Just a misunderstood genius, like Ronald Reagan, also.
Sarah Palin
This post is in: Republican Stupidity, Clown Shoes
Sarah Palin
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.
If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!
When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.
So fucking stupid, and still doing a tremendous amount of damage.
Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.
Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.
Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!
“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly
Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.
Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.
Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.
Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.
When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?
No one could have predicted…
White supremacy is terrorism.
There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.
Usually wrong but never in doubt
Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.
Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.
Not all heroes wear capes.
’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’
Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.
Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.
This chaos was totally avoidable.
Ned Raggett
IIRC Nordlinger was shocked to discover a coworker of his (not at the NRO, I should note) actually hated Sarah Palin. Apparently that made him sad.
Jimbo
"The stooopiddd, it burns…"
oh really
In 1976, I thought Reagan was a dunce.
In 1980, I thought Reagan was a dunce.
In 1984, I thought Reagan was a dunce.
In 1992, still a dunce.
In 1996, still a dunce.
In 2000, still a dunce.
In 2004, when he died. Still a dunce.
Ronald Reagan was a dunce. He was no intellectual; no lover of ideas. He was shallow, dishonest, delusional — in short, a modern Republican.
Palin is an idiot. She may well be Reagan’s intellectual inferior, but more to the point, she has none of the phony endearing qualities that Reagan rode so far, so successfully.
Michael Demmons
In fairness, I don’t think Reagan was a dunce. I think he was a president that America needed at the time < /ducks > But then, I wasn’t here at the time.
I honestly liked him, a lot. Did I think he was wrong on a lot of things? In retrospect, yes. I was a kid at the time.
But still… to equate Sarah Palin with him????? Lord almighty!!! Even if you think Reagan was an idiot, it’s an insult to Reagan.
Dreggas
All That needs to be said….it’s interactive too. Also.
Comrade Dread
One may disagree with his politics, and as a libertarian, I do disagree with him a fair amount of the time, but aside from the, at times, naive optimism he displayed to the cameras, Reagan was intelligent enough to do the job.
And the blogger fails to note that a fair percentage of those mocking Reagan as a blithering idiot unfit to be president are his current ideological brethren who were stoking for confrontation with the USSR instead of diplomacy.
Kali's Little Sister
I believe you meant to say: Just a misunderstood genius, like Ronald Reagan, also too.
You’re welcome.
HyperIon
Where has he been hearing these things?
Is it the voices in his head again?
jake 4 that 1
Nerdfinger sounds a bit cranky and confused.
"People said Reagan was stupid and then they … uh … decided he was just senile and … Sarah Palin gives me wood so shut up, that’s why!"
If they keep lowering the intelligence bar the GOP will fulfill its long defered dream and nominate a bucket of shit for the presidency.
Michael D. you just sound confused.
Stooleo
Not only is she misunderstood but she has the power to turn this election around.
Indeed.
Kali's Little Sister
BTW, it is hard to tell if they are pissed that people are suggesting Reagan was stupid way back when, or if they are pissed that Reagan is being called smart now…
With that bunch, I think contesting for dumb-bunny bragging rights is at least as likely as trying to defend either their new heroine’s or old hero’s brain power.
Not My Fault
@Dreggas:
DO NOT ANSWER THE RED PHONE!
Comrade Nixon Hailfire Palin
There go the Dems’ chances for the "bucket of shit" vote.
Joshau Norton
I’m serving a special Palin inspired desert at a dinner party on Saturday. Half-Baked Alaska.
Douche Baggins
Not helpful to the thread, necessarily, but OMFG are those RedStaters delusional…
Xanthippas
What even is his point? Maybe I’m the dunce but I hadn’t exactly noticed liberals who formerly said Reagan wasn’t very smart now running around claiming that Palin is no Reagan in the brains department. And although I have read conservatives who don’t think Palin is all that bright, I don’t recall any of them writing that Reagan was a moron back in the day.
