Can Sarah Palin and Hope for the Future Coexist?

[Goldstein1984]

Consider the following that this unquestionably stupid person has.

Look at the drivel she spews to an adoring and believing (and lobotomized?) fan base.

Some pundits actually suggest, and I don't disagree, that Palin could actually ride a Populist wave into the White House in 2012.

Do we, as a nation, have enough inertia left in us to coast through four years of a Palin presidency intact?

I'm not just being negative. I think Sarah Palin's popularity is a sign of very serious intellectual and cultural decay within our nation. I believe her popularity is evidence of a general dumbing down of the people, as if "Dumb and Dumber" were not a comedy but a documentary.

And I know about Sarah Palin. I live in Eagle River, Alaska. I can see Wasilla, across Cook Inlet, from my front porch.

[HopeHoops]

1. I'm sure Al Qaeda is hoping for her political future.

She'd be just what they wanted - destruction of the American way.

[StreetKnowledge]

2. If Palin was to ever be elected President.......

American liberals have about ten weeks to cut their losses and get out while they still can.

This is why we need the Democratic Party to start working for the people of the United States, not the fuckers on Wall Street, and it needs to start right away. Like, right now. Not next election, next year, next month or even tommorrow. NOW.

[havocmom]

3. Is she a rapture rootin end timer?

If so, then no future if she EVER gets any position of authority.

She can spew nonsense from a tiny platform and we can have a future, because her nonsense will alarm more people to the insanity that is the far fundy right.

[Goldstein1984]

5. That could very well happen

And Americans could become scientifically literate and reject Creationism in time to save K-12 science education.

A very educated and otherwise intelligent and well-informed coworker one floor below me has an autographed picture of Palin in his office.

She may prove to have the same simple-minded appeal that Ronald Reagan had, and she could prove to be every bit as useful a tool for our shadow government.

[old mark]

4. People of her type and their followers are one of the reasons I own guns.

I am amazed we survived Bush II and I am still amazed he didn't just declare martial law and suspend the '08 election. I doubt Palin would have any problem with doing that.

mark

[Goldstein1984]

6. I admit it....

I own guns, and I have a .22 pistol and a .22 rifle, along with 5000 rounds of ammunition, set aside for no other purpose than defending the nation from domestic enemies.

(Some may question my choice of caliber, but more that thirty years ago a counterinsurgency instructor in the Marine Corps told our class, "If civil order disintegrated tomorrow, and I could grab only one firearm to carry with me into the hills, it would be a .22.)

NOTE: I am not advocating violent insurrection, only being prepared to defend oneself and one's family.

[11 Bravo]

7. As long as there are open manholes, uncovered septic tanks, and cliffs, shit yeah!

[Jester Messiah]

8. No. Hell no.

It's a cliche, but if she ever gets into the White House on anything other than a visitor's pass, I am taking my college-educated (aka elitist) self elsewhere. President Palin is the official point of no return, beyond which this country cannot be saved.

[Goldstein1984]

9. My wife and I have had the same conversation and we've

reached the same conclusion.

We're traveling to Thailand next winter with friend to scope it out for retirement. I'm not scheduled to retire until 2016, but we could probably get by if I retired in 2012.

I also have language and technical skills that might lend themselves to international business based in Thailand.

Making Palin the Commander-in-Chief would be like turning a two-year-old loose on a riding lawnmower--I would want to be someplace else.

[Motown_Johnny]

10. If the Rapture comes, God will take her to Heaven and then we can all regain hope here on Earth

:sarcasm:

[Jade Fox]

11. Here's a point I believe is relevant......

In Jane Smiley's excellent review of Max Blumenthal's book "Republican Gomorrah" she made a point that has stayed with me, and I believe is relevant to your question. See below:

"The ray of hope in Blumenthal's book is that the right-wingers he talks about tend to be so psychologically unstable that they don't have much staying power--think Ted Haggard. But they have numbers. The bad thing about that is that they could take control. The defeat of Sarah Palin, Conrad Burns (R-MT), George Allen (R-VA), Rick Santorum (R-PA), James Talent (R-MO), and Mike DeWine (R-OH) brought us "back from the brink" according to the website Theocracy Watch. But only back from the brink. The good thing is that they would not be able to maintain what we call a government for very long (see George W. Bush). The bad thing is that they would destroy the country as we know it while they were trying."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/republican-gomorrah_b_290293.html

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Alaska managed to survive (barely) through two years of

her governorship, but not without taking some serious hits. The thought of her as president gives me cold chills.

I worry about her populist appeal, too, Goldstein. I've been warning people here at DU ever since August 2008 that while it's fun to mock her, she is much more dangerous than she appears at first glance. Most of us here have caught on to her game, but have the masses in the heartland been paying attention?

And even if she doesn't run for president, she seems to have so much influence over the whacko crazies on the right, she could really cause us some trouble, i.e., "death panels," etc. Some people believe every word that drops from her lips. She is St. Sarah and can do no wrong.