John Mellencamp on Palin: "You can't be stupid and press the right buttons"

Like Bush, she's an intellectually incurious person, but at the same time kind of sly and devious.

Rove is smart, but his biggest advantage is he is COMPLETELY immoral ... He has absolutely no problem playing outside the rules of a game where most people play within them, but there is no real way to have it policed ...

99% of the people in politics would not do what he did to McCain in SC in 2000, and he does that kind of stuff as a matter of business ...

Palin does not play by the "rules" ... She has cut out any traditional manner in which a political figure has to answer to the things she says, and plays the victim role as a woman in politics more than anyone else ever ...

She is neither really dumb, or "smart" in any way ... She simply is just mean, amoral, plays to her MILFyness and also the general perverse nature of that right wing of the R party ... Her, O'Donnell, Bachman ... Same gig ...

It is bickering about the semantics to debagte if she is "smart."

That isn't the issue with her, IMO ...

:shrug:

You can be VERY stupid and push other stupid people's buttons. Easier than pie.

And other stupid people are following her and hanging on to her every word.

Let's not overestimate her abilities, either, John. Palin can be crazy like a fox and still be ignorant as fucking hell. And she is.

the ignorance of the radical right-wing in this country, but her shallow intellect and basic stupidity is obvious.

You can be very dumb and still figure out how to manipulate situations where you come out looking fantastic.

...and yeah, the world is filled with people lacking basic intelligence who somehow know their way around a rube when they find one.

And that's really all that's going on here.

I like Mr Mellencamp but he's giving this empty headed sack of ass more credit than she deserves.

Yeah, she's sneaky and devious, but so predictable. Anybody who really wanted to take her down a couple of notches would have no trouble doing so.

Sarah's Not dumb, but she is however ignorant and emotionally stunted. She is also skilled at manipulation and deception, which makes her dangerous. If she had real power, I don't think she would have any problem lining up people and having them shot if she perceived them to be in her way.
In short, she is evil.

...cleverness and cunning.

Few great demagogues learn their craft. They may hone it with conscious learning and experimentation, but the basic ability to grab a crowd by its balls, heartstrings or spleen is there or it isn't. Sarah is poor material overall, but she has that one "thing" that makes up for almost all shortcomings.

right-wingers will bark and clap on cue every time you open your gob. That doesn't take intelligence at all.

Most of them are married to some 300+ lb behemoth so Sarah Palin looks pretty hot to them.

and toting oxygen cylinders, Sarah Palin is HAWT. But then, so would every attractive female who grins, winks, struts her stuff and flirts with them,,, er, that would be exactly none. Palin holds such sway over them because she's the only one who bothers. Their IT girl.

It's an act to charm the stupid into thinking "she's one of them." She's not stupid, she's evil.

This is a critique of style over substance...not of policy or intelligence. Grifterella has become a politician celebrity in the same vein as a Paris Hilton...not known for anything other than being famous. She's parlayed her "spunk" (I HATE spunk) into an attention-getting and money making machine. There has to be something said for the puppetmasters behind her. Folks like Tawd and Billy The Bloody Kristol who do the real "brainiac" stuff. Mooselini adds the ego and a taste for even more. Right now it has the corporate media captivated and in many ways the rest of us. A majority see her as a trainwreck but as the old PR axiom goes, "say good, say bad, just spell the name right on the check".