Comrade The Moar You Know
Absolutely not. He was the worst thing that ever happened to this country.
Not even close. In a contest with a block of cheese, the block of cheese would win for smarts every time. The difference between Reagan (I can’t believe the bar has been set this low, my lord) and his successors is that Reagan was lazy as fuck but knew there were conseqences to wrecking the country, so at least he took the trouble to appoint smart advisers before going on his eight-year nap.
ThymeZoneThePlumber
Oh dear. Um, Nixon. Er, GWB.
Dennis - SGMM
Reagan is just as smart today as he was when he was president, you betcha.
SamFromUtah
@Comrade The Moar You Know: He was the worst thing that ever happened to this country.
He’s on the short list, but I’d put the Civil War ahead of him, at least. Our political scene is still fuxx0red over that.
And I have to weigh in with the "Reagan was always an idiot" view, too. Good speaker, if you didn’t listen to what he was actually saying.
OniHanzo
@@SamFromUtah: His "trees cause pollution" bit is one of my personal favorites.
Jay B.
Reagan employed the Nixon thugs, left the Nixon liberals by the wayside and ran holy hell over the Constitution to an extent only equalled by Nixon. But GW is worse. It beggars belief.
SamFromUtah
@OniHanzo: His "trees cause pollution" bit is one of my personal favorites.
Mine too. But there are so many idiocies to choose from!
SamFromUtah
@Jay B.: But GW is worse. It beggars belief.
It does, though it becomes somewhat more sensible when you consider that GW has both Nixon and Reagan thugs helping him out.
Just imagine what McCain could accomplish!
gbear
Nixon had a plan for health care that’s been compared favorably with the Clinton’s plan. He was a sloppy crook, a liar and put too much stock in Kissinger’s advice, but some of his stuff was OK.
GWB on the other hand has NO REDEEMING VALUE. I wouldn’t fertilize my garden with his ashes. Everything he has touched has turned to shit. This didn’t matter much when he was in the private sector, but once he discovered politics, people started dying.
Reagan was a popular clown with sick ideas. Just a touch too self-aware to be as bad as GWB. It wasn’t good times (remember when ketchup=vegetable for school lunches?)
Zifnab
Reagen might have been worse than GW and Nixon if only because he didn’t get caught. I mean, what did Reagen miss? Launching multiple unprovoked wars? Fucking around with the Middle East? Racking up massive deficits? Deregulating the banking system to disastrous effect? Lying to Congress? Spying on political opponents? Race-baiting? Labeling all his political opponents "communists"? Is there anything I missed? All that and by the time Bush 41 was middling through his first and only term, the GOoPers had turned him into some sort of Superman. Reagen’s legend exceeded his administration by leaps and bounds. His legacy gave us the ’94 Wingnut Congress and inspired the ’02 Wingnut Congress 2.0. Like Lenin to George Junior’s Stalin.
That said, I applaud and encourage all current wingnut neo-cons to keep invoking the name of Reagen as early and often as possible. One of these days, the rest of America is going to wake up, hear the name "Ronald Reagen", and throw a brick through the TV, if only because every time you hear the name you know it is going to be followed by a load of crap.
dr. bloor
DSM-IV stratifies levels of Mental Retardation so we can differentiate the Palins and the Bushes from the Reagans of the world.
Quaker in a Basement
So Nerdlinger has been told over the years that Mr. Reagan wasn’t the brightest bauble on the Christmas tree. Then along comes Ms. Palin and everyone starts to tell him that Reagan looks like Stephen Hawking by comparison.
How long does it take for him to figure out what that means people are saying about Ms. Palin?
oh really
You were a kid at the time. I was an adult. And Reagan was an idiot. His intelligence, like his intellectual curiosity, was sub par. This is something a lot of Republican candidates have in common — no real interest in learning.
He was not what any country needs at any time — he was dishonest, created fiscal disaster through his reckless don’t tax but still spend policies. His behavior during Iran Contra should have resulted in impeachment and removal from office.
