Palin Proves Unpresidential
Alright I'm just going to say it. If you don't know the word "nuclear" You should never be president. As Sarah Palin said nu-cu-lar over and over in the recent Vice Presidential debate I saw the grinning grey ghost of George Bush hovering behind her, and I shuddered. It's hard to imagine a governor less qualified to run a country than "W". And yet, there she is.
This is rather painful for me.I was an early and enthusiastic Palin supporter. When no one gave her a chance to win the governor's race I was torching off Op-Eds and webshakers pronouncing her the most honest and uncorrupt candidate (I also supported Berkowitz until he dropped out).
My wife respectfully disagreed. Sarah's inability to specify disturbed her, along with her apparent hostility to her own sex.
To give my wife credit she forgave my pro Palin posture after hearing Bill Clinton (Doesn't he seem nicer since Hillary lost?) explain that sometimes one important issue can dominate a person's politics to the extent that he (or me) will support a candidate on the basis of a single vital issue, ignoring the candidate's more troubling stances. And Sarah has a coherent policy, if not direct knowledge of, resource issues.
But that first step down from there is a doozy.
Listening to the debate I can hear the familiar buzzphrases that have been drilled into her head by former Bush operatives (just glad to have a job, I'm sure). But when she wanders away from the script her inability to simply form a coherent sentence is appalling. Is it really too much to ask that a potential cheif executive have the knowledge and ability to express herself clearly? The "Ya"s and her habit of leaving the "G"s off the end of "ing" words sounds like condescending baby talk. Even Hockey Mom and her husband Joe Sixpack don't need to be talked down to. Shades of Bush again, with his affected Texas accent, non-existant syntax and willingness to trade thought for faith.
As she flashes her plastic smile (Someone in the McCain camp must be yelling "Smile!" all day long) I can only hope the shallow puddle she's standing on doesn't lead people to think she's walking on water.
9 comments:
I too was a Sarah supporter in the beginning. Now I am fairly certain that she is probably not the best candidate for the job as V.P.
In reality no candidate seems to rise to the top. Once again the voters are given the choice of the lesser of two evils.
Perhaps it is time to really consider if the ingrained two party system has outlived the ideals of our founding fathers. Why were there only two candidates at either debate? In my opinion, both debates were filled with diatribe and cliches. Hence they ended in a tie. No side winning a clear victory.
Bring the other party candidates in and let debates be what they should be, an open forum of political ideas. That is what built this great nation, and that is what will sustain our democracy.
BTW, thanks for allowing comments, maybe we can get Ish to do the same.
Peace
G.
The two party system sure has produced some uninspiring candidates in the past. On the other hand you see places like Israel where they have a schizophrenic amount of parties. Is there a perfect number? Three, four? Diatribes and cliches work, apparently. It would be great if the debaters could actually engage one another and explore the issues. Instead they always seem to be swinging for the fences.
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the traditional Wasilla accent? All those farmers brought in from the midwest to settle that area apparently brought more than their knowledge of how to grow big potatoes.
Alaskan speech has its niche differences, if this is the worst thing you have to complain about - please hush up.
The whole McCain/Palin ticket is beyond scary.He is so out of touch it's laughable,she is so programmed with hate,it's almost beyond belief.How I wish Ron Paul was still in the running.
I'm curious, what made you think she was "honest and uncorrupt"?
Simply because she said so? Don't they all?
Mostly by her opposition to Randy Ruedrich, in conspicuous attendance at a rally for her on Saturday.
I too found her refreshing and honest when she was taking on Ruedrich and then the oil companies. She was doing a decent job on key issues before the Monegan firing gave us glimpse of how the sausages were made.
Picking her as VP was picking an image. Or more charitably,
she was doing fine in the minors, but she isn't ready to pitch in World Series.
But to go after her pronunciation of nuclear reveals a dialect(ical?) prejudice. Nucular is a regionalism, just like dropping the c in Arctic here. There's lots of Texans up here who brought it up with them. There are enough real issues. Your focusing on it shows that Democrats can be as irrational as Republicans. Or that we're taking your rant way too seriously.
You are not the first person to point out that I might be nitpicking over the "word" nucular, and I've been accused of being a word nerd (my latest irk:the use of "irregardless" a favorite of brainiacs meaning without without regard, I guess)But here's the thing:an accent is fine. If your job is to represent us all, learn the language. "There ain't no" might be acceptable regionally, but that's not how the president should speak.
Governor Palin is an intelligent woman. She had two choices at that debate to convince us she's smart or that she's homespun. Its obvious which she picked.
Personally, I didn't notice her heavy Fargo-esque accent in the several televised speeches I watched while she was our governor. I strongly suspect that she was instructed to 'cultivate' whatever whisper of an accent she may have had, in the hopes of making her seem even more Everyday People. Whenever I hear her speak now, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for her to say "dontch'a know" or, a favorite of my fiance's Norwegian-Minnesotan late grandmother, "uff-da!"
I know several folks from Wasilla, and though the midwestern farmers who settled there in the 30s certainly brought their regional accents along, Mrs. Palin's seems more than a little contrived to me. I think it might even be a little charmin', if she actaully had anything to say.
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