Simply and utterly beyond belief

Yeah, I think there's some finger pointing going on somewhere.

This is not the first time that people have thrown around absurd accusations, sadly.

Though, I do admit that Palin is kinda...I don't like her. But this dosn't mean we can lie about her.

So Fox News used a fake source.

Wow, I'm socked. And by "shocked" I mean "not shocked".

dpaterso said:

I'm afraid I've reached the stage where I don't accept anything at face value -- not the original report -- not this report -- not any report or so-called news article, whether posted on a news channel or a message board. There's too much smear intent and bias in all of 'em. The possibility that a politician with a thousand things on their mind might have slipped up and called Africa a country instead of a continent doesn't interest me in any case, and I don't mean just because it's Africa. Filed under No Big Deal and Trust No One.

-Derek

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I am with you.

"Believe half of what you see and nothing that you hear" ~ Benjamin Franklin

dpaterso said:

I'm afraid I've reached the stage where I don't accept anything at face value -- not the original report -- not this report -- not any report or so-called news article, whether posted on a news channel or a message board. There's too much smear intent and bias in all of 'em. The possibility that a politician with a thousand things on their mind might have slipped up and called Africa a country instead of a continent doesn't interest me in any case, and I don't mean just because it's Africa. Filed under No Big Deal and Trust No One.

-Derek

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I can't stand the media. What I find I must do is put on my Sherlock Holmes hat whenever I listen to them. Their absurd statements do contain truth, you just need a microscope, bloodhound, and lie detector to find it.

The truth in the statement that Palin didn't know Africa was a continent and not a country is extremely easy to ascertain.

Every person who has ever gone to any school since the 1600s is aware that there are seven continents.

The only continent in the entire world that is also a country is Australia.

The probability of Palin not knowing this is so astronimically low that i'm not sure we've invented numbers that small.

Taking the above deductions into account, one can deduce the following from the news report:

1) Palin simply had a slip of the tongue (happens to us all)
2) It is an obvious distortion of the truth of what Palin knows
3) It is over sensationalized news that no reputable media would ever have wasted time reporting.

ANyways,

It is sad, we've come to the point where we cannot trust news anymore.

Mel...

And if true, Palin helps her kids with homework, which must include some "refresher" Geography for her.

From Governor of Alaska with high approval to total airhead? Unbelievable.

Cut to the core. She is against abortion. She must be destroyed no matter how.

All that has happened and will happen may well make her immune to further unproven rumors in the eyes of voters as well as engendering sympathy from the fair-minded if she runs for the Senate and the Presidency. And next time she will not be encumbered by McCain's handlers.

dgiharris said:

The truth in the statement that Palin didn't know Africa was a continent and not a country is extremely easy to ascertain.

Every person who has ever gone to any school since the 1600s is aware that there are seven continents.

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She doesn't get off the hook that easily: "The hoax was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin, not the Fox News story itself. While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony."

dgiharris said:

I can't stand the media. What I find I must do is put on my Sherlock Holmes hat whenever I listen to them. Their absurd statements do contain truth, you just need a microscope, bloodhound, and lie detector to find it.

The truth in the statement that Palin didn't know Africa was a continent and not a country is extremely easy to ascertain.

Every person who has ever gone to any school since the 1600s is aware that there are seven continents.

The only continent in the entire world that is also a country is Australia.

The probability of Palin not knowing this is so astronimically low that i'm not sure we've invented numbers that small.

Taking the above deductions into account, one can deduce the following from the news report:

1) Palin simply had a slip of the tongue (happens to us all)
2) It is an obvious distortion of the truth of what Palin knows
3) It is over sensationalized news that no reputable media would ever have wasted time reporting.

ANyways,

It is sad, we've come to the point where we cannot trust news anymore.

Mel...

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We never could. We just thought we could for a while, after the outrageous bias and lies of the early days of journalism appeared to have died down.

she'll always be on a hook for the people who are so biased against her that they're grasping at straws to back up their own opinions. I don't necessarily like the woman either, but I find it incomprehensible that any logical human being would believe the story even after it was admitted that the source of said story is a figment of someone's imagination.

Absolutely ridiculous.

*reports self to Derek, waits for punishment*

mscelina said:

I find it incomprehensible that any logical human being would believe the story even after it was admitted that the source of said story is a figment of someone's imagination.

Absolutely ridiculous.

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The error was in a MSNBC report about the source of a FOX report. The FOX story has not been discredited.

