Time to Cringe: Palin on Supreme Court Decisions


On tonight's CBS Evening News, Katie Couric posed questions about Roe v. Wade to both vice presidential candidates, as well as a follow-up about any Supreme Court decisions they disagreed with. Joe Biden why he thought Roe v. Wade was a good decision, Sarah Palin why it was a bad one.

As for a decision they disagreed with, Biden said he disagreed with the Supreme Court finding part of the Violence Against Woman Act (which he wrote) unconstitutional while Palin hemmed and hawed and...oh, watch it above or read the transcript below:

Palin: Well, let's see. There's, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but …

Couric: Can you think of any?

Palin: Well, I could think of … any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level. Maybe I would take issue with. But, you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a vice president, if I'm so privileged to serve, wouldn't be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today.

Here's a full transcript; the two candidates also answered a question about the separation of church and state. The vice-presidential debate is tomorrow night at 9 p.m. (EST) in St. Louis.

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Comments (71) [rss]

I like Sarah; like Hillary, she's 'likable enough' but it's time for McCain to find a replacement, pronto. She can go back to Alaska, it's moose season.

Looks like Romney warming up in the bullpen. Out comes McCain...he's signaling...and in comes...

Scott Schoenweiss?!!!!!!

www.forgotten-ny.com

Ms. Palin, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Kinda reminded me of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WALIARHHLII

Cod help us all if McCain/Palin wins. Cod help us all. If there is a Cod.

It is not funny any more, it is outrageous. The stakes are too high for this dimwit to have a seat at the big table. Time to put country first John, let her bow out gracefully.

Even if McCain chooses another VP, the negative impression has already been made: McCain doesn't think through his choices, that he is impulsive, that he has an eye for the whole but not the details. Sure probably his campaign team were the dunces behind all this but ultimately he is responsible for these choices.

It is time for democrats to consider to register voting in RED states, so we can take this bastards and their PUPPET candidates out of the white house!
How deeper can this country fall into the shit-hole with this barbaric republican shameful mediocrity!?

Substandard = maverick? for cowboys it is!
Palin might be imposed as president of the USA by a huge mass of undereducated MEDIVAL America OR Be Rich fast greedy bastards and we are supposed to take it?!

I hope she fall in her face PUBLICLY tomorrow.

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Ouch! You weren't kidding about the "cringe" part. That last minute is absolutely brutal. I can't believe this shit is real.

McCain. Sir. Please. (Seriously)

It's like watching a zany comedy show, only instead it's the news and these are current events.

WTF? I feel stupider for having listened to Sarah Palin speak in this interview. Is it just me or does she leave you feeling dazed and confused too? (And not in a good way.)

Did anyone manage to comprehend a single thing she said? I couldn’t make sense out of any of it and I don’t think she even partially answered the question asked. Even Katie Couric looked baffled!

This reminds me of a drunk chick in a bar who rambles on giving you her life story and acts all nervous and tongue tied like she is interviewing for a date. When in reality, I just wanted to know if she was done with that table so my friends and I can sit down.

Palin must know she really isn't qualify to be a vice president.

I was smarter than her when I was in the 8th grade.

That's not a dig or anything, it's just a fact.

This is prime material for SNL's Weekend Update's "REALLY!?!" segment. Because seriously, REALLY!?!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/19053/saturday-night-live-really-with-seth-and-amy-sen-craig#s-p5-st-i1

This bitch was an incoherent mess, I can't believe she has the audacity to call herself a "Federalist."

Go back to MOOSE country you drunken stupid hag!

[#4] I was thinking the same thing. "such as".

When she finishes a sentence, she should stop. And think. But she gets nervous, so at the end of the sentence, she'll say things like:

"such as", "but, you know", "and again", "but, um",
forcing her to keep rambling.

I predict that some time during the campaign, she will quit to "spend more time with her family". That's what executives and cabinet members do when given the option of resign or be fired.

Their is no point in voting. The election will be stolen as usual, through fixed polling machines/computers. The Repubs will never lose again. I have lost all faith in governments.

Yikes. Palin '10? (he's old) Double yikes.

Gee, I wonder what side of the issue the author of the article favored? It's always helpful when the author helps you understand what occurs in a video by bludgeoning you with their own spin. And who could argue with the author's sixth grade point of view?

After reading the comments, I'm sure I've wandered into the sixth grade boys bathroom. You intellectual wizards obviously know who you'd vote for if you were old enough to do so, so why don't you just go back to class, get out your crayons, and draw a picture of the candidate you like best. And when you all draw the same one, you'll get a prize. Isn't that special.

My crayon picture doesn't look anything like that dumbass from Alaska!

We got Bush for president, so now we'll get Palin... fcuk!

The comments do sound a bit sixth-grade. But so does Palin whenever she opens her mouth.

I am SO pleased to know that should she ascend to the position of VeePee she would go about looking for aspects of the constitution that she could change. Greaaaaaaaat. Of course she has never read the constitution but at least we know she can read.....or can she, as Sarah plain and tall could not offer a single example of what she reads on a daily basis to keep her informed on the happenings of the day. That's it - the secret is she can not read.

