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Quit picking on Palin

By Laura Donovan

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Published: Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Updated: Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Does anyone still find Sarah Palin jokes funny?

Nearly a year has passed since Sen. John McCain and Palin lost the election. She left her governor job in early July 2009. Palin should be old news, but people still relentlessly insult her decisions.

The Huffington Post finds Sarah Palin’s search for “job inquiries” laughable. Just like anyone seeking more work, Palin is trying to give herself a technological edge. Even so, the Huffington Post is unnecessarily harsh in its recent article about Palin’s online account.

The Post story first mentions that the URL for Palin’s LinkedIn profile uses “/governorpalin” despite the fact that Palin is no longer, in fact, Alaska’s governor.

Call it false advertisement if you want, but many people still remember Palin by this position. Even the least informed individuals should know about Palin’s resignation, so no one will take this URL title seriously. I highly doubt anyone is under the impression that Palin currently serves as governor, and someone moronic enough to believe that would not be worth working for.

Setting this aside, Palin never states on her actual LinkedIn page that she is still Alaska’s governor. She clearly lays out the beginning and ending months of that position, so unless a job inquirer doesn’t actually study Palin’s resume, he won’t be under the impression that she is still working as governor simply based on her URL profile username.

The snarky article goes on to talk about Palin’s listed educational background. The story states, “The University of Idaho is the sole education entry on Palin’s LinkedIn profile. She does not list the four other institutions she attended before earning her degree.”

This is not a lie on Palin’s part. She omits insignificant information. Palin transferred quite a bit during her college years, but she ultimately earned her degree from the University of Idaho, so why list any of the other schools she attended? She didn’t earn bachelor’s degrees at any of these places, so their mention on a LinkedIn resume would just be wastes of space. With Palin’s political background, education shouldn’t be the main focus on her professional LinkedIn page. 

In an earlier article, the Post refers to a recent Gallup Poll, which determined that, “Palin’s ratings have not recovered, and her current 40% favorable rating is the lowest for her since she became widely known after last year’s Republican convention.” The Huffington Post goes on to assume, “Gallup’s findings emerge in light of the highly-anticipated release of Palin’s memoir, ‘Going Rogue: An American Life.’”

David Letterman even made a video clip on “Things More Fun than Reading The Sarah Palin Memoir.”

What do these things consist of? “Getting run over by a lawnmower,” “driving into a tree,” “walking into traffic,” and drinking one’s own urine. How hilarious and mature. I expected something clever from Letterman. If someone is really going to poke fun at Palin, he should at least be creative and not resort to tasteless bathroom jokes.

New films haven’t given Palin a rest. The upcoming Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant movie “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” pokes fun at Palin in one of the film trailers.

After seeing a brown-haired woman with a rifle, Parker says, “Oh my God, it’s Sarah Palin.” I saw this trailer while waiting for “Couples Retreat” to start, and I don’t remember anyone in the audience laughing at this particular gag.

Let’s hope I’m not the only one who thinks Palin jokes are unoriginal, old, and kind of pathetic. This lame quote is enough for me to skip the film. If there’s an awful joke in the trailer, most of the movie’s jokes must be average at best. I’m optimistic that other potential viewers will follow this logic.

These new posts and entertainment segments most certainly attempt to minimize Palin’s popularity and stop consumers from purchasing her memoir, which comes out on bookstands Nov. 17.

This book is already a top-seller online, so if Letterman and media outlets keep trying to destroy Palin, they’re not going to succeed. She’s not holding a political office right now, and she may or may not run for re-election in 2012. Because the public is fascinated by Palin, her book sales will probably sky rocket during the holiday season, and I can only hope that this frustrates people like Letterman and other Palin haters.

If the entertainment and news industries want to continue beating a dead horse, they’ll keep writing pointless, malicious articles about Palin as well as insult her intelligence. My advice to these sources? Find someone else to pick on. You’re running out of steam and boring everyone.

Laura Donovan is the opinions editor. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu

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19 comments

Ron Wilner, Founder and Creator of The Taboo Party
Sun Nov 15 2009 21:52
The issue with current politics is not the intellectual prowess of a former Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. It is, rather, the manipulation of events by three mainstream sources of information designed to color our perceptions. Special Interests, the media and their partners in crime, the Career Politicians, are acting in concert and intend to formulate public opinion using slaunderous tactics designed to remove a threat to their status quo. There are three types of Career Politicians that are consciously and intentional distorting the truth for their own personal gain:

Freeloaders, those in office more than 36 years
Wannabees, aspiring Freeloaders with 20+ years
Anti-Termers, those who vote against Term Limits.

All have absolutely no interest in political integrity or ethics. There only interest is controlling their own destiny.

Those in power have only one desire, to remain in power. If you doubt this is a correct portrayal or feel this is a reationary response to political events. visit The Taboo Party website at www.throwallbumsoutofoffice.com and read three position papers: Quagmire, Washington and Hollywood, Snakes and Two Sides.

