If Sarah Palin had a professional psychological and neurological assessment, would she be diagnosed with an illness?

She’s just another average American and has no place in the spotlight. A lot of people would do worse in the spotlight, but they aren’t politicians.

Sure.

Wouldn’t we all?

It’s hard to guess at what her issue is as we’re not professionals and even if we were, we don’t have much to go on, only what the media chooses to put out.

She’s dumber than a box of rocks with huge ambitions and ego. Iike a train wreck in progress.

Great hairdo . . . lack of oxygen for several minutes as a teenager.

No. Whether or not she suffers from some sort of neurological deficit isn’t going to be determined by this sort of talk. The one conclusion to be drawn is that such utterances are the product of a profoundly ignorant mind. This is such an obvious fact that there’s a very strong case for relegating anyone with the temerity to dispute it to the same category.

And while it is great sport to poke fun at the poor woman, behind all the ridicule lurks the grim fact that THIS woman was chosen as the nominee for VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Some very smart and cynical people put Sarah Palin up ( to the disgust of John McCain) and the fact that they got away with it says some very telling things about the intellectual competence of a very significant number of U.S!

I’m sure she’s a nice woman, but she just shouldn’t be a politician. I’ve seen people like her before, but they were housewives or the average worker. We don’t know anything about politics, but we know how to run our mouths to voice our opinions, not even thinking about how dumb we sound.

She’s just unfortunately being taped and scrutinized for doing the same thing we all do.

She has better than average tits and ambition. That’s how she basically got to where she is. Who can blame her for taking advantage? She’s likely smarter than average but then so are most of us.

I doubt it. I don’t think she is stupid either. She just isn’t President material that’s for sure.

It’s all too easy to pick apart the people we may not align with…but how many here have been elected Mayor of their town, Governor of their state let alone get involved in the politics that are impactful to your everyday life like Sarah did. How many Sarah haters here have written a letter to their Senators, or Congressmen let alone their towns Mayors. Taking cheap shots at those who actually have served in office is easy and at the same time weak-tit and hardly constructive. IMO, the real stupid ones are those who point fingers and do nothing

Who knows? If a person digs enough, they will find some sort of a mental illness in 95% of the people around the US. We’re all crazy in our own way, but most of us compensate for it very well.

What’s surprising to me is that anyone cares about Palin. She had her time. She wants to be relevant, but well, she reminds me of people who I knew in high school who always had to be the center of attention, even though the had nothing to offer.

She’s irrelevant.

I don’t know the medical definition of ditz.

The woman is certainly not much of a public speaker.
But it could be worse.
This moron keeps getting elected in GA district 4

I don’t think this woman is on Fluther, but she was in Askville. She said Sarah Palin’s dingbat act was caused by undiagnosed celiac disease and if she switched to a gluten free diet, she’d be smarter.

Anyone remember that?

I’m not as interested in the causes or reasons for her behavior. Ours is supposedly a representative government & ideally we should be proud that anyone across the spectrum of our society can rise to govern us. Palin managed to rise to governor of Alaska and the state obviously survived the experience, and in the history of the country there have been no shortage of “dim bulb” politicians. But Palin is special and @Cruiser, the criticism of her here has almost nothing to do with whether or not those making them are “aligned” with her. And to prove it, I will ask you flat out whether or not you find what she says intelligible? Whether or not she is deranged doesn’t matter to me. But what DOES matter is the fact that she can CONSISTENTLY talk that kind of shit and wind up with the Vice Presidential nomination. When she first showed up, I didn’t know what to think. The ignorance was obvious and limitless. But as the chattering continued, it became crystal clear that she had more in common with the moose she likes to slaughter. And by that I mean a modicum of intelligence is required before one is capable of appreciating that they are ignorant.

A generous take is that she just can’t give a speech. She was reading from notes and if you understand that the Russian word fortochka refers to a specific type of window, one might reasonably guess that she just botched the passage.

This Wonkette article (NSFW) is a pretty hilarious and damning take on the speech but also links to a video of it in its entirety. The video gives much better context.

