Think Progress

Palin on whether she’s intellectual: ‘Yehhh-sss.’

In an interview with Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), People magazine commented that “you don’t get to be governor without being smart” and asked, “Do you think you’re intellectual?” Palin responded, “Yehhh-sss”:

PALIN: Yehhh-sss. And you have to be up on not only current events, but you have to understand the foundation of the issues that you’re working on. … You can’t just go on what is presented you.

Q: And how do you get that knowledge?

PALIN: I’m a voracious reader. … I appreciate a lot of information.

Later in the interview, when asked what she is currently reading, Palin responded, “I’m reading, heh-heh, a lot of briefing papers.”



82 Responses to “Palin on whether she’s intellectual: ‘Yehhh-sss.’”

  1. LividLib says:

    PALIN: Yehhh-sss. And you have to be up on not only current events, but you have to understand the foundation, blush, eye-liner, mascara. You can’t just go on what is presented you.


  2. tarazan says:

    I’m very smart,and that’s why I’m also a friend of witch hunter Thomas Muthee”.


  3. marlow says:

    “I’m a voracious reader. … I appreciate a lot of information.”
    What books were those you bullied the librarian to ban off the shelves?


  4. Uncle Ho says:

    A pet rock has more intellect than Caribou-Barbie


  5. stewarjt says:

    “I appreciate a lot of information. I just don’t assimilate it or understand the context, history and implications of it.” – Sarah Palin


  6. CageyCretin says:

    Sarah said that she wanted a son named Zamboni (hey — it’s in the interview! You can’t make up this sh^t!), but she noted that they were not planning to have more kids. Guess that means that ol’ Todd’s days of the horizontal mile are over since their religion strictly forbids any contraceptives…. poor Toddy…. someone send him an inflatable moose….


  7. CheeseFlap says:

    Brain cells school like fish
    Inside the mind of a true
    Intellectual


  8. normalasf says:

    PALIN: I’m a voracious reader. … I appreciate a lot of information.

    For example, just yesterday I learned that Madonna and Guy Ritchie are divorcing. And Angelina is nursing both twins!


  9. spencers mom says:

    I appreciate having Palin on the national stage. I can point to her on the TV and remind my son that education is important so you don’t end up stupid, believing that you know more than you do.

    He is an avid rock collector. We have boxes and boxes of rocks. He now understands that those boxes are smarter than the GOP’s VP candidate.

    Can’t ask for a better role model of how not to be, especially following on the heels of the Zippy the Pinhead administration.

    PEACE


  10. larkohio says:

    Maybe she could start her reading with the United States Constitution. I think that would be a super idea.


  11. Chocolate Jesus says:

    > PALIN: I’m a voracious reader. …
    > I appreciate a lot of information.

    What information does she know? Why “all of it” of course…

    Someone in the press who gets a chance to talk to Palin wanna make her look stupid? ask her to name one mistake shes ever made, or one belief shes ever changed her mind about.

    Watch her fumble around and sparks shoot out of her ears
    when shes desparately tries to make an answer that will simultaneous make her look both human AND intelligent..

    this lady has yet to acknowledge she has a single doubt or shortcoming about ANYTHING.


  12. Uncle Ho says:

    Palin on whether she’s intellectual. “Yehhh-sss”

    This, from a twit who can’t even name a single newspaper she reads.

    correction; she CLAIMS to read.


  13. CageyCretin says:

    larkohio Says:
    Maybe she could start her reading with the United States Constitution.

    She said she thinks that reading should be informative, so why would she want to read that “Godda&^ed piece of paper”? It’s not an informative book filled with right wing talking points, nor is it a book explaining how the end of days is nigh, where she is the Chosen One to usher in the raprture for the Christian Fascist movement (which smells a lot like another kind of “movement”).


  14. One Thousand Billion says:

    The most important of those briefs is titled “What You’re Labeling Obama Today.”


  15. DieNowForPeace says:

    You can’t just go on what is presented you.

    “I’m reading, heh-heh, a lot of briefing papers.”

    It’s really, REALLY hard to make sense when you have no sense.


  16. Bilbo Hussein Baggins says:

    Later in the interview, when asked what she is currently reading, Palin responded, “I’m reading, heh-heh, a lot of briefing papers.”

