Ron Kuby just suggested that Palin DIDN'T KNOW the term "Achilles heel"

[npincus]

which is why her answer was so rambling and nonsensical. That didn't occur to me as I watched; I just thought she was being cagey and willfully avoiding a response. It didn't occur to me that she might NOT UNDERSTAND the question.

Did anyone else share Kuby's take? How could she not be familiar with that term?

[Schulzz]

1. I noticed that, too.

See did NOT respond to the question at all.

[LisaM]

2. Well now that you mention it

it "explains" (if you can use that term to describe anything having to do with her) how she handled the question.

[musette_sf]

3. that was my take too

i think it is completely plausible that she had no clue what or who Achilles was, much less his heel. she can't name one fvcking newspaper she reads, i suspect she is a big non-reader.

[stopbush]

4. "Achilles' heel? In what respect, Gwen?"

[progressivebydesign]

5. She didn't know. I asked my 16 year old to explain that term..

she not only showed the actual spot on the ankle, she also told the story in depth about how the term came about.

Alaska might want to take some of that oil bonanza and invest it back into the schools.

[npincus]

8. how come analysts haven't picked up on that?

They've been pretty enthusiastic about her other gaffes... maybe Tina Fey took notice.

[msallied]

6. I assumed she was just pulling a Dubya.

Like when he was asked in the debate in 2004 what decisions of his he regretted, and he simply could not answer the question. I thought it was like that, but I think this explanation is far more plausible, especially given everything else she doesn't know.

[SuperTrouper]

7. I mentioned that earlier in the day

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. So did I. :)

[deadparrot]

9. Wasn't that the question where she responded with something about budgets while she was mayor?

It certainly wouldn't shock me.

[npincus]

13. something totally offbeat like that... I thought it was purposeful

but now it makes more sense that she just didn't know HOW to answer.

[Arkansas Granny]

36. Here's the transcript of that question and her answer.

IFILL: Let's talk conventional wisdom for a moment. The conventional wisdom, Governor Palin with you, is that your Achilles heel is that you lack experience. Your conventional wisdom against you is that your Achilles heel is that you lack discipline, Senator Biden. What id it really for you, Governor Palin? What is it really for you, Senator Biden? Start with you, governor.

PALIN: My experience as an executive will be put to good use as a mayor and business owner and oil and gas regulator and then as governor of a huge state, a huge energy producing state that is accounting for much progress towards getting our nation energy independence and that's extremely important.

But it wasn't just that experience tapped into, it was my connection to the heartland of America. Being a mom, one very concerned about a son in the war, about a special needs child, about kids heading off to college, how are we going to pay those tuition bills? About times and Todd and our marriage in our past where we didn't have health insurance and we know what other Americans are going through as they sit around the kitchen table and try to figure out how are they going to pay out-of-pocket for health care? We've been there also so that connection was important.

But even more important is that world view that I share with John McCain. That world view that says that America is a nation of exceptionalism. And we are to be that shining city on a hill, as President Reagan so beautifully said, that we are a beacon of hope and that we are unapologetic here. We are not perfect as a nation. But together, we represent a perfect ideal. And that is democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights. Those things that we stand for that can be put to good use as a force for good in this world.

John McCain and I share that. You combine all that with being a team with the only track record of making a really, a difference in where we've been and reforming, that's a good team, it's a good ticket.


http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/debates/transcripts/vice-presidential-debate.html
--------------------

It appears to me that she misunderstood the question.

[MisterGamut]

10. Just more gotcha journalism I guess. n/t

.

[Bucky]

11. I don't very much care for Todd Palin's hat in that photo

But in most other respects, a rather flattering shot.

[Richardo]

14. Maybe she was distracted by the penis

:shrug:

[KansDem]

15. In looking at that statute of Achilles, maybe Sarah wasn't focused on his heel...

This might have flustered her.

[npincus]

17. just keep it away from John Ashcroft...

[renie408]

16. "And that would be her Achilles Heel..."

I just read this post to my husband and that was his reply.

[Bok_Tukalo]

18. She knows it, I'm sure, but just heard the magic word

"Experience" and gave the canned response.

I noticed the same thing happening in the Gibson inverview during the "Bush Doctrine" part where she heard the magic word "Iraq" and regurgitated the talking points.

I believe that she doesn't make sense sometimes because she doesn't hear the whole question and just keys in on specific words that trigger her prepped answers.

[Disturbed]

27. I doubt that she knows what that meant but heard the word

experience & jumped to her memorized BS. This woman has taken the VP spot to an all time low. Alaskans should be mortified that she is still Gov.

Gov. Palin needs to be Impeached, now!!!

