Qualified = Smart Enough
There is confusion, probably even intentional obfuscation, during this current election over whether Ms. Palin is "qualified" to be vice-president. Someone correctly pointed out, in the words of Wikipedia, that the constitutional "qualifications" are few.
The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States." Thus, to serve as Vice President, an individual must:
- be a natural born U.S. citizen
- not be younger than 35
- have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years
- not have already served two terms as President of the United States
She's qualified.
But then the idea of "qualified" usually gets finessed by talking about "experience". However, there is no written exam for the highest political offices and no job description that details a certain level of necessary experience for the candidates. Instead, they are merely required to entertain the electorate enough to be voted for. Besides, we know from George W. Bush's success at being, more or less, elected: experience isn't really necessary to get one more-or-less elected (although it might help one in the job).
It seems that what people are really saying–but would rather not actually say–when they remark that Ms. Palin is not "qualified" is that she's simply not smart enough to be vice-president.
They're correct, of course, but "not smart enough" is, alas, merely a complaint and not a disqualification. That's another lesson the country (and the world) has learned from more-or-less electing George W. Bush, who was clearly not smart enough for the job before he got it, and has since done nothing except reinforce that fact.
At this point I had planned to write about how the not-smart-enough candidate, who is thereby generally seen to be easily manipulable, can come to be more-or-less elected through the agency of shadowy people who would really, really like to be the ones manipulating a more-or-less elected president. However, I can hear the distant thumping of the rotors of black helicopters, so I'm off to get my cloak of invisibility.
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on Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 17.10
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I think Palin is plenty smart, especially in the sense of being crafty and resourceful. Her store of knowledge isn't that great and apparently, like Bush, she lacks intellectual depth and the requisite curiosity to attain intellectual depth.
Such people who possess sufficient eye appeal and ability to communicate effectively can, under the right circumstances, go to the top in politics. If they say the right things to the right people and build a base of popular support, especially in the "it's us against them" sense, they become not only impervious to criticism and questioning in the eyes of their adoring fans, but valued as someone whom people their supporters despise find outrageously unacceptable. At that point, the White House is the limit.
This phenomenon not only made a two-term, albeit failed, president out of George W. Bush, but a demi-deity of Ronald Reagan.
on Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 17.43
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Republicans seem to be the ones who habitually elect the stupidest candidates, convinced that they can change (or manipulate) them later. As many women have discovered about their husbands, it doesn't work that way. The type of ingrained, really deep-down stupidity that got them where they were before election is just not going to change.
on Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 20.11
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The scary thing about Sarah Palin — and the thing that cannot, of course, be talked about — is her religion. Her brand of fundamentalism, that sees America as God's country, and everyone else as the evil enemy, is truly scary. Just imagine someone with that theology having her hand on the nuclear trigger, convinced that God will "rapture" all the godly Americans before the bombs actually go off.
There was a clip of Palin at her church, leading prayers, asking the congregation to pray for the new Alaska-Canadian gas pipeline, "because God wants that pipeline built." I can hear her now, "pray for this nuclear attack, because God wants those A-rabs nuked."
And, of course, her religious beliefs can't be talked about, because religion is a "private" matter, and we are serious about the separation of church and state, and religious beliefs don't really matter in the public realm. McCain is obviously blind when it comes to religion (look at the Hagee affair). And no Democrat can question the fitness of a person with her kind of fundamentalist beliefs being president because that would just feed the "poor righteous us being persecuted by those baddies over there" mentality that Republicans thrive on.
The world would be a perilous place if McCain were to be elected, and die, and Palin succeed to the office.
on Thursday, 9 October 2008 at 16.01
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Bill, I see the greater danger of a Palin presidency in the Bush cabal that would surround her. Cheney, Rove and Bush's dipstick national security adviser (whose name escapes me this minute) would swoop in, if they hadn't already been installed, and we'd be back where we are now.
Sure, the nukes could still be launched. But I see a disastrous conventional war with Iran, and maybe then the whole Middle East, as more of possibility.