    They are called “The Cliff Notes of What Government is all About”.


  17. Wayne says:

    Republicans massively doing voter caging, purging voters from the roles, “malfunctioning” machines switching votes to Republican in early voting, The Republicans deliberately race baiting, fearmongering, calling for investigations of Democrats for “Unamerican ideas” and Bush deploying troops stateside in case of “unrest“…..

    Makes me very nervous that this airhead nazi may be one heartbeat from the PresiDUNCEy.

    We must be watchful, our Democracy is at stake.


  18. cha cha cha says:

    Alex Trebek: “I appreciate a lot of information”

    Contestant: “What are ‘things a robot might say’?”

    Trebek: “That’s correct. Pick again!”


  19. Badmoodman says:

    Palin on whether she’s intellectual: ‘Yehhh-sss.’»

    – - Devastating on Palin’s anti-intellectualism:

    http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=8c130fe3-adab-4cb3-8443-c363f085cf13

    Here’s one way to look at the question: how has Palin brought up her own kids? Her eldest son is a high-school drop-out. Her eldest daughter has had, so far as one can tell from press reports, very uneven attendance in high school, and no plans for college. Her other daughters seem to spend a lot of time traveling the country with their mom at tax-payers’ expense. I’ve seen them at several rallies with the Palins this fall. Are they not in school?

    The least one can say is that none of her children seems to have been brought up thinking that college is something to aspire to. And her new son-in-law just dropped out of high school as well.

    Sarah Palin’s own record of several colleges over several years – ending with a degree in sports journalism – tells you a lot. So does her interest in policing the Wasilla library as mayor and using the town’s money for a sports stadium. She cut funding for the town museum and opposed building a new library. So does her amazing ignorance about the constitution. She is, in my judgment, the final rebuke to what Buckley tried to do for conservatism. She is burying it as an intellectual tradition and returning it to the pre-Buckley era. With the eager encouragement of a now Buckley-free National Review. Yes, the karma is overpowering. This is a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare.


  20. tokin librul says:

    I am relieved that, at least, she can read…


  21. avchavis says:

    Listening to Palin’s interviews is like Chinese torture! I liked it better when they hid her a$$ from the press.


  22. CageyCretin says:

    Palin, reading briefing papers… “Todd, honey, what’s this word here?”

    Todd responds, “That’s your name.”

    “Oh.”


  23. Abu Ben Hussein Leporello says:

    The worst thing is that she’s just writing more and more SNL sketches. Comedy writers would Never dream this stuff up as it Makes No Sense! It’s become so staggeringly ludicrous that I can only laugh as she demonstrates, so amazingly, her absolute lack of intellect and insight. Come on November 4th and End the Insanity!
    Impeach Pelosi, Cheney and Bush and Save the Constitution!


  24. hussein toasterhead says:

    PALIN: Yehhh-sss. And you have to be up on not only current events, but you have to understand the foundation of the issues that you’re working on. …
    _______

    And by “the foundation of the issues,” I wonder if she’s referring to all those Supreme Court cases that for 200+ years have shaped the legal interpretation of the Constitution that is the foundation for the foundation of any issue we’re working on.

    Doubt it.


  25. tokin librul says:

    Makes me very nervous that this airhead nazi may be one heartbeat from the PresiDUNCEy.

    We must be watchful, our Democracy is at stake.
    October 22nd, 2008 at 12:47 pm

    It’s not even a heart-beat, it’s one wild squamous cell. If elected, and if his cancer recurs, Bombin’ John’ll be out of commission for the rest of his life, with treatments, etc.


  26. Zimzone says:

    Sairhead & her husband would like to secede from the USA.

    I support this idea, but leave Alaska alone…just the 2 of you go.

    As far as reading, read them their rights & send them through the Aleutians to Russia.

    I think the Russian political climate suits Sairhead better, eh?


  27. Bilbo Hussein Baggins says:

    #Wayne Says:
    Republicans massively doing voter caging, purging voters from the roles, “malfunctioning” machines switching votes to Republican in early voting,

    Since all these switching of votes are labeled “equipment malfunction”, why is it that it never is a malfunction in the favor of the Democrats?


  28. Buckie Boy says:

    I wonder how they open her head to pour in the talking points?

    Can opener?


