"By the way, I love Sarah Palin."
I truly , truly believe you. Uhhh....huh.

Ex-governor and full-time quitter Sarah Palin's moronic speech patterns are fodder for lots of humor.

If Sarah lightened up and laughed at herself she would gain points. But obviously she's not that smart. Instead she looks like she's not intelligent enough to realize that she's rambling and incoherent, and that's the scariest part of all.

Ronald Reagan was folksy and self-deprecating - and America loved him for it. Palin is folksy and not smart enough to realize that she's mangling sentences and is communicating poorly. Big difference.

Future-president Palin will always treasure the very fitting tribute presented by Going Where No Man Has Gone Before; Captain Kirk.

Ex-governor and full-time quitter Sarah Palin's moronic speech patterns are fodder for lots of humor.

This is the President you're talking about, right? I think you're confused with speech patterns and such.

Shatner's recitation was funny. (As was *most* of SNL.)

Palin's speech was fine. I don't know quite when it got to be acceptable to be intolerant of diversity, but if someone has trouble with her "speech patterns" and accent it hardly reflects badly on HER, does it.

I suppose that people who have such a narrow experience with life that they don't understand living in a place where nature is out to kill you and winter boils the roads that humans insist on trying to build... well... not much to do about *that*. But I can see how someone speaking of a life experience vastly removed from their own might find the references incoherent... but that hardly reflects badly on HER, does it.

I actually liked it as poetry. I know William Shatner made it funny, but I liked it still. It had a hint of Bliss Carman in parts. Good stuff.

Synova,
Terrific points, and well said. You could post this comment on D.J. discussion about race and lead a bunch of the lost out of the wilderness.

I guess what people find strange is when she accuses the media of undermining the troops when they make shit up about her. That's a strange thing to say, isn't it?

She sure does talk funny, though.

The military has an a long term institutional and profound distrust of the media, absolutely *with cause*.

Palin didn't specify that she was taking only about what they make up about *her*. She didn't specify at all, IIRC. Her audience (likely heavily military or associated with the military considering where she was) appreciated the remarks, or did you not notice that the applause and laughter on that particular bit was slightly louder than for other things she said?

How come the commercial always work perfect, but the video never does? What's up with that?

The July Fox News Poll results are in and the winner for best job for Palin -is (drum roll please) HOMEMAKER!
http://thepage.time.com/details-from-july-fox-news-poll/

Maybe Congress could make a new cabinet level department for her - The Department of Homemaking.

Here's my all time favorite quote from the quitter/whiner you folks so love to love:

"Fair or unfair, I think she does herself a disservice to even mention it...When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or, you know, maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, man, that doesn't do us any good. Women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country. I don't think it's, it bodes well for her -- a statement like that...It bothers me a little bit hearing her bring that attention to herself on that level." (On Hillary Clinton's complaints about her treatment by the media, March 2008.)

Oh and Shatner's "poem" was more coherent than her 2000 word run on sentence.

THE DEMACRATIC LIBERALS THEIR DEAD JIM

But I can see how someone speaking of a life experience vastly removed from their own might find the references incoherent... but that hardly reflects badly on HER, does it.

It's not the references, Synova, it's the incoherence, odd syntax, rambling tangents, and weird transitions. I lived in Alaska for a short time when I was younger, and have known many native Alaskans, and they manage to string together sentences conveying coherent thoughts just fine. Palin often does not, and it has nothing to do with whether people know what cheechakos or sourdoughs are (for the curious, and in gamer lingo, cheechakos are newbs, sourdoughs are 1337).

Don't insult Alaskans by implying they all talk nonsense like her.

OMG. this was too funny. Nothing could have summed up the absurdity of that speech better.

Mantis... and Obama says "Um" all the time, "um, um, um" and seems to frequently have to "calibrate" his words differently.

Actually, the sentence you quoted of *mine* is horrible. I looked at it afterwards and went "Ack!" because the subject and grammar is entirely messed up... but you still understood what I meant.

I DO understand why people have trouble listening to Sarah Palin, and yes, I'm sure that all Alaskans don't talk like her. As I understand it Wasilla was settled by people from Minnesota mostly, which is why she sounds so much like people from *my* home. But as SPEECH goes it really isn't that bad. As DIALOG goes it really isn't that bad. If other people were transcribed *faithfully* instead of having their "ums" removed and if their false starts and repeats were left in there most people would be far worse.

Althouse made the observation that HuffPo had a transcript of Palin's speech and they'd done it without punctuation, or mostly so, in order to make it seem even more rambling.

So... was that because she talks funny or because they dislike her?

In any case since *I* talk like her, or used to, or grew up with people who do, (even if most Alaskans do not) I find the criticism of her speech sort of insulting, on a personal level. And particularly things like Conan O'Brien's short-bus-esque har har har, doesn't she talk like a retard intro.

I doubt I'm alone in seeing this all as something that reflects very poorly on our social and intellectual betters, or those who think they are, anyway, than it could ever reflect on Sarah Palin.

Synova,

Let me just say that I am in agreement with you about our "social and intellectual betters," especially in the media, and the way they look down on folks in flyover country and how those folk speak and live. I do think it's snotty and unfair and elitist. I grew up largely in Eastern Washington, Ohio, and Illinois, and while I've been a city dweller since becoming an adult, I haven't forgotten where I came from and I don't pre-judge people just because they don't speak like a newscaster or an English professor. But when I hear Sarah Palin speak, I always have to listen a few times to try and figure out what the hell she is saying, and often still don't have a clue. I guess what I'm saying is there are better arguments against the "Everyone who doesn't speak like us are idiots" crowd than defending Sarah Palin's speaking style.

Mantis... and Obama says "Um" all the time, "um, um, um" and seems to frequently have to "calibrate" his words differently.

Yes, he does say umm a lot, and when he doesn't he's prone to long pauses. Btw, The Daily Show and others have made fun of him for it. There's a big difference though, for me at least, in that I almost always understand exactly what he's saying the first time around. And really, how many jokes can you make out of "umm," anyway? It just doesn't provide all that much comedic material, unlike, say, any given Sarah Palin speech or interview.