Sam Harris has an op-ed in the LA Times about Palin. He argues that Palin is not qualified to be the President, which is a big concern since McCain might keel over during his presidency:
Is Palin remotely qualified to be president of the United States? No. But that’s precisely what is so interesting. McCain not only has thrown all sensible concerns about good governance aside merely to pander to a sliver of female and masses of conservative Christian voters, he has turned this period of American history into an episode of high-stakes reality television: Don’t look now, but our cousin Sarah just became leader of the free world! Tune in next week and watch her get sassy with Pakistan!
Americans have an unhealthy desire to see average people promoted to positions of great authority. No one wants an average neurosurgeon or even an average carpenter, but when it comes time to vest a man or woman with more power and responsibility than any person has held in human history, Americans say they want a regular guy, someone just like themselves…
Let me put it plainly: If you want someone just like you to be president of the United States, or even vice president, you deserve whatever dysfunctional society you get. You deserve to be poor, to see the environment despoiled, to watch your children receive a fourth-rate education and to suffer as this country wages — and loses — both necessary and unnecessary wars.
Sam has had so much criticism about this article that he has already written a response.
Very well said.
His response is great, too. I love that he said it was probably made more “sexist” by several women that helped him edit it.
Mr. Harris isn’t the only scared witless by the idea of this bimbo in the White House. I may have to break down and make a burnt offering to some good old-fashioned pagan gods.
Say what you like about the woman’s politics, those school mistress spectacles are doing it for me BIG TIME :)
Jim: Oh yes jim, she has that certain MILF quality about her, doesn’t she!!
“Mr. Harris isn’t the only scared witless by the idea of this bimbo in the White House”
I am an atheist and a registered Independent. It disappoints me when fellow open-minded atheists make shallow comments about a candidate. We are supposed to be better than that. If you don’t agree with her views, excellent, go that route when you speak against her (as Sam Harris did). Historically, Sarah Palin is not a bimbo. She is fiercely intelligent, and maintains her backbone and convictions in the face of so much intense scrutiny that it makes me admire the hell out of her. And for the record, I haven’t decided yet which ticket deserves my vote.
@Deanna
You’re easily impressed. A pretty face and a nice smile, and this woman has everyone licking her boots. She’s a former beauty queen, she knows how to work a room and turn on the charm. Of course she maintains it, she’s only been in the spotlight for a week. But now she’s running home to Alaska, just as allegations of an affair break. She gets rid of people she doesn’t like. She’s ruthlessly ambitious, she’s a nightmare for women’s rights, the ecology. This woman is SUPREMELY unqualified to be VP, it’s unthinkable that she could become President if McCain cashes in his chips. She has no background in the law, she knows precisely zip about foreign policy, she doesn’t even know what the VP does.
I find it incredible that a self-avowed atheist would strongly support a Creationist idiot.
I would actually contend Palin IS a bimbo! If you read things she’s said and written, you see a pattern of her only following a groupthink mentality and spouting off beauty contestant answers (i.e. the ones that play well with the judges). She doesn’t seem to apply critical thought or real intelligence to them. I will say she’s crafty, but that’s not the same as intelligent.
I’ve not seen one scintilla of this supposed “fierce intelligence” of Palin’s. However, what I have seen is an ability to read off a teleprompter, a willingness to denigrate hardworking Americans to make a political point about an opponent, and a proclivity to Republican hypocrisy. Her convictions…well, she’s a creationist zealot who thinks abstinence-only sex education is just SUPER–ask her daughter! Please.
“I find it incredible that a self-avowed atheist would strongly support a Creationist idiot.”
I didn’t say I support her, I said I admire the hell out of her. Her religious views have nothing to do with it. Like you said, she’s only been in the spotlight for a short while. Haven’t you jumped to conclusions about her too?
And about being “easily impressed” – the same goes for Obama supporters.
Just because we can see through Palin doesn’t mean we love Obama. I’m not jumping to conclusions, her record speaks for itself. She supports drilling in the ANWR, she supports aerial hunting, she’s anti-abortion under any circumstances… And her religious views have a GREAT DEAL to do with it for me. I am completely unable to respect anyone who is an “End Times” Creationist. I’m nowhere near sold on Obama, but or now he is to me the lesser of two evils.
Can you IMAGINE the feeding frenzy of the Religious Right if the unwed pregnant daughter had been Obama’s? I’m not criticizing Bristol Palin, she’s certainly not the first teen to get pregnant, it’s really irrelevant to me. What I find appalling is how the conservative Christians rally behind her, but would have CRUCIFIED her if she had been Obama’s daughter. And don’t think for one minute they wouldn’t have.
I agree about her daughter, and I also agree that her belief in the End Times is sad and disturbing. I admire her despite that – mostly for standing firm when the media has been so nasty to her. That doesn’t mean I have made up my mind about the McCain ticket.
Like you said, it’s voting for the lesser of the evils.
I’ve been an ex-Christian for less than a year. For 21 years I held to the conservative beliefs, especially pro-life. Since I realized my religious worldview was all wrong my political one naturally started to shift, too. Some of it is still lingering, however. When I look at the graphic photos of babies (http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/pictures.html) who have been aborted – I don’t believe that God implanted a soul into them – I just believe that they were LIFE. Those tiny hands and feet. The fact that they develop brain waves somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks old – many women don’t even find out they’re pregnant before then. There is nothing divine about it, it’s just life, and I have a hard time letting go of that belief and calling myself pro-choice. So when someone like Sarah Palin steps up and is the model of everything I would have loved about a candidate when I was a conservative, in more ways than her pro-life views, a part of me can’t help but root for her. And defend her.
As to McAncient–doesn’t that holy book Palin likes so much have something to say about panderers?
Every step he’s taken along the campaign trail, starting in 2000, has taken him farther from his political legacy and into looking-glass world, where the “Maverick” willingly switches his position any way he thinks will help him get elected.
I believe Obama’s more than just a pretty face, and I find it incredible that the hatred for his intelligence, his youth, and his race are such that the McCain/Wingnut ticket is still even polling as a possible rival. McCain is simply four more years of Bush, only under worsening circumstances, assuming he hangs in that long.
Palin as president? Thank god the gun laws would be loose enough to permit me to buy one from a vending machine.