"Sarah Palin is the distilled essence of wingnut."

[ProSense]

Dan Drezner Cuts To The Chase

By: John Cole September 12, 2008 at 10:21 am

Dan Drezner, after watching the Palin interview, asks a question:

Question to other GOP policy wonks: is it possible to support a candidate that campaigns on the notion that expertise is simply irrelevant?

The depressing thing is that this has been the GOP platform for years now. Expertise is overrated. Gut instincts, being “tough,” and being “decisive,” and not “blinking” are all far more important than actually knowing things.

Look at the thorough disdain for science the GOP has displayed for the past few years. Amorphous morals trump reason and science, and then those morals are conveniently discarded or altered when it becomes inconvenient for the GOP (see: family values, David Vitter).

The funny thing about all this is that the new savior of the GOP, Sarah Palin, is the one who is finally waking everyone up to what the Republican party really is all about. They are not serious about foreign policy (Fallows is just brutal). They are not serious (or honest) about scientific policy. They are not serious about economic policy (other than cutting taxes). They are not serious about an energy policy (just drill, baby, drill).

They just are not serious about, well, anything.

And Sarah Palin is the distilled essence of wingnut. She has it all. She is dishonest. She is a religious nut. She is incurious. She is anti-science. She is inexperienced. She abuses her authority. She hides behind executive privilege. She is a big spender. She works from the gut and places a greater value on instinct than knowledge.

And most dangerous of all, she is supremely self-confident to the point of not recognizing how ill-equipped she is to lead the country. This from last night stood out for me:

more

(emphasis added)

[codjh9]

1. Yep - every trait is in the Bad Republican Trait List for me.

[ProSense]

4. It's the nutshell description of Palin,

emphasis on "nut."

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

2. A pleasant alternative to "Eau de Turdblossom" for the modern wingnut about town

They should capture the essence in a new crystal decanter to sell at wingnut focus groups and fundraisers.

[WinkyDink]

3. Bushco was/is serious about ONE THING: LOOTING. Looting OUR Treasury; looting IRAQ'S Treasury, oil,

and cultural riches; looting AFGHANISTAN'S natural gas (and poppy production, don't kid yourselves).

It has been about WEALTH beyond IMAGINING, and the POWER needed to get and maintain it without prosecution.
"God" remains a prop.

PERIOD. EOS.

[Starry Messenger]

5. Zing!

Just dab a little behind the ears.

MPK