Paul B
Thu Nov 12 2009 02:10
"Norma F Wed Oct 21 2009 20:47 As a professional woman and an Alaska resident I hope people do NOT quit picking on Palin. Given the mess she made in Alaska (ACES, AGIA, cronyism, vindictiveness, games she played during the last legislative session, her choice for an attorney general, resigning...) along with her much less than stellar performance as VP candidate, it is clear she is not fit for any public office. And...she is such an easy target! I'd miss the fun of watching her bumble about."

How do you explain the 80% popularity rating she had prior to becoming the VP candidate? I don't think too much of people who laugh at others, though. You'd miss the fun of watching her bumble about? Something tells me that you haven't led a bumble-free life.

So again, class from those nasty Republicans and viciousness from those oh-so-kind Democrats. Same story, different day. And it will never end because conservatives tend to be happy with the state of affairs and liberals are perpetually unhappy, seeing the glass always as half-empty, a condition that will continue until the day they die because the world will never fulfill their unrealistic expectations. It's so fundamental to their psychological makeup that they can't step back and see it. This leads to the over-the-top denunciations of Palin, a woman who probably will never attain public office again. Democratic President and Congress and liberals still can only see what they DON'T like. Thus has it always been. Thus shall it always be. You've heard of the Secret. They live their lives practicing the anti-secret and their patron saint is David Letterman.

Commence with bashing me. It's all that you know.

Paul
Thu Nov 12 2009 02:00
The comments here are reflective of what I generally see on the net. Conservatives being respectful and sticking to substance and liberals doing nothing but bashing people in as nasty a way as possible. I'm not even a Palin fan but when I see the way she's treated I wind up defending her. It's ironic that liberals, usually the most self-righteous of all forms of life, are so quick to judge someone like Palin as being self-righteous. If you want to criticize Palin in an effective way don't resort to guttersniping.

"Jerry Lumpkins Wed Oct 21 2009 22:49 Sarah Palin needs to be presented to the world as the ridiculous excuse for a person of character that she is."

Nice. What well-reasoned, civil discourse.

"Begging people to stop "picking" on her leads me to believe you have no faith. She behaves in a way that invites ridicule and jokes. When she stops doing things that puts her in laughable situations (doing interviews in front of a turkey slaughter) then the jokes will stop."

No, they won't. It's all about perspective. She will continue to be mocked for absolutely anything that can possibly be construed as "laughable". When others do things far more laughable, it won't even register.

And, again, I am not a Palin fan and, frankly, wish she would attempt to do what she can to get off the national radar, at least for a little while. No matter what she does or says in the future, the mean-spirited kind of people who have left posts here will continue to use her as a form of catharsis with which to release all the bile that has accumulated in their lives over their own unresolved issues.

A.J.G.
Thu Oct 29 2009 23:07
haha. really Casey? How is she smart? She had to go to five colleges to finish a degree in Journalism. She has done NOTHING the make her excel at life at all. She QUIT her job in Alaska after only two years. She could have at least finished one term, but she couldn't handle it after things got rought. And that's after all of her abuse of office charges. And sports? You mean sitting in a helicopter sniping animals from the sky? And right, women will love her over Hillary Clinton if they have a brain. You obviously don't know Mrs. Palin's record do ya? Like, her stances on rape kits? Women's equal rights? You know the things Hillary have spent her entire career pushing and getting done in New York? Hillary Clinton is proof that Women can do anything, Sarah Palin is proof that you can become a national symbol by spreading lies, inciting violence and winking at cameras in debates when you have no idea what the hell you're talking about
Casey T.
Fri Oct 23 2009 17:39
I love Sarah Palin. Smart, hot, good mother with Christian values. She is a great example that women can do it all.
Women can work and be a mom and be hot and still have time for sports and pets and fun. Any woman with a brain would love her over Hillary Clinton. I sure as hell do!
Jerry Lumpkins
Wed Oct 21 2009 22:49
Sarah Palin needs to be presented to the world as the ridiculous excuse for a person of character that she is. She radiates a self confidence that one rarely sees in a person with so little potential. Now that I think about it, I guess that same statement could be made about the persona of the Republican party in general. That air of self righteousness; that look of knowing -- of access to authoritative information that mere scientists, and other poor misguided liberals just couldn't fathom. It's just about enough to make you want to paint her picture on the inside of your piss pot.
Jay L
Wed Oct 21 2009 21:51
"Does anyone still find Sarah Palin jokes funny?"
Well I do!

Look, any politician, regardless of gender or party, who chooses to remain in the public arena can be a target of comedians.

