Scary Stupid: Palin In The Great History of America

There has been a slow trickle of online clips from Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin. Like water torture they've come out night after night. Drip. Drip. Drip. Each progressively more ridiculous than the last. It's like CBS didn't want to release the entire interview all at once because we would have thrown up. We needed the time to digest each clip and come to the same realization that Couric must have: Wow. This woman is dim. She's scary stupid.

Scary stupid is the kind of stupid that beats us up for not being stupid too.

It's a deadly combo of vehemence and ignorance that we've had to endure during the Bush years. Gems like, "That's George Washington, the first president, of course. The interesting thing about him is that I read three -- three or four books about him last year. Isn't that interesting?" That's from the leader of the free world: George W. Bush.

Palin, as it turns out - is also a fan of the Founding Fathers. The clip where Couric asks her about how Thomas Jefferson said we needed to build a wall to separate church and state, Palin says, "Thomas Jefferson also said never underestimate the wisdom of the people." Of course, put those words into Google and it's the quote to nowhere. Jefferson never said that. Didn't believe that.

Jefferson, a brilliant intellectual, statesman and inventor actually said, "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." Which is polar opposite of whatever drivel Palin was trying to articulate.

Jefferson talked about the separation of church and state but that didn't make it into law. It doesn't say that phrase in the Constitution, but it's implied in the First Amendment. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." I know this because A) I keep a copy of the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence in my purse, hoping that when it inevitably gets searched, the government official riffling through my bag sans a warrant will get the irony. And B) because there has been a huge debate about this aspect of the Constitution and the role of religion in public life for the past eight years. You know, since 'God was in the White House'. You know, since McCreary County, Ky., v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky split the Supreme Court in 2005. You know since the lines of church and state were crossed and lit on fire. Ring any bells?!

How could she have missed that reading all of those newspapers that are put in front of her all these years?!

Of course when Couric asked about cases other than Roe v. Wade that Palin disagreed with, she replied after some hemming and hawing, "There would be others..." But couldn't recall any specifically.

Scary stupid.

Scary stupid is the kind of stupid where mindless recitation is being 'at your best'.

She's like a ventriloquist act - the puppet half. The one's throwing their voices are her 'handlers' like Steve Schmidt. I've actually heard people blame 'her handlers' for cramming too much information down her throat and making her choke in interviews. What kind of horrible double standard is that? If a man didn't know anything about the law or foreign policy and mangled sound bites- he'd be off the ticket - he would have never been considered. But scary stupid has evolved. Just when the public no longer has a tolerance for scary stupid Bush and his not believing science - scary stupid developed auburn highlights and yes, lipstick.

So why is scary stupid bad? Isn't it time for a 'Joe six-pack' to be represented in the vice presidency? Am I such a liberal media elite that I can't accept someone from outside Washington coming in to 'shake things up'? Am I bias against a 'team of mavericks'? Am I just being mean to poor little right-wing, public school educated, had to work for a living, power hungry Sarah Palin?

Isn't it time for someone that doesn't know a lot about the world or anything really but is a 'quick study' to be given world reaching power and influence?

That's the scary stupid question, isn't it?

Follow Tina Dupuy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TinaDupuy

Comments

[Diogenis]

Tina, you certainly echo the frustration and anger we are all feeling

[HeevenSteven]

Thanks Tina!

Palin makes Dan Quayle look like a philosopher. How low a bar can we set for veep? If this is an indication of how low the "low information" voter is today, we are surely screwed.

[NoMoFearNoMoHate]

Mrs. Dupuy, you, are scary smart! Thanks for the great post!

[Nommo]

Boston Chance here. The real pathology is that she does not get called on it. Harking back to that famous plagiarism brou ha ha, all the ire and righteous indignation, you'd think that someone would just call her on it instead of sitting there all bemused.

Every one seems just slightly afraid of little missy and she does reek of that evil stupidity that is so much of Lovecraft's stories. The fact that she could become so instantly popular, like so many other unoriginals of modern US culture is the scary thing. It ain't about her. It is about us and out love for the mediocre and the dumb.

Pity the poor moose. People shoot wolves from helicopters. Talk about shock and awe. How come no one's upset like they got upset and crazy about Michael Vick?

Oh, he's Black.

[Rescisco]

I really like this post. Keep in mind, "scary stupid" is what we have become as a nation. Sarah Palin is the accurate reflection of the American body politic. We "elites" think history matters, that reality and a command of facts matter, that great ideas matter. The truth is, we (as a people) are what do not matter. We long ago surrendered our liberties and our Democratic values for the sweet bliss of selfish ignorance and arrogant self esteem. We have become what one critic long ago called Americans, "a primitive people with all the latest inventions." I know, that's awful and I'm an arrogant elitist etc. But at least I'm not scary, only stupid.

[Nommo]

Sh*-t, this is what I was trying to say.

[RedneckDem]

I've been looking for something from Palin, street smarts, intellectual curiosity... something... anything...

You do not need advanced degrees to lead, nor do you need them for reading people, but you gotta have good instincts and the burning desire to learn. Memorizing may get you thru 12th grade, but to apply it to anything it must be learned.

It has become clear that the reason why Palin has been so vindictive to her fellow Alaskans is her overcompensation for her lack of intelligence.

[sonshine]

you betcha

obama/biden '08