What Sara Wrote On Her Hand...

[Guest Swamprunner]

...Has been revealed.

http://i50.tinypic.com/dg0vgy.jpg

Now we know.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do:D

She's good.

[Mike.357]

I cannot even begin to understand how the libs are trying to trash her for having some crib notes on her hand.

[Mark@Sea]

I don't understand it, but it's fun to watch their heads explode.

[raydog1]

I cannot even begin to understand how the libs are trying to trash her for having some crib notes on her hand.

Colbert explains it through. . . satire.

rawstory.com/2010/02/colbert-palin-retard/

[Guest jackdm3]

I thought it was "crip" notes.

[Mike.357]

I thought it was "crip" notes.

stop thinking, you will give yourself headaches

[Oh Shoot]

I thought the notes said:

"this is my left hand"

"this is my right hand"

- OS

[Krull]

Naa a TelePrompTer is much classier.

[Guest jackdm3]

I am so waiting for ANY politician to experience a fault on a teleprompter!

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Sarah experienced that during her acceptance speech

at the Republican convention 2008, if you will recall.

[Guest jackdm3]

Missed it. How did that turn out?

[Guest Bluemax]

I want to see a tkt with Sarah and the Nuge on it

[Guest jackdm3]

There is NO WAY he would let her out of his dressing room!

[Guest Bluemax]

There is NO WAY he would let her out of his dressing room!

Can't say I would either

[Chief07]

...Has been revealed.

http://i50.tinypic.com/dg0vgy.jpg

Now we know.

Haaaa, Haaaaaaaa:D:D

Great one!

[Guest ab28]

I was gonna say "Kill the Strelok". Bonus points for who actually knows where that came from.

[Guest Xd9]

+1 Bluemax the Libs would sh#t their pants! I wonder if the Nuge was Prez if the secret service would have days off:rock:

[Shima]

Missed it. How did that turn out?

She made her way through it, but apparently she realized her hand was more dependable than a teleprompter. Can't say I blame her.

She didn't look like the idiot that Obama did with the teleprompter when he didn't know how to pronounce "corpsman". What a DA!!!

[Guest jackdm3]

I was thinking it said, "If you can read this, get more lubricant." She DID say she wanted serve.

[Shima]

Funny

[9teeneleven]

I cannot even begin to understand how the libs are trying to trash her for having some crib notes on her hand.

Not a liberal, but I also don't like Palin, so I will take the bait. It's a bit of a layup though. The most common criticism of her notes has been that she openly criticizes others for reading from tele-prompters (which she herself does). I think this is a valid criticism. One of the things that marked democracy from previous political systems was that it shifted power from those who were of noble blood, divined by God, or had the most military strength to giving power to those who could wield language. Palin's implication is that composed language is somehow less authentic that impromptu speech. As an English teacher, I have to utterly disagree with this point for a couple of reasons. First writing is an act of organizing ideas, and an act of thinking–one that is often quite different from other forms of thinking. Writing and composing allows us to freeze language–to study and explore the connections between ideas and words. There is a reason why human civilization (and also, it is worth mentioning, academic study) advanced with the advent of the written word. However, Palin's implication is wrong for another reason. The greek word rhetoric originally meant "the art of speaking." Speech is as much a crafted action as writing. Those skilled in rhetoric have studied or internalized many forms and templates from which to improvise (much like a skilled jazz or blues musician might). An important point, though, is that Palin is not a skilled rhetor, and her attack on prepared speeches is more an attack on skilled communication. Her attacks are as much a defense of her lack of rhetorical skill.

However, Palin's attacks on skilled communication go much deeper. Palin claims we shouldn't just distrust skilled communication, we should distrust the education that creates it. She criticizes Obama for being educated, when the holes in her general knowledge are shocking. We can criticize Obama for many things, but being educated shouldn't be one of them. As a teacher, I find this to be a really disturbing trend, coming for the most part out of American politics. There is a growing movement in America that believes education is not to be trusted, and is not a valuable pursuit. Every semester I see more college students who want to wear their ignorance like a badge of honor rather than learn to think critically and defend and evaluate the positions they hold. Sarah Palin is emblematic of, and a growing part of that movement. Her recent tea party speech was a great example of this kind of low brow populism.

Back to the issue of the notes on the hand. If you watch where she used her notes, it wasn't during the speech, but during the Q&A. She has been accused of being a kind of conservative buzzword mad lib. I can't disagree. When she is not giving a speech she has had the opportunity to prep for, she simply cannot put together a coherent string of thoughts. The notes on her hand were a perfect example. She got stuck, looked down at her hand, and just plugged in a word. If we hold Palin to her own standard that unprepared speech is a more authentic measure of a person's ideas, she fails.

Yet, ss I mentioned above, the ability to think and speak on the fly is not a fair measure of one's intelligence, or even of their communication skills. Nor is it a measure of true or authentic speech. Authentic speech is measured by a knowledge of rhetorical devices and appeals, an understanding of logical fallacies, and the ability to evaluate facts and evidence. These are skills that are learned through education–the very kind of education Palin warns we should be suspicious of.

Edited February 12, 2010 by 9teeneleven

[Guest jackdm3]

"There is a growing movement in America that believes education is not to be trusted, and is not a valuable pursuit"

9teeneleven, you no doubt witnessed our recent exhaustive excursion into lazy netspeak that got the thread shut down? The right to type incoherently was vigorously defended here.

[Oh Shoot]

Not a liberal, but I also don't like Palin, ....

If Palin were ugly or likey even just 20 years older, she wouldn't have a fraction of the following she does now, and she'd never have been tagged as McCain's running mate in the first place.

Her brain is not the reason for the American Idol type celeb support she garners.

- OS

[Mike.357]

I do not see a comparison between some words on her palm and a scripted speech

Media who tried to exploit this missed their mark.