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Sarah Palin 'Target WikiLeaks Like Taliban'

DMandPenfold writes "Sarah Palin, who is widely tipped as a possible Republican candidate for president in 2012, has said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be hunted down in the way armed forces are targeting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda." So that means we should spend billions of dollars and not catch him? Good plan.

24 of 1,425 comments (clear)

  1. Sarah Palin... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You know who we have to blame for her, right?

    John McCain. What the heck was the man thinking? If he'd picked his VP candidate with an eye to win, instead of just throwing a dart then we'd be far better off. Even though I wouldn't have wanted his hypocritical, principal betraying, lying ass in the Oval Office, at least with a decent VP we'd not have had the horror that is Sarah Palin inflicted on the nation at large. She'd just be some obscure Alaska Governor waiting for the snows to come in and counting all the oil money.

    Curse you!

  2. So what by schnikies79 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who cares what Sarah Palin thinks? This isn't news, for anybody.

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  3. Re:Why do we keep talking about her? by H0p313ss · · Score: 5, Insightful

    She is unelectable, why the hell does the media pay so much attention to her? She has to be the most hated political figure in the US for the left/left leaning middle. The dumbest thing the republicans could possibly do is run her in 2012.

    What she and her supporters have not figured out is that they get so much attention because it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. It's entertainment not politics.

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  4. The problem with both parties ... by Syncerus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The problem with both parties is that we can't keep the dumbest 2% of us off the television.

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    "Man is nothing without the works of man" -- Helvetius
  5. Re:Palin against government transparency? by rufus+t+firefly · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Palin just lost my vote.

    Seriously? *This* is what did it for you?

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    "He may look like an idiot, and talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot." - Duck Soup
  6. I'd say... by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...we should hunt down Sarah Palin, but I can't face the idea of actually catching her. It would take months of showering with caustic agents to get the stupid off. The woman is the perfect storm of all that is wrong with America's dumbest citizens today. And I'm sure that our north Korean allies on the death panels would not refudiate this.

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  7. Re:Why do we keep talking about her? by Mongoose+Disciple · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ron Paul is worthless?

    In the sense that what he wants has roughly zero bearing on what Congress actually does, yeah.

  8. I Disagree with Your Assessment by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What she and her supporters have not figured out is that they get so much attention because it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. It's entertainment not politics.

    Well, to her credit, she has a lot of followers. Despite many faux pas she's made that would have left anyone else gelded, she somehow keeps drumming up support. I'm not too educated on the numbers now for tea partiers versus non-tea partying Republicans but I think it would be a deathly schism for the Republican party. The two large parties can't afford to break off into chunks and therefore it's going to be the most supported candidate that gets the nod. Right now, who else is there?

    There have been countless stupid quotes and moves by Sarah Palin where I've thought "Wow, well, at least she's finally done for." And yet she comes out of it. She starts working for Fox News and injects her own little two cents into everything and I'm thinking, "Look at all this material for a potential opponent to use against her." Yet she grows in popularity! She gets a reality show on some cable TV show called "Sarah Palin's Alaska" (like she owns the state) and I think "Well, finally, she's jumping the shark." Yet people are watching it in respectable TV viewing numbers! She releases a book that rips apart JFK and yet somehow she comes out still being followed. What gives?

    In my humble opinion, as someone coming from the rural mid-west and now living in the urban east coast, you are talking about a populace you don't understand. People are watching her, reading her books and identifying with her at an alarming rate. To claim that everyone one of her supporters is driving from Ohio and other states to see her and Glenn Beck on the mall just to 'observe a train wreck' only exacerbates the problem and further removes you from what's really going on. America is just as polarized as they were during the elections and the Republican party -- though strong -- is encountering a weird kind of fragmentation for better or for worse.

    Politics is entertainment just like sports are entertainment. But most spectators are cheering for someone.

    It's easy for us to dismiss them but that only adds to their persecution complex. I don't know what the answer is but I prefer to listen to them and then try to reason with them instead of writing them off. There's bigger numbers in different parts of the country and I'm not a fan of watching Glenn Beck prey on people who are suffering right now. It downright sickens me.

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    1. Re:I Disagree with Your Assessment by Mongoose+Disciple · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What is wrong about Palin ripping apart JFK, do some REAL research about him and him during his presidency and how he played with America's economy.

      Frankly, it doesn't matter if everything she said about him is 100% true -- it's politically stupid to attack him, in a general-election sense, because he's a heroic martyr figure to too many Americans. It'd be like writing a book about what jerks Martin Luther King or John Lennon were -- there's virtually no chance of it not seriously alienating a lot more people than it wins over.

      I HATE big government and I believe slowly we should be reducing our government size (such as agencies) by about half. Too many agencies do nothing but to provide jobs, where the private sector could be doing the same thing. In doing such a thing, our deficit will be reduced and by eliminating government slowly, jobs will be gained as they are lost

      Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't seem to understand how or where the government is actually spending the vast majority of its money. Doing so is a pre-requisite for offering any realistic budgetary solution. (So is understand how the government gets its revenue, but that's another discussion entirely.)

  9. Free country? by MstrFool · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You know, it's things like that that tend to set me off. Open information is essential to freedom, and the US found it quite delightful when WL exposed other countries. But now that it's coming to light that our own country has a lot to hide, it must be stopped? I don't think so. Get the information out there, shame the ones knowingly acting dishonestly and work to let them know it is not acceptable. People in power are always willing to bend the rules for what they feel is 'good reason'. Problem is, that so called good reason tends to expand quickly. I don't know what the fix is for the situation, but I do know that it will involve a lot more sites like WL. If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to fear. Or so the government tells us. Interesting how that doesn't seem to go both ways, that needs to change, in a big way.