I don't care about her gender - I hope Biden drops the gloves and destroys her tonight. She deserves it.

What she says and how she performs in the debate are irrelevant. The Christian nutjobs in flyover don't think....they 'feel'. They have 'faith' in her.

I thought Tina Fey was being mean, but now I think she was TOO nice. Yikes....

ncmike: typical republican troll.

step 1: whine about bias
step 2: insult the age and intelligence of people who disagree with him

where are you c00n, albert sharpton, spear chucker? you trolls were so much more witty and intelligent, and probably from new york.

How hard is it to come up with Dred Scott or Korematsu? It's not like anyone's expecting her to pull out some obscure case.

And really this is the same thing as the newspaper question.. why didn't she just say some random Alaska newspaper instead of saying "all of them"?

remember when you didn't study for a test, and you'd get a question like " explain the causes of the Spanish American War" and you'd say something like it was a war, against the Americans and the Spanish. and it started because the two countries disagreed over a very important topic, then went to war.


this is JUST like that.


BTW did you see how just giddy she was when she said FEDRALIST, like look all that cramming is totally paying off Mr McCain.


I can haz vise prisident

#4 - I was thinking the exact same thing. Its mind numbing. I can't even get through with the transcript without cringing.

As far as tonight - I don't think its going to be the train wreck that its predicted to be. I'm sure the Rep's are going to go into full fledged damage control after seeing her performance on the Couric interview. She'll be well prepped on things to say - and ways to say things with as little impact as possible.

I'd love for biden to wipe her ass but i'm sure it'll just be politicians speaking without saying anything at all and answering questions in such a way that they don't really answer them but steer it towards a rehearsed ready answer.

I predict that the windbag Biden will go on and on with pointless facts, while underestimating the intellect of Palin and how she would connect with the audience. Palin's folksy charm and debate tactics will handcuff Biden. The hockey mom will chew and spit out this Washington dinosaur whom NOBODY ever wanted to be President anyway!

Dude69 must be another wirebiter republican. Go back to westchester, rookie.

I am a NYer from Brooklyn, but I am not a supporter of fluffy Obama and his politics of unspecified change like most of the commenters here. The intolerance to anything other than blind faith in Obama on this comment board is truly terrifying.

When the debate gets to the point where they address each other, I really don't see how she's going to handle herself. Unless this is some kind of elaborate plan to look like an idiot until the debate and then actually talk like an intelligent person.

Your comment #35 had nothing to do with "blind faith in Obama".

We got Bush for president, now we have Palin for veep... fcuk! I vote for secession from the flyover states NOW...

"The intolerance to anything other than blind faith in Obama on this comment board is truly terrifying."

Well, you might want to start tolerating Obama. He's going to be your president, Dude69.

Gee, you'd think that a question about bad Supreme Court decisions should be a softball homerun for a ditzy idealogue like Palin. She couldn't regurgitate Texas v. Johnson, the 5-4 decision that protected flag burning as political speech??? The looney conservative base would have gone crazy in love for that shit. Couric was smart though to get Roe out of the way before asking the follow-up.

The problem tonight is that they've changed the rules so that the candidates never will address each other. They'll each get questions to answer within the allotted time and that's that. Palin just might be able to memorize enough 90 second soundbites to sound decent. Hopefully the moderators can come up with questions that her handlers haven't prepared her for so we can all watch her ramble like that. The best Biden can do is try to sound presidential and hope Palin trips up somewhere.

Dude- I'll take unspecified change over status quo any day. Also, her interview "skills" pretty much explain why McCain's camp asked the debate committee to shorten the response times at the VP debate. Should be an interesting night...

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Wasn't Casey v. Planned Parenthood the case that judicially legislated the trimester method of determining a woman's rights? NOT Roe v. Wade? Joe Biden is incorrect. Roe v. Wade made abortions legal through the definition of "viability."

Joe Biden needs to brush up on his Constitutional Law.

No, GOP, it was Roe that brought about the trimester measurement. Have fun voting for Palin, sounds like your kind of person.

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And, remember, Biden is a lawyer. Palin is not. The question was inherently unfair in favor of Biden.

I bet the vast majority of non-lawyers would not know any Supreme Court cases.

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I stand corrected. I get confused between cases where the justices legislate from the bench.

Here's your Con Law:

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/abortion.htm

It's unfair? Maybe they should ask Palin how to skin a moose, would that be better?

They're both politicians involved in creating laws, which means they BOTH should be familiar with at least basic Con Law theories. And the vast majority of non-lawyers aren't running for Vice President.

You're quite the apologist. A bad one, though.

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Palin was okay with her Con Law theory on Roe and Casey. She said she's a federalist. Couric then asked if there were any other cases she disagrees with.

Thanks for your input though. Re-watch the interview.

If we make English the official language, will she have to leave the country?

It's a good thing Jerry Fallwell is dead. Given the opportunity she'd nominate him to the Supreme Court.

Oh for the love of Pete! I'd be able to answer this question more intelligently and that's not saying anything! Is she so arrogant that she doesn't even bother to study up on issues? Doesn't she know she's going to be asked questions like this? Just give an example! Like the way she answered the question of what things she reads--she reads everything!