Sorry, but most kids probably aren’t in a very good position to decide what a country needs.
demimondian
Reagan? Reagan was not a dunce at all, but rather an aggressively self-deceptive man with next to no grasp upon reality, even before he became senile. He may have been "the happy warrior", but that was only because he genuinely believed a bunch of the crap he spewed.
Then again, I don’t think that GWB is a dunce. The difference between him and Reagan, though, is that Reagan not only wasn’t a dunce, but he wasn’t even stupid.
Zuzu's Petals
I love that Palin ended her debate performance with a memorized quote from Reagan, totally ignorant of the fact he was warning against Medicare.
Hilarious You Tube Clip
oh really
This statement reminded me of what most Republicans sound like most of the time — little kids.
John McCain’s "Country First" campaign is never about putting the country first — it’s always about putting "me" first. What is the most important thing to Joe (the phony) Plumber? Tax cuts. Will he be able to maximize what he personally gets. Not what does the country need, or maybe if my fellow Americans are doing a little better it will be better for the whole country in the long run. Nope. It’s about "me." First, and really "me" only.
Republicans sound like little kids arguing over toys.
"Country First." What a laugh.
KG
As much as I can’t stand the GOP running on Reagan’s ghost, I’m still a fan of his. Yes, I was a kid at the time, but I studied history and political science, and the law, for much of my life, so I have a decent idea of what the world was like at the time he was elected.
Perhaps it’s the libertarian in me, but anyone willing to try to reign in the Leviathan gets bonus points in my book.
Reagan, despite all the cowboy bullshit actually negotiated with the Soviets and got somethings done. I think he was honest about nuclear disarmament. He was also probably the best friend the unions ever had in the White House (being the only card carrying union member ever elected).
He was smarter than a lot of people gave/give him credit for, but not as smart as the wingnuts would lead you to believe. Also, given the choices of Carter and Mondale, he was the best available choice at the time.
Joshua Norton
Oh good lord in heaven. All of you who were snot wiping rug rats when Reagan was president just shut the fuck up. You sound like you got you talking points directly from the reading list at the Reagan library.
St. Ronnie was a "friend" to unions? Where did you get that load of wingnut batshit. He appointed staunchly anti-union officials to the National Labor Relations Board, implicitly allowing employers permission to revive long shunned anti-union practices – decertifying unions, outsourcing production, and hiring permanent replacements for striking workers. Reagan himself pursued such a policy when he fired eleven thousand striking air traffic controllers in 1981. Regulations designed to protect the environment, worker safety, and consumer rights were summarily decried as unnecessary government meddling in the marketplace.
Reagan was losing to Carter until he sent people to covertly talk with the Iran officials – promising them guns if they stirred things up against Carter and he won the election. (Iran-Contra, anyone)? Break the law much?
Really, get a grip. Ignorance is bliss, but your tribute to Ronnie is just plain twilight zone material.
And… trickle down, anyone?
kommrade jakevich
Yep. He was also the brave leader who tried to pressure the Surgeon General into putting out a false report on HIV/AIDS because only f^gs were dying. The guy who might have sat on his thumbs even longer had a friend not died of it.
Yessir. A guy who politicizes an epidemic is just what any country needs. Plus, it’s good practice for when a guy down the road politicizes environmental science. Whee!
Take it from someone who was raised by DFHs and becoming politically aware at that time: a lot of the crap the White House belches out now sounds like the crap it was belching out two decades ago and I feel safe in saying we wouldn’t have the second stream of crap if the first one had been dammed at the outset.
I don’t understand the desire to rehabilitate the man. It boggles the mind. The fact that he didn’t suck as badly as Dubya still leaves plenty of room for suck.
SamFromUtah
@KG: He was also probably the best friend the unions ever had in the White House…
Wait… what?
