The Fox propaganda channel turns on its masters:
Bill O’Reilly goes into more detail here with Chief Political correspondent Carl Cameron. They also, unfortunately in my view, discusses infighting over “Nailin’ Palin,” in Cameron’s phrase.
Please share widely!
peabody says
There are already lots of Sarah Palin tales, but if stuff like this was held can one imagine what else was hushed up.
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p>This sort of thing really speaks to Palin’s suitability to be vice president.
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lynne says
I even posted it with that reaction on my blog! HOLY CRAP! She could have BEEN VP! WTF, media??? “It was on background.”
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p>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
lodger says
..but she and McCain LOST. She’s gone. Get over her. Move on.
sabutai says
If convicted felon Ted Stevens is elected Senator and is forced to resign, you don’t think Palin will be on the short-list of people for Palin to appoint as his replacement? The more we understand her weaknesses, the better off we are.
hrs-kevin says
But perhaps she would want to run for the seat in the special election.
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p>In any case, I fully expect Stevens to receive a pardon from Bush, so if he does end up winning, the Senate would have to eject him to prevent him from taking office again.
edgarthearmenian says
How many of the regulars on this site know that there are over 2,000 languages spoken in Africa. How many know that most American blacks’ ancestors came from West Africa (what is now Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, and some from Central Africa. How many African studies programs in the US are offering Swahili as their basic language, despite the fact that it is not an African language (an Indian Ocean/East African hybrid). This is like telling the Irish that to understand their heritage they should study Armenian. Palin is certainly not unique in her ignorance about Africa. Most Americans, black and white, know precious little. As far as “countries” go, tell that one to the Hausa’s of Southern Niger and Northern Nigeria, or the Ibos of Nigeria. All of these so-called countries were 19th century boundaries created by the neo-colonialists, anyway.
To get back to Palin: I just heard Laura Ingram dis her on the radio, too. Seems like the country club division of the republican party (Romney’s et. al.) are out to get her so that she won’t be a factor in 2012. I find a lot to like about her when both the left and the right are on her case. You’ll be happy to know that I am getting sick of that pretty boy who dishes the news on Fox. Am going back to CNN.
hrs-kevin says
Not knowing that Africa is a continent is extreme ignorance. They teach this stuff to you in grade school.
dmac says
Without question she should at least know that Africa is a continent. My twleve
yearold is laughing out loud (LOL) that she could not possibly know that Africa was a continent. I can guarantee you my child’s knowledge of geography has more depth than Palin’s. Nobody is saying she needs to be Queen Sheba, but that’s a bit out there.dcsohl says
Is actually an African language. Classified as a Niger-Congo B (or Bantu) language. West Africa speaks mostly Niger-Congo A languages. Distant, but not to the extent of your Irish-Armenian comparison. More like telling Spaniards that to understand their heritage they should learn a Celtic language.
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p>And, it depends on what you are studying African Studies for. Are you an African-American trying to learn your heritage? Then I’d say Edgar’s criticism of Swahili instruction has some merit – it’s unlikely your ancestors spoke it or any thing closer than a distant cousin. But if it’s truly an African Studies department, and not just a West African Studies department, then Swahili has a solid place as the most widespread tongue (spoken as a first or second language by nearly 100 million people) that is native to the continent.
edgarthearmenian says
You are correct about Swahili being a Bantu language; it has had, however, an enormous influence from Arabic since about 35% or so of its words come from Arabic. From the sources that I have seen it is not spoken by anywhere near the 100 million people that you claim. Hausa, the lingua franca of West Africa is spoken by 25-40 million people and covers a wider and more diverse swath of the continent.
Swahili is only important to so-called African studies programs because they have made it so. It has been a lot easier for scholars to visit and study in East Africa because most of those territories were English-speaking colonies and the climate is less severe than in West Africa. I can agree that Swahili might have a solid place as one of several language choices in a solid African Studies Program (cf. Harvard, Indiana U. etc.) but it is fatuous to assume that Swahili somehow represents Africa, language-wise. Wolof, Ashanti, Ibo, Hausa, Yoruba–these are the languages and cultures which should be taught in our universities. They are the original languages of our African American citizens.
mr-lynne says
… extent of Swahili? Is this primarily a South African language?
edgarthearmenian says
It is more of an East African lingua franca; I think that it is also spoken in Madagascar. To my knowledge it is not spoken in South Africa. I think that the Wikipedia article about it is pretty accurate.
My main point of the original posting was that Americans know too little about the peoples and cultures of this continent. Yes, Palin was a stoop if she really thought that Africa was a country, but we all should know more than we do; let’s not all be so quick to jump on her alone.
mr-lynne says
… because I remember from my college history professor about a trade route from South Africa, across the gulf and through to India. Just an intellectual curiosity having nothing to do with Palin. From what I remember, the route included a problem in that South East Africa ships that didn’t quite time the trade winds right they would get stuck and have to stay there for almost a year. I was idly wondering if it was a southern language and if the Arabic common roots had something to do with the trade route.
edgarthearmenian says
tblade says
…exactly what kind of ignorant, arrogant, and under-qualified Veep candidate they voted for. Perhaps a few McCain/Palin voters will be more contemplative in the future. (Not that I’m holding my breath…)
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p>It reinforces what a disastorous decision maker McCain turned out to be. It makes people feel even more secure in their Obama/Biden vote.
