The measurable, quantifiable, dumbness of Sarah Palin

[RealityInSeattle]

Just how measurably dumb is Sarah Palin?

Lots of people have the personal opinion that Sarah Palin is not an intelligent person. Many people base this opinion on the answers she gave during two of her interviews, one with Katie Couric and one with Charlie Gibson, while campaigning in 2008. Here is a video of one answer she gave that was especially disturbing considering she was actively campaigning for the vice presidency.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rXmuhWrlj4

But opinions aside, in the nature of science, is there a way we can know that Mrs. Palin, is in fact, dumb. And then if she is indeed dumb, just how dumb is she? Is there some sort of measurement of her dumbness that we can apply that might stand up in court (for the sake of irony)? Is there some threshold or set of standards that we can point to in an attempt to calibrate her dumbness or apparent lack of knowledge about things governmental?

Why, yes, there is.

Every state publishes a set of standards for each topic that is taught in public schools - mathematics, science, language, writing, etc. - and those standards describe the topics and levels of knowledge that is expected from a student in order to show competency and to progress to the next grade level.

So where does the ability to name a case, any case at all that came before the Supreme Court at any time during it's more than 200 year history appear on these lists of standards?

Lets take a state like California. They publish all their state standards for social studies, here:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/histsocscistnd.pdf

From that document, in section 8, meaning, it applies to the 8th grade:

Section 8.9
Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slavery and to realize
the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.

8.9.5. Analyze the significance of the States’ Rights Doctrine, the Missouri Compromise
(1820), the Wilmot Proviso (1846), the Compromise of 1850, Henry Clay’s role in the
Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854),
the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision (1857), and the Lincoln-Douglas debates (1858).

Ouch. 8th grade.

Well, maybe specific cases don't come up again, maybe that's it, and you don't have to know any individual cases to get out of high school in California. I mean, there haven't been that many issues actually decided by the Supreme Court, right?

Section 12.5
Students summarize landmark U.S. Supreme Court interpretations of the
Constitution and its amendments.
...
3. Evaluate the effects of the Court’s interpretations of the Constitution in Marbury v.
Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, and United States v. Nixon, with emphasis on the
arguments espoused by each side in these cases.
4. Explain the controversies that have resulted over changing interpretations of civil
rights, including those in Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v.
Arizona, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Adarand Constructors, Inc. v.
Pena, and United States v. Virginia (VMI).

So be fair, in some states, she could make it to the 12th grade where the standard of social studies education pushes the knowledge of Marbury v. Madison to that grade level.

Although...Nebraska does expect 8th graders to know:
8.1.9 Students will describe key people, events, and ideas since World War II.
Explain segregation, desegregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.

http://www.nde.state.ne.us/SS/DOCUMENTS/TheHistory-SocialStudiesStandardsPDF.pdf

One would imagine that Brown v. Board of Education would probably get at least a passing mention during this discussion.

So, the based on these standards, it is not hyperbole or rhetoric to say that Sarah Palin is just not smart enough to graduate from the 8th grade in many states, most definitely not in California, and she absolutely would not be able to meet the requirements for passing high school social studies in every single state. She had nothing, no Miranda, no Brown, no Marbury...nothing.

Sarah Palin is just not as smart as you have to be to get out of 8th grade in a lot of places.

That is how measurably dumb she is.

[niyad]

1. very definitely k and r--she always reminds me of a line from a novel read years ago

"if his iq were three points higher, he'd be lint" or molly ivins, "if his iq were any lower, we'd have to water him"

my deepest apologies to lint and plants for the unintended insult.

[Bitwit1234]

2. By the way is she getting her ghost writer to prepare a statement

about the would be bomber.