As for those who don't believe that Palin could make such a mistake because no one could make such a mistake, I know one school teacher who couldn't locate Japan on a globe because she thought it was a peninsula, and another who couldn't identify Italy, even when shown a drawing of it. The geographically challenged are out there, and it's no stretch at all to believe that Palin is one of them.

Of course it's not a stretch to believe that if one is inclined to do so. But then again, it's not much of a stretch either to think that Barack Obama believes there are 57 states in the union as he so memorably claimed earlier in the campaign. So, since these stories are so credible, which is better? A failed VP pick who doesn't know African geography or an American President-Elect who doesn't know American geography?

If one story doesn't stretch your credulity then the other one shouldn't either.

dgiharris said:

Every person who has ever gone to any school since the 1600s is aware that there are seven continents.

..

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Correction.
Maybe that's what you learn in the US today. I, growing up in the 50's and 60's, learnt, with a British education, that there are 6 continents.

Germans of today learn that there are 5 continents. I don't know how many times I have argued with otherwise well-educated Germans that South and North America are two separate continents!
They count "America" as one continent there.

A close German friend of mine -- college educated -- was for a long time convinced that, because I am from South America, I am from the South of North America; that I was a US citizen! I had to correct her.

People who have not travelled often have a surprisingly low knowledge about the rest of the world's geography. Nothing surprises me.

In this case all I can say is "I don't know if she knew, and I don't care." She's old news. Lay her to rest.
(ETA: at the time of first reporting I heard that she was confused about the country of South Africa, or something like that)

I just find it ironic that these smears are coming from the right wing camp!

mscelina said:

Of course it's not a stretch to believe that if one is inclined to do so. But then again, it's not much of a stretch either to think that Barack Obama believes there are 57 states in the union as he so memorably claimed earlier in the campaign. So, since these stories are so credible, which is better? A failed VP pick who doesn't know African geography or an American President-Elect who doesn't know American geography?

If one story doesn't stretch your credulity then the other one shouldn't either.

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Wait a minute...how many States are there?

And let's keep Biden's mouth on that hook, too. He believes FDR was President in 1929 and was on TVs all across the land...

*shrug*

But those were 'gaffes,' Rob. They don't count as real mistakes--anyone could have made those gaffes. After all, the Democratic ticket was tired and worn out, etc etc etc and we should be more forgiving of any accidental misspeaking they may have done.

It's a lot different for the GOP candidates though. They really ARE that stupid...

mscelina said:

It's a lot different for the GOP candidates though. They really ARE that stupid...

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Well... I think Palin is not stupid, but ignorant, ie not intellectually curious. That's why people are inclined to believe this story, or at least, not rule it out.

*shrug*

Then Obama and Biden must not be intellectually curious either. After all, we only have fifty states and in the 1920s radio was the non-written mass media.

Sarah Palin reminds me of GWB -- not stupid, just basically incurious about anything outside her immediate surroundings and field of interests. That's why she was so obviously unprepared to weigh in on world events.

But this whole Africa thing is absurd. Maybe it was a slip of the tongue, maybe it never happened, who knows. But even a person such as myself who found her candidacy problematical, realizes this particular slam is ridiculous and untrue.

I think, even if she did say it, it was just a gaffe. A slip of the tongue that got blown out of proportion. Some people simply want to tarnish her, either by painting her as a hatemonger or an imbecile.

Gosh, when I'm not paying attention I say some of the dumbest things. It's not like I didn't know Berkeley wasn't Ivy League. But sometimes you made mistakes by not filtering through, or you weren't paying attention because there was something else in your mind.

mscelina said:

*shrug*

Then Obama and Biden must not be intellectually curious either. After all, we only have fifty states and in the 1920s radio was the non-written mass media.

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This is a False Equivalency.
I LOVE that expression... heard it a few times in the last few months!

OK, here's the reasoning: Sarah Palin has shown through several interviews that she lacks knowledge in several areas. Thus, some people are inclined to believe further rumours of her ignorance. This is the reason for the claims of lacking intellectual curiosity.

Neither Obama nor Palin have shown such lack of knowledge. On the contrary. Biden may be gaffe-prone, but does anyone really doubt his knowledge?

In other words, it's not the gaffe that proves the intellectual lack of curiosity, but the history.

aruna said:

In other words, it's not the gaffe that proves the intellectual lack of curiosity, but the history.

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See post #22.

I'm not stupid, but I do say stupid things sometimes.