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p>It’s entertaining as hell. C’mon! She had to ask if South Africa was just part of the country of Africa? And this was our potential VP?!?! It’s a bad parody movie come to life! How can you not love it?
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p>Sarah Palin and people like her need to be soundly ridiculed out of government and politics. As someone who wants to see the GOP succeed in the future, I’d think you’d want to see vapid Palin-types disappear in favor more sophisticated and competent Republicans, no? I mean, the quicker she’s totally un-viable, the better for you and your conservative comrades, right?
corey says
Ha ha ha
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p>I love when Repubs crash and burn big time, the others run away…can’t bare to be part of the losing team.
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p>Poor babies.
johnmurphylaw says
Gotta love “Planet Fox” (G. Trudeau 11/6/08)
kbusch says
better knowledgeability it’s advisablistical to thoroughly suffixify.
joshdawson says
Not knowing which countries are in NAFTA? I was in 5th grade when NAFTA was signed and can remember my teacher going over the countries involved….
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p>With degreess from Harvard Law and Harvard Business School, Romney must love these reports – that he was snubbed by someone who didn’t know some of this “elementary” political knowledge.
stomv says
I immediately thought Canada, USA, Mexico, … and … I wonder if any Central American countries or Caribbean countries have signed on too… hmmmm….
theloquaciousliberal says
The U.S., Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
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p>http://www.caftaintelligencece…
dcsohl says
I’m sure you know this, but CAFTA’s a completely separate treaty. E.g. you should not assume the existence of any free trade between Canada and Honduras.
tblade says
…on a foreign policy-oriented ticket. (I can see Japonaise Bakery & Cafe and Sushi Express from my house!)
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laurel says
Is that mayo with a hint of wasabi? Well I d’eclair!
tblade says
http://www.japonaisebakery.com/
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p>And you can get Japanese and French foreign policy expertise in one setting.
david says
actual reporting by Fox News.
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p>OK, OK, it’s pretty astonishing that Palin didn’t realize that Africa was a continent instead of a country. But still …
they says
Then it’s not astonishing. They should have played her ignorance up right from the start as just something regular hockey moms don’t know. That would have actually made her more endearing as a genuine hockey mom, whereas if she was too impressive with knowing stuff, she would have lost cred as a real person. Instead of letting her be a pure values candidate and reminding us that John McCain will be there for that international stuff. Maybe the media didn’t cooperate with that, if that was ever the plan.
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p>I made a post recently at RMG reminding them about McCain’s Peak when all we knew about Sarah Palin was she was a pro-life heterosexual Christian hockey mom who decided to get involved. Her ignorance of economics and foreign policy was assumed from the get go, and embraced. They’d have won on that.
joes says
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p>As bad as Palin was as a selection, it should be McCain and the extreme Right Wing that pushed her that should bear the brunt of the recriminations by the Republican Party.
lynne says
Um…how much of that is going to look like fraud? Using credit cards of aides???
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p>Oh please, please do not let this torpedo the love the wingnuts have for her. I want her to run and win the 2012 nomination!
jeremy-marin says
Cut her some slack. She can’t see Africa from her window.
jasiu says
I wish I could remember who said it, but someone on TV yesterday described the whole Palin episode as a “sugar high” and I thought that really nailed it. A big boost initially, but not something that could be sustained over the long haul.
chriso says
right from the start, when he went with his first instinct, which was to lie, and claim that she had foreign policy experience. If he had said, “No, she doesn’t. She’s a Governor, and that’s not part of her job. But she is the only one on either ticket who knows what it takes tro be a chief executive” or some such, the feeding feenzy might have been delayed a little bit. It seems clear that she would have done enough damage on her own, but he really put her behind the eight ball.
fairdeal says
you think she’s bummed out because they lost?
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p>when the dust settled, his 35 year political career is over. meanwhile she went overnight from wasilla nobody to the republican presidential frontrunner for 2012.
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p>mccain got played like an alaskan fiddle.
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katie-wallace says
I am not a fan of Sarah Palin. I don’t think she is in any way qualified to be President…however…
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p>I am very hesitant to believe what I am hearing. I can not believe that Sarah Palin ever said that she thought Africa was a country not a continent. Can you show me a tape of her saying this?
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p>Are you taking the word of some nasty anonymous bitter and now unemployed McCain staff? Are you suddenly taking the word of Fox News?
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p>All of these statements that the anonymous Republican sources and the “fair and balanced” Fox News staff are now making seem very sexist.
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p>The clothing thing? Did anyone see Sarah Palin go into those stores and make those extravagent purchases herself? Can you document where everything she wore on the campaign trail came from? Did she choose her own VP campaign staff? Don’t you think it was probably staff that she had just met that did this shopping.
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p>Nothing makes me believe that she personally decided to buy the high priced clothing herself. Nothing makes me believe that she doesn’t know that Africa is a continent.
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p>I do believe that the anonymous Republican sources and the “fair and balanced” Fox News staff have it out for her. They built her up and now they have to tear her down and put her back in her place.
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p>They put her out there cause she was a woman and pretty and now they have to prove that she’s just a dumb brunette.
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p>They lost. If she wants to run in the future, fine. We’ll beat her again. But I think the bashing of her can be given a rest…especially that which is coming from her former biggest supporters. Another reason to hate Fox and the Republicans.
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