  29. katy says:

    since it’s a fresh(er) thread, this headline cracked me up:

    Sarah Palin’s economic stimulus plan?

    Los Angeles Times – 22 minutes ago
    Sarah Palin, small-town hockey mom and everywoman? More like Sarah Palin, pampered princess. The RNC’s monthly financial disclosure reports have shown that the Republican National Committee has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the vice …
    The cost of Sarah Palin: RNC pays $150K for fashion Monsters and Critics.com
    Palin clothing bill up, poll standing down Boston Globe


  30. misshusseinmolly says:

    Does Palin know what “intellectual” means?


  31. CageyCretin says:

    Intellectuals read lots of stuff, and I read lots of stuff, so, see, in that way I am an intellectual, see, ‘cuz I know stuff and John mcCain knows some stuff too, but I know a lot of stuff ‘cuz I’m telling you I read everything and I know big words like “voracious”.And I read more stuff than just what they give me to read, so I’m really more intellectual.

    You betcha’. (wink)


  32. katy says:

    any guesses on how brian william’s interview with her will go?

    you could see his comtempt for the MSnbc side when mcJOKER was whining about keith at the smith dinner the other night…

    just hope he’s fair and accurate…


  33. ScaryBrownHusseinChick (ThinkOutsideTheBush) says:

    “You can’t just go on what is presented you.”

    Later in the interview, when asked what she is currently reading, Palin responded, “I’m reading, heh-heh, a lot of briefing papers.”

    She’s reading briefs that were presented to her!


  34. rocknerd says:

    Okay, i am ready to have an intellectual conversation with Sarah about the causes of global warming. Bring it!


  35. spencers mom says:

    Chocolate Jesus Says:

    PALIN: I’m a voracious reader. …
    I appreciate a lot of information.

    What information does she know? Why “all of it” of course…

    “Voracious” must have been the word du jour on her Starbucks coffee cup. The word I think she meant to use is “vociferous“:

    blatant: conspicuously and offensively loud; given to vehement outcry; “blatant radios”; “a clamorous uproar”; “strident demands”; “a vociferous …
    wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

    PEACE


  36. katy says:

    in the recent clip of palin answering a third grader’s question about the job of the vp, she used that elementary school teacher voice… it’s how she talks most of the time in these interviews… it’s effective on so many because they think on a 3rd grade level…


  37. Lungman424 says:

    Reading “Run Spot Run” qualifies you neither as a reader of books, nor an intellectual.


  38. CageyCretin says:

    rocknerd Says:
    Okay, i am ready to have an intellectual conversation with Sarah about the causes of global warming. Bring it!

    Mooseywinks Sarah couldn’t have a vulgar conversation with a squashed frog about the shape of the wheel.


  39. alphainfinityomega says:

    When asked by CNN if she thought that Obama was a socialist, Sarah answered by quoting Joe the (so called) Plumber.
    She actually quoted Joe the Plumber.

    ¶ AIO


  40. tom says:

    There are two kinds of stupid.

    There’s GDumbya who thinks he hit a triple but was merely born on third base. Then, when a pitch got past the catcher, GDumbya stole second.

    And there’s Failin’ Palin who got an intentional walk . . . and trotted to third base.


  41. one more clue says:

    #20 tokin librul Says:

    “I am relieved that, at least, she can read…”

    Well, she claims to be able to read (and I gues reading a prepared speech from a teleprompter is proof enough). . .but comprehension is a whole other topic, and don’t even go there with the capacity to reason based upon what has been read and comprehended.

    And then there is her speaking ability. Though I guess her claim that her faith has been mocked in the media might go to the fact that, in her Couric interviews at least, she was mocked for having been speaking in tongues (oh, we of little faith).

    Perhaps my tendency to not take the Republican VP candidate seriously would be less marked if watching her did not bring to mind THIS image:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

    It would be easier to take Ms Palin seriously if there was even a whiff of the gravitas brought to their positions by other women in high political office. Can you imagine Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Golda Meir, Indira Ghandi, or Benazir Bhutto simpering for the camera in the smarmy way that Ms Palin has perfected? For that matter, can you imagine Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi or Barbara Boxer simpering for the camera the way Ms Palin does and getting away with it? Why on earth should Ms Palin be given a pass for behaving like a giddy cheerleader being interviewed for the school paper. She’s running for the position of VP for crying out loud, not prom queen.


