admire the cajones it takes to say what you believe in to the general public.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-02 14:03:35.970867+00 by: Larry Burton

Hey! Leave Governor Palin alone about her daughter, she's being punished enough with a baby.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-02 14:16:06.751828+00 by: Dan Lyke

Dori predicts that Palin will drop out and will be replaced by Lieberman

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-02 15:08:19.033159+00 by: Dan Lyke

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-02 17:31:23.533036+00 by: ebradway

Did you know there was a "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.,". Guess who the director was?

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-02 17:57:52.642302+00 by: Dan Lyke

Bwahahaha! That's priceless!

Hey, I'm trying to find references to that time a few years ago when Ted Stevens snuck $8 million into the transportation bill for a feasibility study on a ferry from Port Sonoma or Petaluma into San Francisco. It was one of those silly things that was obviously pork, everyone pointed fingers at the California politicians, and it was shortly thereafter revealed that none of them knew anything of it, but the guy who got the funds to do the study had donated a few (tens of?) thousands of bucks to the Stevens campaign. Unfortunately, all of my searches are just returning more recent malfeasance on Stevens's part.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-02 18:49:32.846621+00 by: Dan Lyke

Ahh, here's a mention that says it was $20 million to study a ferry to Port Sonoma. Port Sonoma is admittedly a little bit less ridiculous, at least from an environmental impact standpoing, than a ferry to Petaluma proper, but it's way in the middle of nowhere.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-02 19:36:39.861719+00 by: TheSHAD0W

Or is this the study you're talking about?

http://www.marinbike.org/Campa...%20CMFC%20Study_April%202004.pdf

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-02 19:59:13.197775+00 by: Dan Lyke

Shadow: Nope, that one uses the existing Larkspur ferry terminal which, although it isn't optimally situated, currently has lots of ferry traffic, and that one's just about better connecting existing transportation options together.

JT, I've had to think about your comment for a bit. Yeah, points for answering the question, points off for having no clue about something as basic to U.S. civics as the history of the Pledge of Allegiance.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-02 20:34:16.040354+00 by: Dan Lyke

Okay, I'm sorry, I normally wouldn't link to this as an unqualified source for a quote, but Huffington Post looks at Palin's church affiliations and quotes Palin speaking to her Pentecostal church:

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

Great. Iraq as a holy war. Yeah, we've already had the discussions of holy wars, jihads and crusades.

On a lighter note, I realize that Judaism has Chanukkah as a celebration of oil, but the Christians dropped that. Maybe the prominence of oil in the current conservative Christian movement is a return to that old time religion?

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-03 17:30:46.744203+00 by: Mark A. Hershberger

I really doubt Palin is gonna drop out. And if you read over some of the editorials that Dave Winer points to (http://www.scripting.com/stori.../whyPalinShouldBeTakenSerio.html) you'll see that, yes, she could be exactly what McCain needs to get elected.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-03 19:20:06.930031+00 by: Diane Reese

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/...inking-one-alaskans-perspective/

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-03 22:41:09.83471+00 by: Dan Lyke

CNN on Palin's track record:

She did cut property taxes in Wasilla -- granted, it's not exactly the Pentagon budget -- and reduced spending on the town museum while opposing a bigger library. She also was mayor when the local sales tax was increased to build a popular sports complex.

It's like Idiocracy, down with the museums and libraries, up with the stadium!

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-03 23:13:17.958346+00 by: m

Palin also ran up $3000 in per capita debt for the citizens of Wasilla, a rather astounding amount for a small town. This was despite $4000 in per capita earmarks that Senator Ted Stevens got for Wasilla.

Two new scandals are emerging. The larger is called the Mat Maid scandal. Seems that Palin fired the entire board of the State Agriculture and Conservation Department, and appointed her own cronies, none of whom had any dairy experience, to the vacant positions. She poured several undred grand into the operation of a state owned dairy that was overseen by the above Dept. She then closed the dairy down a few months later because it lost more money than ever. Several million in assets of this dairy were then sold to a Palin friend at pennies on the dollar. The friend's operation was then subsidized by earmarks from Senator Ted Stevens. Lots more dirt in the details of this mess at

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/3/9330/95523/364/584429

Palin was also a partner in a car wash that was closed by the State of Alaska for gross mismanagement.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-03 23:31:34.249615+00 by: meuon

I'm starting to think: McCain might be an Obama supporter.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-04 14:43:08.238728+00 by: m

The level of this election is so low that my sarcasm-dar is not working anymore. I just saw a blurb avering that Grover Nyquist claimed that the Bristol pregnancy was the fault of Hillary Clinton. It took a while before I realized it was satire.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-04 16:24:15.693908+00 by: topspin [edit history]

If Tina Fey doesn't do a dead on Palin on Saturday Night Live this weekend, she's missing a "once in a lifetime" opportunity.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-05 21:26:36.551052+00 by: Dan Lyke

Heart's Nancy Wilson responds to the McCain/Palin campaign using "Barracuda", Sara and Nancy Wilson wrote:

"Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."

Or, as the Boston.com blog entry that pointed me there said:

No word so far on whether the tune would be dropped from the GOP playlist. "If the real thing don't do the trick,'' Ann Wilson sang in "Barracuda,'' "You better make up something quick.''

#Comment Re: made: 2008-09-05 22:38:21.64098+00 by: Larry Burton

If an artists wish to retain full control of their music maybe they shouldn't promote songs so heavily that they become the first thing you instantly think of when someone gets a nickname related to that song. I grew tired of "Barracuda" back in the '70s but it was promoted and received so much airplay that when someone uses "Barracuda" for a nickname for someone the song still jumps into my head. I would think that the stronger these types of connections are made between a song and a concept the more control the artist is going to lose over the use of it. Maybe not legally but surely effectively.

On this same note Barack Obama used the Brooks & Dunn song "Only in America" as his exit music from his acceptance speech. This is a song Bush and Cheney used in their 2000 and 2004 campaigns. Brooks & Dunn played the song for the Bush campaign at several rallies during the campaigns.

The song was cowritten by Don Cook, a friend of Brooks & Dunn and founder of an organization called Music Row Democrats. Cook reported had this to say about the turnabout use of the song:

Since Cook was a little taken aback when the GOP adopted it, does this feel like turnabout is fair play? “That’s exactly what Kix Brooks said to me when he called,” said Cook. “He said, ‘You had to endure George Bush using it, so it’s only fair that I would have to endure Barack Obama using it.’ But he said it in a real light-hearted way. For us as writers and them as performers, truthfully, we’re proud when anybody uses our song for something that’s substantial. Even if you’re diametrically opposed politically to the person who’s using your song, the fact that they like it well enough to use it at an important place in their life, you have to love that.”

So for Nancy Wilson: