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I'm perfectly happy to discuss her positions; I just think Huckabee does a better job of it. Joel Send a noteboard - 09/02/2010 10:26:54 AM
I don't need a reminder what Kepler's Laws are or what the proper firing technique is for a rifle, I certainly might want a reminder to talk about them. This is her Q&A session after a speech, the whole thing is on youtube, it's actually rather humorus because you can see her look at her hand repeatedly if you're watching for it, but it's farily unnoticeable if you're not thinking about it. She usually says something pertaining to one of those things immediatly after.

These things happen in public speaking, they are very common. Look, all through SOTU Biden was a bit fidgety and about ten minutes into I realized he just seemed that way because he was reading Obama's teleprompter and reacting to jokes or comments a moment before Obama said them. It was actually rather humorous once I noted it, but hardly a big deal. During Brown's speech, the 'we can do this moment' is funny as all heck, but you have to be really reaching out of genuine malice to think he meant they could insert a curling iron up Coakley's nether region. You also have to know the context for that statement to understand why someone said that specific thing, it wasn't a random nasty comment, it has to do with some specific thing that went on in her previous job involving a case where that horrific act was done to a child.

When you're used to looking for these things they pop up noticeably, one of the reason I prefer radio or text format's, the video often distracts me from the content. A public speaker should know better than to tap their pen during a debate for instance, but many do it anyway because their stressed and distracted and it's a habit. It's good for a chuckle but it's not really a big deal, like Obama bowing to people, he's a tall guy and he obviously considers it a respectful gesture, he needs to stop doing it, but other than it's humor value it's hardly an indication of some mass deficiency in his qualificaiton to be POTUS, like Bush Sr's tendency to vomit on foriegn leaders. You start looking for it you'll notice all sorts of tells, like people who sip from a glass of water before answering questions because they aren't just parched but use it as a way to buy a moment of time without seeming to stall. I do it with cigarettes. Going 'uh... um...' for five seconds comes off stupid whereas taking a sip of water or a long drag on a cigarette seems dignified. I don't see what the hassle is all about on this and it just seems like petty sniping.

In some ways you're right that this isn't ad hominem because you're not using personal attacks to disprove her arguments, your not even talking about her arguments. No one does, they never discuss her points, they just sneer and abuse, it's outright dismissal via abuse. These type of comments don't even rise to the low level of ad hominem. "I don't consider Gov. Palin to be a foriegn policy expert" as a counter to something she said about Afghanistan is ad hominem, most of the crap thrown at Palin is just nasty slurs. "Well, Mr. Brokaw, in response to that I just like to say my opponent is a drooling incompetent" is not ad hominem.

The difference in my mind between Obama reading a teleprompter for a whole speech and Palin needing her hand to remind her she wants to cut taxes is that there's a lot more detail in the former, and it's easy to forget stuff. "Cut taxes, drill ANWAR and Go, America!" is simple enough I only had to check her notes once, and I haven't been campaigning on them for two years straight.

I don't consider Palin a foreign policy expert for the same reason I didn't consider Bush one: They'd never had cause to look at it much until they ran for national office. I don't consider Obama a foreign policy expert for a similar reason, not so much that he's never been to the US Senate as that he didn't even finish his first term before running for President. His extensive personal travel abroad mitigates that a little, just as having Bush 41 for a dad did for Bush 43, but not enough. If you want to parse it that much, fine: Palin isn't necessarily stupid, but a disproportionate number of things she says are (like claiming live within 1000 miles of the Bering Strait made her knowledgeable about foreign policy; that was far more plausible when Bush said it about Mexico. )

It's not about the issues; there have been plenty of staunch conservatives in the Republican Party who were far more knowledgeable, experienced and articulate than the ones embraced by the fundie right. Huckabee and Bob Dole are good examples, but you didn't see the people they represented flock to their banner because instead of stuttering a mumbled response to tough questions then waving an American flag they actually knew their stuff. Believed their own hype enough they didn't need a cheat sheet to remember what it was. I doubt you'll see Mike Huckabee turning up at a rally for a Republican Governor who tried to force every school girl in the state to take the (less than a year old) HPV vaccine, then shoved toll roads paid for in full by bond initiatives down the states throat, but that's what Palin was doing before she made the tea party where this video was shot. Perry's not even going to get renominated (which is actually bad, because Hutchison is a lot more like Huckabee than Palin when it comes to qualifications) but evidently he and the former Governor of Alaska don't realize that yet.