  42. CageyCretin says:

    katy Says:
    in the recent clip of palin answering a third grader’s question about the job of the vp, she used that elementary school teacher voice

    I find that voice to be a very condescending and patronizing voice (which, for the same reasons, appeals to too many small minded people –”Tell us what to think…” types).


  43. Winski says:

    Palin’s ex-Bush handlers looked at the poll’s that say her negatives are getting bigger everyday and gave her a new script to memorize.

    For someone that has the IQ the same as a highway divider it comes across as disingenuous, and basically a lie. It doesn’t take much exposure to this phony to understand that she is a ‘prop’ and nothing more..


  44. Bilbo Hussein Baggins says:

    katy Says:
    any guesses on how brian william’s interview with her will go?
    you could see his comtempt for the MSnbc side when mcJOKER was whining about keith at the smith dinner the other night…
    just hope he’s fair and accurate…

    I’m fairly sure that the conditions they are putting on Palin interviews is that she gets the questions in advance and that there are no “gotcha” questions, meaning they all have to be softball questions that will allow her to segue into her stump speech.


  45. Great Frybread King says:

    Does Palin even know what “intellectual” means? Her intial response seemed confused.


  46. Dumb_Hussein_Fox says:

    misshusseinmolly Says:

    Does Palin know what “intellectual” means?

    Let me answer this question Palin-style:

    You know, Miss Molly, it’s not really important what “intellectual” means. What’s important is if intellectual loves America. Does intellectual live in real small-town America, or is intellectual an elitist terrorist lovin’ surrender-moose, as we call them in Wasilla.

    So I’m not saying that intellectual hurts America, but if you want me to be intellectual we will win in Iraq, cut taxes and make healthcare stimulus bail-outs reform Washington DC. *wink*


  47. Jackie says:

    We now know Sarah doesn’t read. For those who support her Please get her the tape SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK, yes I know it’s a cartoon but that fits what she can understand. Please hurry time is running out, the tape would help educate the kids and the First Dude. It would even clear up the that ethic charge Sarah doesn’t understand.


  48. NoMoreBush says:

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

    NOW THAT IS FUNNY!


  49. oldtree says:

    Shit, and I thought I was stupid.


  50. IgnoranceIsNotBliss says:

    Please save me from this woman.


  51. Mr Blifil says:

    Heh heh.

    Glad she’s so amused about the whole thing, while boys and girls struggle in the desert to maintain their sanity and their lives. Including her own son, who hasn’t actually shipped off yet, and of course we know he’ll be posted far from the green zone when he gets his glorious chance to defend freedom.

    Question is will she show up at her own concession speech?


  52. RUCerious says:

    I didn’t know Beetle Bailey did briefings?!!


  53. RUCerious says:

    Whoda thunk she’s an interlectual?


  54. Witch1 says:

    I have an empty shoe box in my closet that has more value than falin palin..In the end It will hold more information on any subject than she has as well..Blessings


  55. ralph the wonder llama says:

    Uh-oh… Sarah’s an “intellectual”.

    That’s gonna make the “real Americans” in “pro-American parts of this great nation” suspicious of her, ain’t it?


  56. McWars says:

    Badmoodman

    Wow. A mother who doesn’t care that her children drop out of school. Sure, schools in Alaska are probably nothing to write home about, but if she can’t manage to get her own children on the right track how can she do the same for the country?


  57. barracks9 says:

    Wow. She’s Kelly Bundy from Married with Children…the episode where Bud preps Kelly for her appearance on a TV Trivia Show, at the sacrifice of the rest of her “other” knowledge…

    I think the term I am searching for here is “finite capacity”. Try to pour a cup of water into a full bucket, another cup will slosh out to maintain stasis.

    Finite Capacity. Yup.


  58. McWars says:

    INTELLECTUAL!?!?

    Joe six-pack isn’t happy about this.


  59. Shayne says:

    She’s and intellectual and an elitist. Who else gets a wardrobe of $150K for 3 months.


  60. GL2814 says:

    She’s a voracious reader? Oh what exactly? Beauty Contestant Magazine? Rapture Weekly?


