Thread: Sarah on Saturday

Originally Posted by goldfin5678

Her remarks concerning Rick Perry's actions in Texas regarding him awarding contracts to campaign contributors: They should be fact checked. This is a campaign season getting under way. We need to fact check everything. These candidates want to get into office, and at times can be desperate and may make promises they won't be able to keep, or make statements against the other candidate under duress, believing in their minds that the reality of the comments will go un-checked.

I do agree with Ms Palin that it is wrong for any candidate to award state contracts to those who make campaign contributions to them. Whether Mr Perry has done this or not, would have to be further looked into.

To be fair, Palin didn't ever mention Perry by name- but "crony capitalism" is code for Perry, was one much-repeated criticism of him in the last TX governor's election. Read this article, don't stop at the first page-

How Rick Perry Created His State's $27 Billion Budget Crisis | | AlterNet

Interestingly enough, Obama made a major gaffe in PREPARED remarks. He said that Lincoln was the founder of the Republican party. That is false. If Palin had said that off the cuff, or Bachmann, it would be evidence of how stupid they are. Since Obama said it, no big deal.

Originally Posted by adaher

Interestingly enough, Obama made a major gaffe in PREPARED remarks. He said that Lincoln was the founder of the Republican party. That is false. If Palin had said that off the cuff, or Bachmann, it would be evidence of how stupid they are. Since Obama said it, no big deal.

Well we'll always have you to remind us of it, now wont we?

Nope. I don't think he's stupid. I just object to using mistakes as evidence of stupidity, and there is a double standard.

Originally Posted by adaher

Interestingly enough, Obama made a major gaffe in PREPARED remarks. He said that Lincoln was the founder of the Republican party. That is false. If Palin had said that off the cuff, or Bachmann, it would be evidence of how stupid they are. Since Obama said it, no big deal.

It is false but not a "major gaffe" by any means. Lincoln was the first Republican President and it was the controversy over the Kansas Nebraska Act, the origin of the Republicans, that had brought him back into politics. He may not have founded the party himself but he was a major force in that founding and particularly in shaping its earliest policies.

I can be generous and agree that's okay. I just think Republican politicians should get the same deference. To me, the important gaffes are the ones where a politician unintentionally tells the truth. Simply being wrong about a historical or legal or policy fact is something we all do. We can all look like geniuses when we can look something up on the internet, but how many of us answer questions about this stuff offline? And when you do, how often do you get things wrong without the benefit of linking to everything?

That's one of the things that gets me in trouble on discussion boards, I discuss politics on discussion boards the same way I would around a water cooler or at the dinner table. So sometimes I'll say something that turns out to be wrong, and other posters will act like it's a capital offense. I think one of the weaknesses of the internet is that it's made us all better at looking up facts, but worse at thinking.