Another thing I can definitely say about the video is that is a shrill reminder of why vocal fry has become so popular.

Gee @stanleybmanly once again I find I am up against your hyperbole and frankly bored to death with your lack of effort to make a salient point. The mere fact that you take someone as a Sarah Palin as a threat to your very existence only exposes the weakness you choose to base the foundation of your life on. Sarah is nothing more than an entertainer who paved the way for the Donald Trumps you see now dominating the media frenzy, You can choose to gobble the kibble the media feeds you or stand behind you own convictions that actually make a point that would clarify what you want from our statesmen and who you are willing to vote for to make that change you desire.

@Cruiser I’m going to risk boring you once more and illustrate the salient point of my last statement by noticing that you didn’t answer the question about whether or not you find the woman’s pronouncements sensible. And I believe the fact that you didn’t answer the question demonstrates that you fully understand and get my point precisely!

And let me simplify the point for the rest of those who think I have an axe to grind with Palin. You’re wrong. I harbor no hatred or resentment toward Sarah Palin. To do so would be equivalent to finding the canary in a coal mine loathsome. Clearly she is no longer a threat to anything other than as an ongoing embarrassment to herself and the country. The threat to ALL of us is that we live in a nation where a hefty proportion of the population expect statesmanship from a dingbat. Then there are those among us not willing to admit it, but worse pretend it doesn’t matter.

Fair enough @stanleybmanly To answer your question yes I do understand what she says though her voice is often worse than fingernails on a chalk board. When the Repubs pulled her out of the shadows of her own obscurity and thrust her on the worlds stage….it was more than obvious to me that she struck a chord that resonated with a LOT of people and I would argue on both sides of the isle. I think she performed admirably and with a modicum of statesmanship which her years as a mayor and Governor gave her that. That said I think it was a HUGE mistake to pick her as the Veep running mate and we all know the outcome of that choice. I would also argue it was not Sarah’s fault the Republicans lost the election….Obama ran a brilliant campaign and won on the strength of his Hope and Change message.

Sarah is no less a statesman than a large portion of the elected officials I see paraded in the media and you can cherry pick less than stellar moments of any politician in the public eye. The difference I see with Sarah is she is never apologetic for putting herself out there to get her message across whether you agree with her of not.

I remember when Palin first came out and gave the speech at the Republican Convention. It was like “wow! She’s pretty and she speaks well and she says good things.” It all fell apart, however, in the days and weeks after that when she was interviewed and had to make comments and answer questions off the cuff.

Listen. While it may well be argued that all politicians are tools of someone, the manufacturing of the Palin candidacy was something truly unique. And no I don’t believe that her candidacy was responsible in any major way for Obama’s victory. He DID outcampaign the opposition. My distress is about the fact that her being included on the ticket in the number 2 position SHOULD have been disastrous, and the fact that it wasn’t should gravely concern us all. The one thing I will hand Palin is that she is definitely her own woman. She speaks her mind (no pun intended) and categorically refuses to follow most of the advice of those assigned to “handle” her. In fact, as with Trump, she is 100% authentic. What you see and hear is indisputably what you get. But what does it say about a society where so many people gauge authenticity as ample compensation for an empty head on the potential President of the United States?

@stanleybmanly I am not so sure I can agree with you completely as what we saw with Sarah in how the voters fell in love with her soccer mom/not so political appeal is what we are again seeing with the Donald, Ben Carson and Carly. People (at least I know I am) are fed up with career politicians saying one thing to get elected and then not doing anything they promised. This is a real problem both sides of the isle are facing and I am very leery over everything and anything anyone is campaigning about.

The team that will get my vote will have to clearly demonstrate that they can repair our reputation and strengthen our relationships abroad and truly create real opportunities for companies to innovate and grow which will create jobs….good paying jobs and also provide better educational opportunities for our kids and adults. The biggies for me though is wasteful government spending, tax reform and getting the meat hooks of corporations out of politics for once and for all.

People that shake their heads as they ponder what to say next are stupid.
But i don’t think they’re mentally ill.