Sarah Palin to resign as Alaska governor

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

doesn't say how it was so significant... just that a lot of people actually thought she said that bit about Russia which is why I kept asking.

You probably won't agree, but I would argue that 6 percent (of the 1000 voters in the survey) who said the skits were a factor in their decision-making to vote for Obama is not very significant at all.

But that's just my opinion

Actually, I said that.

Here's the thing: people are notoriously unreliable judges of their own decision making, so I've basically decided to ignore the 6% figure in light of other evidence. Nobody wants to say "yeah, I made the most important civic decision based upon a comedy routine I watched after a few glasses of wine with my unlovable hedgehog of a wife", right?

It's important because perception is shaped in a massive way by how things are reported, and which things are given the greater weight by the person/entity doing the reporting. SNL focusing on her being a vapid, ignorant soccer mom-cum-hillbilly means that, for many people, they accepted Palin as a vapid, ignorant soccer mom-cum-hillbilly, so much so that they believed the SNL skit's language was hers, exactly, no matter how stupid.

Did Palin contribute to this herself? Of course. In fact, you might even argue that she was actually a vapid, ignorant soccer mom-cum-hillbilly, and I might not even disagree on a macro level. However, the national discussion did not focus on her ideas for America - it focused on her being a moron, her being hot, her being an attack dog, her having a pregnant daughter. The SNL skit and ensuing media blitz played a role in this. Perception is real.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Actually, I said that.

Here's the thing: people are notoriously unreliable judges of their own decision making, so I've basically decided to ignore the 6% figure in light of other evidence. Nobody wants to say "yeah, I made the most important civic decision based upon a comedy routine I watched after a few glasses of wine with my unlovable hedgehog of a wife", right?

It's important because perception is shaped in a massive way by how things are reported, and which things are given the greater weight by the person/entity doing the reporting. SNL focusing on her being a vapid, ignorant soccer mom-cum-hillbilly means that, for many people, they accepted Palin as a vapid, ignorant soccer mom-cum-hillbilly, so much so that they believed the SNL skit's language was hers, exactly, no matter how stupid.

Did Palin contribute to this herself? Of course. In fact, you might even argue that she was actually a vapid, ignorant soccer mom-cum-hillbilly, and I might not even disagree on a macro level. However, the national discussion did not focus on her ideas for America - it focused on her being a moron, her being hot, her being an attack dog, her having a pregnant daughter. The SNL skit and ensuing media blitz played a role in this. Perception is real.

For some reason the bold sentence is one of the funniest I've read on GreekChat. Is it the use of "macro level" at the end, maybe?

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

It's important because perception is shaped in a massive way by how things are reported, and which things are given the greater weight by the person/entity doing the reporting. SNL focusing on her being a vapid, ignorant soccer mom-cum-hillbilly means that, for many people, they accepted Palin as a vapid, ignorant soccer mom-cum-hillbilly, so much so that they believed the SNL skit's language was hers, exactly, no matter how stupid.

Did Palin contribute to this herself? Of course. In fact, you might even argue that she was actually a vapid, ignorant soccer mom-cum-hillbilly, and I might not even disagree on a macro level. However, the national discussion did not focus on her ideas for America - it focused on her being a moron, her being hot, her being an attack dog, her having a pregnant daughter. The SNL skit and ensuing media blitz played a role in this. Perception is real.

I think this is my field coming into play, but I'm a root-cause kinda gal.

If Palin hadn't said/done any of those things, she wouldn't have been portrayed as a crazy hillbilly whatever because none of that would have come to light.

She could have been a closet vapid soccer pit bull hillbilly if she wanted to and actually had good ideas out there, but she demonstrated no knowledge whatsoever of what was going on.

All of the rally speeches seemed so written-out and rehearsed and when it came time for people to ask questions and receive answers from her, she had nothing good to say because she didn't know what she was talking about and that scared a lot of people.*

I agree that the media played a part in it, but I don't think it was necessarily their fault that they reported her missteps. There was crap being flung about all the candidates -- Obama was a "musilm" and he had a crazy pastor, Many don't think Hillary should have counted her days as First Lady as "experience", McCain was W2.0... etc etc. but when the news started reporting in Palin, she cried foul and blamed the 'liberal media elite" for attacking her because she's a woman

Wah wah.

I don't think Palin just "contributed" to it... I think she caused it. If she hadn't done any of that, the media wouldn't have had any reason to portray her like a dumb hillbilly vapid whatever.


* and FWIW, I think all of the rally speeches sounded written/rehersed, but at least the other 3 candidates actually had intelligent things to say when asked questions at random. It just sounded so much more fake with her, because up there it sounded like she might actually know what she was talking about, but get her in an interview or any other scenario, and she didn't have the slightest clue.

[DaemonSeid]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An independent investigator has found evidence that Gov. Sarah Palin may have violated ethics laws by trading on her position in seeking money for legal fees, in the latest legal distraction for the former vice presidential candidate as she prepares to leave office this week.

The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin is securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust, set up by supporters.

An investigator for the state Personnel Board says in his July 14 report that there is probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as the "official" legal defense fund.

The practical effect of the ruling on Palin will be more financial than anything else. The report recommends that Palin refuse to accept payment from the defense fund, and that the complaint be resolved without a formal hearing before the board.

Palin posted an entry on Twitter in which she said the "matter is still pending," a statement echoed by her lawyer.

The fund aims to help Palin pay off debts stemming from multiple ethics complaints against her, most of which have been dismissed. Palin says she owes more than $500,000 in legal fees, and she cited the mounting toll of the ethics probes as one of the reasons she is leaving office.

The investigator, Thomas Daniel, sided with Palin in her frustration with having to defend herself against a barrage of ethics complaints. He suggested that Alaska lawmakers may need to create a law that reimburses public officials for legal expenses to defend complaints that end up being unfounded.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090721/...hics_complaint