Norma F
Wed Oct 21 2009 20:47
As a professional woman and an Alaska resident I hope people do NOT quit picking on Palin. Given the mess she made in Alaska (ACES, AGIA, cronyism, vindictiveness, games she played during the last legislative session, her choice for an attorney general, resigning...) along with her much less than stellar performance as VP candidate, it is clear she is not fit for any public office. And...she is such an easy target! I'd miss the fun of watching her bumble about.
Norma F
Wed Oct 21 2009 20:45
As a professional woman and an Alaska resident I hope people do NOT quit picking on Palin. Given the mess she made in Alaska (ACES, AGIA, cronyism, vindictiveness, games she played during the last legislative session, her choice for an attorney general, resigning...) along with her much less than stellar performance as VP candidate, it is clear she is not fit for any public office. And...she is such an easy target! I'd miss the fun of watching her bumble about.
Andrea
Wed Oct 21 2009 16:41
Buy a bridge and get over it. She is a national personality. Your are the one that seems hurt by what people say about Palin. If you really believe in her then you would believe she is resilient and has the back bone to endure. Begging people to stop "picking" on her leads me to believe you have no faith. She behaves in a way that invites ridicule and jokes. When she stops doing things that puts her in laughable situations (doing interviews in front of a turkey slaughter) then the jokes will stop.
Harold
Wed Oct 21 2009 11:47
Last night’s show when Leno had on Martha he said Palin was looking for work by putting her resume on LinkedIn. The truth is that she wasn’t sending out resumes; she was accepting them. Leno just flat out lied.
nomoredicks
Wed Oct 21 2009 10:51
"Your name" must be Meg Stapleton posting again. She hits every single blog with the same mantra. Pathetic. Bwaa haaa haa

It's funny how some of her apologists confuse "being afraid of her" with "laughing our asses off at her."

Your name
Wed Oct 21 2009 00:42
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin this week will begin accepting and rejecting the more than 1,070 invitations she has received for paid speeches and political appearances since she resigned from office, aides said. Twenty speakers’ bureaus made offers to represent her. ... More than 950 requests for speeches have poured in for Palin, and over 120 candidates for office have asked her to appear, including folks running for Senate, House and state Legislature, aides said.
Two days after the release date of Sarah Palin's book was announced, it's already become the top seller at both Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com.

HarperCollins will print 1.5 million copies for the book's first run, the same number that was printed for late Sen. Ted Kennedy's," whose I think the first week that book sold 68,000, Beck was twice that and now Sarah Palin's book is selling even better.

A.J.G.
Tue Oct 20 2009 22:51
Oh, and "MS", if you want to talk about hypocritical look no further than your own party. I remember when Bush was in office it was "Un-American" to disagree with the president and argue against the war. And if you didn't support the president in the time of war you didn't support the troops. Now those same people that were saying that are out holding signs comparing Obama to Hitler, and saying he should be killed. That's real Americans now, right?
A.J.G.
Tue Oct 20 2009 22:47
Laura, your article makes it seem like all Palin does is try to find work and everyone comes down on her for it. You forget that she says the most outrageous lies over and over. First it was about "death panels" and talking about it over and over even though it was proven to be a lie. If you want death panels just look at the insurance companies as they are now. And how about going to a foreign country and then bad mouthing the president? If I recall, the Dixie Chicks did that about President Bush, and the GOP jumped on it and crucified them. But it's okay when a republican does it? And of course she doesn't put that she went to other colleges before graduating from Idaho. I would be embarrassed too if I had to go to FOUR schools just to get a degree in journalism! And Palin's political background? If it was just all about that, the website would probably just stop and quit half way through. And her popularity?? You do know that that's been dropping quite a bit, right?

And to "RE" - No one in any means is afraid of her in the least. She puts her own foot in her mouth over and over, and spreads lies and forgets people can check what shes saying using the internet or other resources. Her own party doesn't even want her, and they're better off without her. Trust me, she's no threat to us at all, especially if she runs for President. Especially since she quit half way through her first term as Governor of Alaska.

RE
Tue Oct 20 2009 12:33
Great opinion, Laura. People really do need to give Sarah Palin and her family a rest. However, I believe the reason that they continue to harass and demean her is because they are afraid of her. They've been out to destroy her ever since she gave that stellar speech to the Republican convention last year. She is the most self-made woman in politics today. She has gotten where she is on her own merits-- not because she is wealthy, not because of her last name or political connections, and not because her husband is the former President of the United States.
MS
Tue Oct 20 2009 12:02
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I find it just slightly hypocritical that very negative things and names can be directed at Palin, and to the 'elite' class, it's all okay. To people and groups like David Letterman, NBC, and the Young Democrats, that would just be exercising ones freedom of speech. But if I came on here ranting about Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, or Janet Napolitano; calling them names or demeaning their intelligence, I would be labeled as racist, sexist, and ignorant.

Thank you Laura for your article. It was informative and head the nail on the head.

LD
Tue Oct 20 2009 09:58
Mike,

Thanks for the response! I respect your opinion. Everyone has a right to dislike Palin. I just don't think it's constructive to make stupid jokes about her or force out nasty articles such as the Huffington Post story about Palin's LinkedIn account. In the end, it's trite and unoriginal to tell Palin jokes.

Mike M.
Tue Oct 20 2009 09:52
People don't like her because she's a sarcastic dumb bitch, a symbol of idiocy and arrogance and of false confidence. There isn't a plot by people who don't like her to bring down sales of her book... her success and popularity have nothing to do with the fact that she is... well, see my previous sentence.






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