Total embarrassment. Alaskans should be ashamed.

She couldn't come up with ONE other case she disagrees with. She wouldn't even have to cite a case by name to excite the GOP base. All she'd have to say is "I disagree with the Court's stance on flag burning," or whatever. Heck, they'd probably love her even more if she didn't know the case by name. "Hooray, she's ignorant just like we are!"

Couric should have asked her to name a case she did agree with. If she whiffed on that it would have been even more classic.

Sorry, #49, but Palin was not "ok" on her con law for Roe. She said that all Americans have a constitutional right to privacy. When I heard that, my immediate reaction was "my god, she hasn't actually READ Roe v. Wade."

But, ok, I thought -- maybe she's going to draw some creative distinction; maybe she's going to say that the constitutional right to privacy exists but does not lead to abortion rights. But, no, no, nothing intelligent like that. Instead, when Katie pointed out to her that "privacy" was the cornerstone of Roe v. Wade, Palin said that the constitutional right to privacy is a...state issue.

Ummm...

Well...

Ok...

So then what she doesn't believe in is that federal constitutional rights apply to the states? Could that possibly really be her view? Well...ok, then...that'd be scary, and contrary to 130 years of Supreme Court jurisprudence, but that "anti-incorporation" view is theoretically defensible on some level if that's what she really believes.

(Or maybe -- just throwing it out here -- she just didn't know that Roe v. Wade relied on a "right to privacy" and was furiously backpedaling. Because maybe -- again, just throwing it out there -- the only thing she knows about the case is "Abortion!".)

And, sorry, but spare me the "average Americans don't know law" argument -- if she's going to potentially hold enormous power to enforce the laws, she needs a better-than-average understanding of what she's enforcing. If I were having surgery, I'd demand my doctor know anatomy -- and damn what the "average" American knows, I want the guy cutting me up to know what ALL my parts do.

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Apparently, many Alaskans are mad at the recent Exxon v. Baker decision. Does their governor support it? Mrs. Joe six-pack doesn't have to be a lawyer to know a case that affects her state.

The funny thing to me is how GOP and other Palin supporters frame this thing as unfair and if pressed we couldn't name a case etc.


Well guess what, we expect more from a person running for Vice President. We expect them to be the ones who have a firm grasp of the issues. This woman doesn't have a clue. She never really has, even as Guv of Alaska. She surrounded herself with her high school buddies.

She may be able to give a snarky speech but if you can't answer such basic questions, your the wrong choice. And America is responding... check out the latest state polls http://www.electoral-vote.com/

#56 -- she went on TV and talked about how disappointed she was in the decision -- I guess it's too much to remember a case you've already publicly disagreed with...

"Apparently, many Alaskans are mad at the recent Exxon v. Baker decision. Does their governor support it?"

She issued a statement at the time saying she did not support it.. guess she forgot about that.

I don't even think she's qualified to vote in an election.

@Thespis, comment #55.

That was my initial reaction as well. The woman thinks Roe is a bad decision, but can't justify her position without contradicting herself.

This is the opposite of the sort of leadership this country needs. God save us all from another "Joe Six-pack" in the White House. Wasn't Bush enough???

News item: John McCain says he's turned to Sarah Palin for advice many times over the years.

SISTER SARAH

"Should I ask Dad tonight for the horseless carriage?
Does dating fast girls spoil a guy for marriage?"

"Think joining the circus beats a hitch in the navy?
D'ya like my hair straight and long or wavy?"

"I know you hate the thought of abortion, of course,
But what about becoming rich through divorce?"

"Is running for the Senate something for me
Seeing's I know zip about the economy?"

"Party leaders say I'm much too slick.
Shoot! What's the meaning of maverick?"

"Sarah, if the voters cook my goose
Will you show me how to hunt for moose?"

Ok.

I lean right and I'm pretty appalled at Palin's public speaking gaffes and apparent incompetency. I cannot and will not even defend her, and even though it would completely destroy McCain's cred, I wish he would retract his VP nomination and send her on her way. This is getting to be way too much. The illusion of ignorance is staggering. Please make it go away.

I'm voting for Christopher Walken.

McCain's not deaf. He's heard the gripes about Palin's unsuitability to be next in line to be president. And he agrees.

So he's telling friends--like me--that following their election he'll wait for the first opportunity to appoint a worthy to the Supreme Court. And give Palin the nod.

He's not even waiting. McCain's nodding already.

Yesss! Let her keep talking... the more she talks the more people will realize what a complete buffoon she is. Can't wait for tonight!

Dingbat! dingdongdingdongding!

To 39: Hilarious and I totally agree!
To 65: Not quite sure what you're getting at...what do you mean give Palin "the nod?"

Go Hockey Mom! Time to show America that you're more than glasses and pumps! Wipe the floor with Biden!

Palin/McWho? 2008!!

She's debating like a dizzy bitch running for Prom Court. I can't believe I'm watching this. If McCain wins, we are so fucked.

I enjoy watching all the hipsters running scared of Palin. I guess a strong, independent woman is a frightening thing to some people, eh?

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