It's not that no one takes the far right seriously, it's that the constituency keeps ignoring candidates like Dole and Huckabee for gaffe machines like Quayle, Bush 43 and Palin. "Unfit for Command" indeed....
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This message last edited by Joel on 09/02/2010 at 10:29:40 AM
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Palin reads Cheat Notes. - 08/02/2010 12:43:02 AM 1423 Views
Is it really worse than reading answers on a teleprompter? sorry, I see no big deal here. *NM* - 08/02/2010 01:02:49 AM 251 Views
yes yes it is. a teleprompter is subtle - 08/02/2010 01:22:17 AM 592 Views
a teleprompter is not subtle - 08/02/2010 02:25:46 PM 521 Views
staring openly and blatantly at your hand is? *NM* - 08/02/2010 03:09:25 PM 321 Views
I think if anyone else had done the dame thing we wouldn't even had heard about - 08/02/2010 06:13:44 PM 522 Views
you're right, we probably would not have heard about it - 08/02/2010 07:56:09 PM 561 Views
Yes for what the notes were - 08/02/2010 12:44:35 PM 556 Views
no biggie *NM* - 08/02/2010 02:00:12 AM 271 Views
Isn't her 15 minutes over yet? *NM* - 08/02/2010 02:45:58 AM 357 Views
This only obscures the rational reasons for duly decrying her political popularity. Moooooooo. *NM* - 08/02/2010 03:19:45 AM 325 Views
I disagree, I think it underscores it. - 08/02/2010 03:39:57 AM 523 Views
Or they might believe that a far left liberal - 08/02/2010 04:16:51 AM 541 Views
Calling someone who needs a cheat sheet for their talking points stupid isn't an ad hominem, IMHO. - 08/02/2010 12:13:36 PM 536 Views
soory but your wrong, again - 08/02/2010 02:23:31 PM 495 Views
You shouldn't need reminders of your major themes after two years pushing them. - 08/02/2010 02:55:22 PM 527 Views
That's a bit silly - 08/02/2010 08:40:25 PM 689 Views
I'm perfectly happy to discuss her positions; I just think Huckabee does a better job of it. - 09/02/2010 10:26:54 AM 709 Views
Well, let's discuss some of these points - 09/02/2010 07:13:33 PM 714 Views
Re: Well, let's discuss some of these points - 10/02/2010 09:15:04 AM 747 Views
Re: Well, let's discuss some of these points - 10/02/2010 06:49:51 PM 813 Views
Ironically, Palin seems to agree this is different than using a teleprompter for a speech. - 11/02/2010 09:05:19 AM 708 Views
Again, two seperate things - 11/02/2010 09:51:15 PM 524 Views
Agreed, but Palin and other Republicans, not I, drew the comparison. - 15/02/2010 01:02:25 PM 672 Views
Just to get the obligatory Feinstein comment out of the way... - 15/02/2010 11:43:42 PM 734 Views
Hadn't heard, actually. - 19/02/2010 06:58:50 AM 649 Views
Re: Hadn't heard, actually. - 19/02/2010 08:32:11 AM 647 Views
Ah. - 23/02/2010 09:55:45 PM 724 Views
Re: Ah. - 24/02/2010 01:32:34 AM 671 Views
Yeah, I think we've reached an understanding if not agreement. - 01/03/2010 03:51:49 AM 665 Views
Re: Yeah, I think we've reached an understanding if not agreement. - 01/03/2010 11:46:24 PM 880 Views
Re: Yeah, I think we've reached an understanding if not agreement. - 05/03/2010 12:11:48 AM 754 Views
Random Title - 05/03/2010 02:49:59 AM 682 Views
Re: Random Title - 15/03/2010 05:37:22 AM 598 Views
Re: Random Title - 15/03/2010 09:17:53 PM 912 Views
Re: Random Rejoinder - 29/03/2010 03:45:08 PM 635 Views
Re: Random Rejoinder - 30/03/2010 12:34:23 AM 1282 Views
Oh dear, who ever let you two get into a subthread together? - 15/03/2010 10:31:24 PM 743 Views
Ben was asleep at the switch, clearly. - 29/03/2010 02:48:46 PM 680 Views
oh yes, and the right never uses ad hominem - 08/02/2010 03:56:42 PM 490 Views
This is petty and also rather ignorant - 08/02/2010 03:59:40 AM 687 Views
There had to be better ways, though - 08/02/2010 08:36:50 AM 443 Views
so you're saying you're as dumb as sarah palin? - 08/02/2010 10:55:00 AM 501 Views
Basically yes - 08/02/2010 06:57:16 PM 557 Views
a couple of points... - 09/02/2010 01:53:29 AM 522 Views
Let me get this straight. - 08/02/2010 03:59:40 AM 600 Views
Okay, folks, it's not that she had a cheat sheet. - 08/02/2010 04:39:06 AM 557 Views
Style is EVERYTHING, dammit! *NM* - 08/02/2010 05:34:14 AM 283 Views
As Cheat Sheet was raised as an objection, so it clearly was - 08/02/2010 06:16:57 AM 660 Views
It's completely unprofessional - 08/02/2010 08:27:47 AM 520 Views
why? - 08/02/2010 02:29:44 PM 544 Views
well it's all she's got going for her. *NM* - 08/02/2010 03:10:37 PM 233 Views
You know that's a good question - 08/02/2010 05:19:10 PM 506 Views
maybe you are just projecting - 08/02/2010 06:15:57 PM 511 Views
well what is the association we have with notes on hands? - 08/02/2010 07:58:41 PM 536 Views
or people on the far left are being grossly disingenuous - 08/02/2010 08:18:06 PM 649 Views
dude, only posted it because it was funny - 08/02/2010 08:43:55 PM 505 Views
I agree on your title - 09/02/2010 11:30:11 AM 572 Views
Who cares? She's hot. *NM* - 08/02/2010 03:06:58 PM 246 Views
I agree with your first sentence. *NM* - 08/02/2010 03:07:31 PM 347 Views
I also totally agree with that first sentence. *NM* - 08/02/2010 03:48:24 PM 273 Views
Much ado about nothing. She was just making sure she didn't forget anything. - 09/02/2010 02:00:56 AM 487 Views
No, humble would have been note cards. *NM* - 09/02/2010 05:55:27 AM 251 Views
Nah, note cards can be dropped or lost. - 09/02/2010 03:03:25 PM 507 Views
She's such a retard. *NM* - 09/02/2010 02:46:51 AM 275 Views
Maybe - 09/02/2010 09:29:45 AM 544 Views
No offense, girlie. - 09/02/2010 11:36:55 AM 649 Views
She should have left herself a note... - 09/02/2010 11:04:34 PM 513 Views

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