  61. McWars says:

    Well, her eldest son may have left a traditional school but it’s good to see he’s serving in the military.


  62. upside99 says:

    Is Sarahcuda the modle for Jessica Simpson’s “idiot” persona on her old reality TY show?

    Or maybe Jessica is Palin’s role model.


  63. Uncle Ho says:

    lungman; ‘Run, Spot, Run’ has been banned in Wasilla.
    Replaced by mandatory reading of ‘My Pet Goat’.

    snark


  64. Uncle Ho says:

    McWars; Sonny-boy was in a hometown jam. Seems he vandalized a lot of school buses. The judge gave him a choice; Jail or the army.


  65. Kay says:

    Babs “The Don” Bush let Palin borrow “The Fart Book” for those extra intellectual veep prowess prep moments…


  66. shoeless says:

    Well, she doesn’t actually read. She listens to audio books with the volume turned down.


  67. upside99 says:

    Bullsmith Says:

    You’d think if you’re going to be pretty much batshite crazy, you could at least have courage in your convictions.

    Maybe when your opponent has raised a cool Mill in under a week, it does impact your ‘courage of your convictions’.


  68. impeachcheneythenbush says:

    Just getting to TP today, and by doing a quick scan of strings and comments, I see no mention of Palin’s comments regarding the job of the Vice Presidency. It’s not her “schoolteacher voice” that bothers me in that interview, it’s what her understanding is! She seems to think that because the VP is called the “President of the Senate,” a VP can therefore also “get down with those senators and help create policy.” In other words, she thinks the VP has some role in the legislature other than breaking a tie-vote. On Tom Hartmann today, I heard him interviewing a Republican (don’t know who that was, but I think the Repub strategist with a big body and a high voice…Terry somebody?) Anyway, HE is trying to say that Palin isn’t incorrect and that the VP could actually direct which bills are brought up for a vote in the Senate!!! In other words, the Majority and Minority Leaders in the Senate can be overruled by the presiding officer (The VP or their stand-in at that time). Even the Bush administration never tried to push this particular completely unconstitutional argument!!


  69. shoeless says:

    Palin thought she was being asked if she was ineffectual.


  70. Kay says:

    Of course, if McBush/Pallid steal the election there will be no need for Congress or The Supreme Court. There will be no more checks and balances. We will be under permanent Martial Law.


  71. DidHeJustSayThat says:

    Later in the interview, when asked what she is currently reading, Palin responded, “I’m reading, heh-heh, a lot of briefing papers.

    In fact, she’s reading all of them!


  72. MapleStreet says:

    Think of Palin dancing around questions like this. And McCain saying he’d get a lot of good people together.

    Does it remind anyone of Dubya dancing around trying to pretend that he knows what he is talking about ?


  73. MapleStreet says:

    20. tokin librul Says:
    I am relieved that, at least, she can read…

    Tokin, do you have any proof of that other than she says she can ?


  74. Kay says:

    Yes.

    Palin. That great intellectual of our time.


  75. texaslady says:

    That anyone would rather have mccain/palin trying to lead this mess of a government out of the pit we are in rather than two intelligent, experienced in motivating people to work together just because of someone’s color is mind blowing ! And yet rich or poor, educated not so educated some voters will vote on color alone. That is the sad truth.


  76. texaslady says:

    Considering the repubs will try or accomplish stealing another election, it is beyond frightening having out of touch mccain and ignorant with arrogance palin at the helm.


  77. Leftside Annie says:

    Later in the interview, when asked what she is currently reading, Palin responded, “I’m reading, heh-heh, a lot of briefing papers.”

    Ah, yes. “Vice Presidenting for Dummies” …!


  78. Chocolate Jesus says:

    > Tokin, do you have any proof of that other
    > than she says she can ?

    Do you honestly think she has the intellectual capacity to speak at ALL if she couldnt at least read a teleprompter.?


  79. tarazan says:

    If she is intellectual, smart and a reader as she claims, then why does she need $150,000.00 worth of expensive clothes to impress voters? !


  80. Doc Rock says:

    But does she support whirled peas?


  81. Laszlo Panaflex says:

    She does read all the newspapers, you know.


  82. EugeneDebs says:

    Caribou Barbie is an intellectual like I am King of Freedonia



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