At the very least, Alaskans need to mount a Recall Petition & toss her out. She is corrupt & inept. The vetting process of her becoming Gov. must have been almost non existent. Her abuses while Gov. have been ignored until recently. The spotlight has now revealed her unethical & perhaps criminal actions as Gov. She screwed up by accepting the VP position that is way beyond her level & has brought about scrutiny of her as Mayor & Gov. She is unfit to be Gov., much less VP or possibly Pres. of the USA.

[Sebastian Doyle]

19. Well, you would have to have at least a basic understanding of Greek mythology

to know the story of Achilles and his heel. And for Sarah, that would qualify as "worshippin' a false God and settin' myself up for eternity in the fires of Hell, doncha know??"

[npincus]

37. or have visited a podiatrist?

[Sebastian Doyle]

39. Perhaps

But only if you injured your Achilles tendon.

[hisownpetard]

20. I had the same impression. She also had no idea what Biden was talking about when he said, "The

past is prologue." I guess Palin isn't really into Shakespeare. Surprising, huh?

[Hepburn]

21. If she could not name one Sup Ct case besides Roe v. Wade...

...why is any one surprised that she was not familiar with that term?

:shrug:

[Blue_In_AK]

22. It was pretty obvious.

I was screaming at the TV -- 'ACHILLES HEEL, SARAH! ACHILLES HEEL."

[livetohike]

23. I thought she just refused to answer the question

You know the usual interview question, "What are your weaknesses?"

[Quantess]

32. That was my thought as well, but, every prepared speaker knows

that the best answer is something that is not truly a weakness, such as "I'm a perfectionist", or, as Joe Biden answered "I'm too passionate".

In job interviews, it is usually worded "what is your weakness", not "what is your achilles heel". So, I think the literary reference threw her off.

[livetohike]

42. I was hoping she wasn't that dumb (not to know Achilles heel)

but apparently she is too dumb to answer a direct question, any question.

[uppityperson]

24. Must not have been in any of those magazines or papers she reads all the time.

[leftynyc]

25. Where did you see Kuby?

I've been missing him since they took him off morning radio in New York. If I was ever in trouble with the law, that's the man I want on my side.

[rocktivity]

26. I'm not looking lat that statute's heel.

But it's hard to tell if you're right. Rethuglicans are so allergic to accountability, it's equally possible that she understood that question but didn't want to answer it because it would have made her sound like she was human and had faults.

:headbang:
rocknation

[symbolman]

28. Naw.. Todd, her guy, once mentioned something about Greek..

and she got real nervous and told him that wasn't what the Bible said, and that babies don't come from there anyway.. :)

[Alter Ego]

29. My mother suggested this exact thing last night, and I thought she was crazy.

[yardwork]

30. Palin is seriously stupid, and very uneducated.

She needed six different schools and five years to scrape together enough passing credits to get an undergraduate degree. She worked briefly as a sportscaster, and since then has done nothing but beauty pageants, hockey-mom car pools, redecorate the mayor's office and hire a city manager for a town of 5,000, and govern the most sparsely populated state in the nation, a state awash in oil and federal subsidies.

She's dumb.

[dwp6577]

31. I was listening only and picked that up...it confirms that she

...probably wasn't setup with an earphone...otherwise the little voice in her would have said:

"hey you dumb twit, that means your biggest personal weakness!!!"

She needed a lifeline....BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAH

[BluRay01]

33. I didn't think she understood the term.

Another thing that seemed particularly incoherent to me was her response to the question about Cheney's belief about the VP being partially of the legislative branch. If I remember correctly, Ifill specifically stated Cheney's position. Still, Palin spoke in generic terms about the "flexibility" of the office and getting things done. Her answer really didn't seem to have any relevance to Cheney's specific reasoning. It seemed like another instance of her thinking the Bush Doctrine is "his world view." She really is frighteningly ignorant.

[damntexdem]

34. And she thinks that a Trojan is just a condom.

She clearly didn't understand the question -- but I don't know whether she knows the term.

[Pisces]

35. I told my husband that she had no clue what it meant.

[Beregond2]

38. I don't want to beieve anyone in public life could be that ignorant,

but I suppose at this time, it's possible.

[1corona4u]

40. It occurred to me immediately.

In fact, I posted about it as soon as I could get to the board last night. :-)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7289417

[Kool Kitty]

41. She could have thought that Gwen was

referring to a type of shoe, and didn't think it was germaine to the discussion. (You are probably right-she didn't know what Gwen was talking about.)

[FatDave]

43. Soon as I heard her answering, I said to my wife...

"she doesn't know what an Achilles' heel is!" God damn gotcha journalism!