Nylund
Its all comparative. Reagan was a dummy compared to the conservative intellectuals like William F. Buckley. But Buckley is gone, his son exiled, and in their place they have guys like Jonah and The Confederate Yankee, and, honestly, compared to them Palin probably is considered very bright and Reagan most assuredly looks like a brilliant and sharp mind.
The modern day conservative movement has some of the lowest critical thinking skills of any mass movement. Any decent brains they had all jumped ship in the last few years.
Joshua Norton
I guess. But expecting us to take this "I was just a kid" little revisionist walk down memory lane seriously is pretty much of a reach for anyone with 2 functioning brain cells.
It’s like having my 8 year old nephew come up to me in 20 years and say that from what he can remember and what he’s read, George Bush seems like a pretty good president. And act like some sort of authority about the Bush years.
He’d be out of the will so fast his head would spin.
Clor
When Reagan passed away, I called my mother to see what she thought. I totally wasn’t expecting her reaction. She was glad the sonofabitch was dead. If she could dance and stomp on his grave, I think she would’ve.
To understand her contempt, you must know where we lived during the 70’s and early 80’s: the Philippines. This is pretty much the only reason why she won’t ever vote for a Republican.
oh really
It’s pretty obvious from reading what the "youngsters" have to say about Reagan that they have substantially bought into the propaganda that’s been steadily fed to the American people ever since Reagan skated on Iran-Contra.
It’s also obvious that their idea of what Reagan was like is entirely second hand.
Friend to labor? Smarter than he’s given credit for? Better alternative than Carter or Mondale? Yeah, right, and Bush may be bad, but he’s a lot better than that socialist, Al Gore, would have been.
Jeebus, you guys are really clueless. The man was a disaster as president. From James Watt at Interior, to Anne Gorsuch Burford at EPA, to Al Haig at State, and Ed Meese at Justice his administrations were characterized by corruption, stupidity, greed, and the occasional major violation of constitutional government. These and many other Reagan officials were among the worst cabinet officials in their respective areas in the history of the country. They make some of Bush’s appointments look like they’re almost qualified to fill their positions.
Yeah, the president who brought us Ollie North wasn’t so bad and the courageous man who had the guts to identify trees as one of the great threats to our environment single-handedly defeated the Soviets. Along with Nixon, Reagan laid the foundation for Bush’s reign of lawlessness and incompetence.
The Right goes it big for the idea that Reagan defeated the USSR in the Cold War. That’s as stupid as saying he was a friend to unions. How long can it be before KG or someone else starts talking about what a friend to the environment Reagan was?
It’s probably hopeless Joshua. They know what they know and they’re certainly not going to let facts or history get in the way.
kommrade jakevich
That’s the wonder of the Republican Way.
No need to make up for past mistakes. Just tell people they’re mistaken about the past.
Ash Can
I was a young adult backpacking in Europe at the time of Reagan’s election. The general reaction among the other young people I’d meet was, "WTF is the matter with you Yanks, electing a cowboy/actor/fascist?" I was genuinely embarrassed.
I remember that, around the time of Reagan’s ascendancy in the GOP, Republican moderates in Congress were announcing their retirement one after another. I thought at the time that this was a particularly distressing sign, and I was right.
Ronald Reagan was the most divisive president that I can recall. He was all about shaking down the system for his wealthy pals. Under him the poor got poorer, the rich got richer, and the middle class shrank. Also under him wing-nuttiness emerged and flourished, thanks to such cynical moves as the nurturing of the Moral Majority and other so-con wackos as political allies of the GOP and the demise of the Fairness Doctrine, which brought about the advent of hate radio. (Say what you will about the Fairness Doctrine–if Rush Limbaugh knew that there would be someone coming on the air immediately after him to debunk his crap, he wouldn’t have the nerve to say half the things he does in front of a live microphone.) His open disdain for government translated into the removal of numerous regulations and safeguards, benefiting the wealthy with no regard for public welfare and safety. And his fiscal conservatism was bunk–I honestly don’t recall him doing any real federal cost-cutting other than attempting to cut funding to programs benefiting groups that could not be counted on to vote Republican. Congress wouldn’t let him get away with stiffing the working class, poor, elderly, students, inner cities, etc. in this manner, so he blamed Congress for the ballooning of the deficit that his reckless defense spending caused. Star Wars? Grenada? Oy.
