UPDATE: It now appears that this story may have been a hoax, though the final verdict isn't in yet as far as I can tell. I'll leave it up for the time being, but if it turns out to be fake, I apologize for falling for it.
Thought you might find this story from The Huffington Post interesting in light of one of the topics from our last class:
Now that the 2008 election is over, reporters are spilling all the juciest, and previously off the record, gossip from the campaign trail....perhaps one of the most astounding and previously unknown tidbits about Sarah Palin has to do with her already dubious grasp of geography. According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked "a degree of knowledgability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency," in part because she didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, and she "didn't understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself."
4 comments:
Africa a country?! I'm sorry, but I think that is way off for a person that was running for vice president. I believe that people like the president and vice president need to know geography and world issues. They are the ones that are representing the United States of America.
However, I also think that Sarah Palin is also very intelligent in other areas besides geography. So, we can't always look at the negatives. I sometimes feel as though media tends to put a lot of light on Palin because she is a woman. This is why articles like this pop up frequently.
I think that the United States is slowly changing. We had Hilary Clinton, a woman, run for presidency. Obama is going to be the next president. Sarah Palin, also a woman, run for vice president. I think that it is a good change, but we still have a long way to go.
As much as a loathe Sarah Palin/the bimbo image she portrays, I hate that this quote came out. My first reaction was how ridiculous it would be for her to not know that; but, then I thought about it more and realized how skewed and out of context the quote must be. The media tries to find the bad, the dramatic, anything to get a reaction out of people. The damage from putting that information out to the public has been done, and later telling people it is false will only reach some of the public that heard it. I am just glad that the ads are done and hopefully the smears will trickle out of the news in the next week or so.
Sarah Palin has been under the close scrutiny of the media ever since controversial events in her life became public, however, there always has to be the last "dumb" word. Although, some may think this is a true statement that Palin said, there have to be some spectators that know the true story. I agree with Katie that the media might have made a stretch on this one, but has anyone ever watched VH1's I Love the New Millennium? The have a section of the shows that is called "Great Words by Bush" These are true quotes that came out of President Bushes mouth during a speech that were absolutely ridiculous and made no sense. One for example is "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people and neither do we." Here is a case with the President of our country making a fool of himself because he does not sound educated at all and is speaking out to America. Do all Presidents go through this or have we had some special cases?
I'm not quite sure right now whether I believe that Sarah Palin actually thought Africa was a country or not. I am definitely not a fan of hers, but this seems to be a bit sketchy. Although, every time i watch Entertainment Tonight or different "hot topic" shows, it seems that they always come back to attack Sarah Palin on her infamous interview with Katie Couric. I may not know everything about interviewing or politics, but the simple fact that SP couldn't give an example of at least one magazine that she reads was a bit interesting. It's funny, because immediately after the interview aired, people were all over the place making fun of her. Have you seen the SNL skits? After hearing all of the uproar about the interview there have been clips of SP speaking out and pointing fun at the interview I once saw on tv that she said "You want to know what I read?" and then she gave a nice long list of the magazines and journals she reads. She really bugs me! Also, just tonight on ET, she now claims that she was "annoyed" with Katie Couric in the interview and perhaps her "annoyance" could be seen through that question. Come on now, do you really believe her? I feel like shes just trying to defend herself for making a stupid mistake. I think it's time she lets this one go, it's getting old. However, through the SNL skits, even though they are poking fun and exaggerating, I feel that they do a great job of impersonating her and her "not so bright" moments. What do you think will become of Sarah Palin now that the election is over?
Post a Comment