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    Question reality.
  10. Re:Martyrdom by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    She speaks to the mob. She tells the mob what it wants to hear, rather than what needs saying. This will get her a big following, but it doesn't mean a good mob leader is capable of much beyond causing noise and damage. On the other hand I wonder how much this differs from many people involved in politics?

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  11. Re:Why the hating on Assange? by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, yes, but now they've charged him with SEXUAL crimes, you see, so none of that matters. Once tarred with the SEXUAL brush, one is pretty well finished as a public figure in society, because people get really, really stupid when the word sex is brought up. So don't worry about the treason thing. They're beyond that already. He must be brought to (cough) "justice" FOR THE CHILDREN!

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  12. Re:Why do we keep talking about her? by mr100percent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Entertainment is fun but you go home afterwards. Politics wrecks lives, like a show where you are forced to live with the bad outcome

  13. Re:Because we want the Republicans to lose? by erroneus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I just wish "small government" weren't such a huge lie. All of these "small government" republicans are saying is that they want to spend more money on their things and less on everyone else's.

  14. Welll, on the other hand... by DrYak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    After 9 years of hunting Bin Laden.. Assange is safe from the US for a while!

    But I don't now about US Army's external sub-contractors illegally arresting, detaining and torturing half of the Swedish population.
    Nor the US Army overthrowing the government of Norway, on the grounds that they might have had supported Sweden and might also have servers for mass-hosting of leaks in possession (although independent reports from the UN deny both of these fears).

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    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  15. Re:I said the same thing about Barak Obama in 2006 by Zeek40 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And then I voted for him in 2008.....things change. Still, I agree, she's pretty much unelectable in my mind.

    Obama's only real problem was overcoming racism. He was a barely left of center (for the US at least) charasmatic politician running against that party that America was fed up with. In the 2008 election, his race and his name were really the only things that anyone focused on when attacking him.

    Palin's problem was, and still remains overcoming the bad press she generates by being a mouth breathing half-wit (although the coaching she received while sequestered for a month after completely whiffing all the softballs Katie Couric was lobbing at her helped a bit). She really only appeals to people who are just as backwards, authoritarian and unintelligent as she is. Unfortunately, that demographic seems to be taking over this country.

  16. Re:first! by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Speaking as a non-american, I'd call it a win-win. Either she loses the race for the GOP or the rest of the world has incontrovertible proof that the US has become a nation that worships morons. Besides, can you imagine what John Stewart could do with 4 years of Palin? :)

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  17. Re:Palin against government transparency? by corbettw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Never insult someone when they've publicly stated they agree with you. It makes you look petty and discourages others from changing their opinions in favor of yours in the future.

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    God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
  18. Re:Why do we keep talking about her? by Assmasher · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I had never been ashamed of the American people (not to be confused with the American government) until the day Bush was re-elected.

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  19. Re:If Sarah Palin looked like Janet Reno by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What do you think she'd be doing with her life? Truck stop waitress?

    No, truck stop waitresses have to have personality and organizational skills and some sense of reality.

    And they generally finish their shifts.

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    Drill baby drill - on Mars
  20. Re:Not Just Hateb by the Left by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I voted for Al Gore in 2000 (I had just turned 18). I didn't vote in 2004, as there were no good candidates, and I voted for Obama in 2008 (and will vote for him again in 2012). I'm not happy with GM being bailed out (I own a huge amount of Toyota stock, and now Tesla Motors stock), but understand it was necessary to prevent the loss of millions of auto supply chain jobs. I like universal healthcare (you live in a society you twit, the wealth you have is only available to you because of the structure of society, and society has a cost) vs people going bankrupt and for-profit companies reaping hundreds of millions of dollars.

    It appears though that we both agree that Palin would be a destructive force if put into office. Shall we roll up our sleeves and work together on this? I'm for fiscal responsibility and smaller government, but am also pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, and pro-universal healthcare.

    Regular people like us can try to compromise, or we can take the nuclear option and use our resources to try to hammer the other folks into the ground. I'd much prefer the former over the latter.

  21. Re:Why do we keep talking about her? by gfreeman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    8 years as Illinois Senator. 4 years as US Senator. President of Harvard Law Review. Civil rights attourney. Teacher at UChicago law school ... Ignoring his other community works, what exactly counts as being "productive" in your world?

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  22. Re:I said the same thing about Barak Obama in 2006 by oldspewey · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Palin's popularity is just an extension of the trend started by Bush - the celebration of naiveté and simplemindedness. Somehow, critical thought and intelligence have become "elitist" traits, while simpletons like Palin are good, honest folk who can be trusted. Until America gets past this unfortunate and destructive paradigm, things will only get worse.

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    If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
  23. Re:Death, huh? by rkd2110 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The reason the US invaded Afghanistan was for their refusal to extradite Bin Laden

    The US invaded Afghanistan because there was money in it, for someone other then the American people that is. I think that the idea that invading a country and occupying it for 9 years just to secure the extradition of a single man is preposterous. I mean seriously, why the fuck do you have Delta/Seals/Rangers/SAD if you need to deploy a whole army to catch a singly person?

    Not to mention the fact that the Taliban publicly agreed to extradite Bin Laden if the US supplied some sort of evidence. Later they relinquished that request and offered to extradite Bin Laden to Pakistan, but Pakistan refused to take him due to Musharf feeling that "He can not guarantee his safety". Yep. Pakistan, your "Ally in the War on Terror".

    Anyone perpetuating the myth that Afghanistan is the just, necessary war (in contrast to the Iraq war) is either disingenuous or tragically ignorant of the facts.