And we all know how beautifully trickle-down economics works.
Reagan was elected at a time when Americans weren’t too happy with the way things were going economically. Jimmy Carter didn’t sugar-coat things, and as a result failed to sell his policies to the voters. People voted for Reagan because he made them feel good. He said comforting things and people liked him. Those of us who didn’t vote for him recognized that there was little if any practical substance behind his platitudes.
No, Reagan wasn’t as bad as W. Unlike W, he had a pleasant personality and was a good speaker. And while there were some doozies (Watt, Burford e.g.), among his appointments to high-level government positions were people who were capable and took their work seriously. But he was a huckster above all, and he and his then-far-right-wing cohorts started the country down its slippery slope to where we are now. That’s why when I look at the smoking crater that this administration is, I see a direct line going back to Ronald Reagan. Heckuva job, Dutch.
toujuoursdan
I have to agree that Reagan was the worst thing to happen to the US for the reasons given above. Add to that list, the repeal of the fairness doctrine which allowed right-wing radio and then cable TV news to dominate the media which has screwed up political discourse ever since then, so-called "deregulation" which, if anyone digs a little deeper is just a different form of regulation in favour of an oligarchy of big corporations, as well as scrapping Carter’s post 1970s oil shock energy policy which favoured conservation and retooling of the economy to a post oil world to an energy wasteful policy which is causing all kinds of economic pain today and will get worse as peak oil hits.
handy
Nordlinger should move to a farm, since he likes working with straw so much.
Of course, then again, all these nice things he’s hearing about Reagan must be coming from other certain unnamed Reps and NRO "columnists" down on Palin, in which case, consider the sources of the comments, Jay. These aren’t people who set the bar too high.
Delia
Um, Ronald Reagan was a better actor than Arnold Schwarzenegger. There. Everybody happy?
Tattoosydney
I was a kid at the time too, and living in Australia… even from over here, we could tell that he was a cadaverous, evil old war monger who didn’t give a shit about the welfare of anyone but rich, heterosexual Republicans….
Because of Reagan and his hatred of teh ghey (or more likely Nancy’s hatred (seeing as Ronnie probably didn’t know where or who he was for 80% of his presidency)), thousands and thousands of gay men are dead from an evil disease…
Here in Australia, we have one of the lowest rates of HIV infection in the world, mainly because governments of all stripes reaslised early that HIV/AIDS was a health issue, not a moral one… Ronnie on the other hand may as well have roamed the streets of San Francisco with a gun shooting random people.
I don’t care whether he was smart or dumb – Ronnie was a sick nasty old fuck, and I hope that wherever he is, little demons are sticking pitchforks into his eyes.
Zuzu's Petals
It was just the most amazing coincidence the hostages were released on Reagan’s inauguration day.
TenguPhule
Reagan made Bush possible.
For that alone his corpse should be dug out of it’s grave and dumped at sea.
lethargytartare
and, contrary to "history" as written by the right, Reagan did not single-handedly tear down the Berlin Wall. In fact, he probably propped it up for years with his ridiculous grandstanding, his hollywood fantasy SDI, and his "evil empire" rhetoric, all of which made it politically perilous for any reformers in the Soviet Union to actively seek the change the Gipper supposedly sought.
Joshua
It’s hard not to. I mean, Grover Norquist was (and is?) trying to have something named after him in every county in the country – a Reagan-Industrial Complex, if you will.
I was born in 1981, and have done my best to look at the Reagan Presidency with a dispassionate eye, and there sure is a lot of things that make him out to be a really rotten motherfucker. At the same time… he’s better than Bush imo.