Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Sarah Heath Palin Has No Diploma, No Courage, No Decency


No matter how often or who has asked, Sarah Palin has never publically displayed Trig’s birth certificate. Makes us all wonder what it really says.  We Truthers also speculate about that other official document she hasn’t produced - a college diploma. She talks about having a degree in journalism, but like her stories about being pregnant in 2007-2008 and giving birth on April 18, 2008, the evidence suggests she’s lying.
How is it possible that a person devote years of college-level study to a profession, frequently lay claim to having said degree, but not one time demonstrate, expound upon, or otherwise apply the learning she claims she acquired? Never has Sarah Palin’s criticism of the press pointed to any knowledge of the profession other than the journalistic cliché the rest of us learned in the fourth grade (who, what, when, where, why, AND HOW. She always forgets that last one). In fact, Sarah in November 2010 claims she learned “Who, what, when, where, why,” in college! Good grief, was that college accredited?
Asked by  Sean Hannity on Fox news if she would ever sit down with Katie Couric for another interview and how it would go if she did, the governor who quit after two years said:
I want to help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism. And I have a communications degree. I studied journalism -- who, what, where, when, and why of reporting. I will speak to reporters who still understand that cornerstone of our democracy, that expectation that the public has for truth to be reported. And then we get to decide our own opinion based on the facts reported to us. So a journalist, a reporter who is so biased and will, no doubt, spin and gin up whatever it is that I have to say to create controversy, I swear to you, I will not my waste my time with her. Or him.
If only that first sentence above were true, great  good could be done from Sarah’s bully pulpit.  If only she actually had that combination of education and the desire to use it for the common good.  Her conservative spin notwithstanding, I, for one, would welcome public debate started by a former VP candidate on such topics as the affects of corporate ownership of the news, how the telecommunications act led to the disappearance of locally owned radio stations,  crime as entertainment, how the media stereotypes criminals and victims, crimes against women and how they are portrayed in the news, media censorship as a military strategy, first amendment rights in the age of the internet, or a series of addresses on ethics questions in journalism.  But, as you can see, these  topics are suitable for college theses, and Sarah doesn’t have the depth and breath to contribute on that level. 
When some ignoramus compares Sarah Palin to Barack Obama and concludes she is more accomplished, I only have to look back at two historical moments from the past four years and I know, without  a doubt, that Sarah Palin pales in comparison and that anyone who can’t see that is unwilling to accept the truth. Barack Obama remains cool under pressure, and addresses the big picture, keeping his personal life removed from public issues. Sarah Palin is the opposite. She makes things personal, using cutting words and powder-keg phrases, sometimes even sexual references ie cojones, limp, impotent.  And, by the way, “pales in comparison” is not an ethnic reference, and I purposely avoided describing her as whiney because that is a  gender-packed word. This isn’t about those things.  It’s about accomplishment, education, ability, maturity, and leadership.   
As  evidence to support these statements, I’m including two historically significant speeches, one from then-candidate for nominee for President, Barack Obama and one from former nominee for Vice President Sarah Palin.  Showing them chronologically, the first is the candidate Barack Obama’s  March 2008 response to the Rev. Wright story.  It’s a message that should be studied by school children and college students, historians and parents. It should be remembered by all of us who heard it in real time. Senator Obama gave a carefully prepared and brilliantly delivered speech, holding forth on the subject of race in America, a subject that makes 99% of Americans cringe.  He did so without seething anger. He did so with humility. And yet he was able to do it in a way that should now make all of us proud to call him Mr. President.  Would you like to hear it again?  Gather your children and grandchildren and help them understand this subject. Do this in addition to tuning in to this day’s news coverage of dead teenage boy in Florida.


Sarah Palin’s turn to made an historical address came in early 2011. Like Barack Obama and the Reverend Wright tapes, Sarah Palin was being pulled into a national controversy and being criticized loudly and seemingly everywhere for the actions of someone else and she, too, chose to make a public statement.  When Sarah Palin addressed  the nation following the shooting rampage in Arizona that killed a nine-year-old girl and six others, and wounded 13 including a female member of Congress who took a  bullet in the head, she managed to make  the message about herself. Unbelievably, she made it obvious that  she was  including herself among the victims, scolding “journalists and pundits” for their “manufactur[ing] a Blood Libel”  and complaining about “mindless finger pointing” as if that were the most important issue in the aftermath of that Saturday morning bloodbath in Arizona. 
Over her left shoulder, a picture of baby Trig sits on the mantle near the American flag. She, like our president, uses phrases like “sacred freedoms” and “Founding Fathers” and calls for God’s guidance and the peace that He provides. For the sake of educating your children and grandchildren, you may want to review Sarah’s failed attempt to look presidential and to deliver an appropriate message to the American people after a national tragedy and explain to them why this speech brought about bi-partisan disapproval :


Sarah isn't much of a student. 
She didn't learn a thing from Barack Obama's reaction when under fire. Not everyone can be a Harvard educated lawyer, and no one is asking Sarah Palin to match the presentation of a Constitutional Law professor, but sheeesh, where is her decency? All that time she spent in church and she didn't even learn common decency.
On the one hand, Senator Obama presented a history lesson. He spoke of the willingness of people in successive generations to continue the march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous  America. He appealed to the goodness within us;  "We may not look the same, we may not come from the same place, but we all want move in the same direction. – toward a better future for our children and our grandchildren."  And on the other hand, Sarah Palin's speech resulted in a history lesson of the origins of the words  "Blood Libel" and a civics lesson on not using those words because they can be deeply offensive.
The Huffington Post printed a release from  Jeremy Ben-Ami, leader of Jewish advocacy group:
The country's attention is rightfully focused on the memorial service for the victims of Saturday's shooting. Our prayers continue to be with those who are still fighting to recover and the families of the victims. The last thing the country needs now is for the rhetoric in the wake of this tragedy to return to where it was before.
We hope that Governor Palin will recognize, when it is brought to her attention, that the term "blood libel" brings back painful echoes of a very dark time in our communal history when Jews were falsely accused of committing heinous deeds. When Governor Palin learns that many Jews are pained by and take offense at the use of the term, we are sure that she will choose to retract her comment, apologize and make a less inflammatory choice of words.
I never heard about an apology, but what I did find in my look backwards, was that on the Conservatives4Palin (C4P) website four days after Sarah's speech, during a time when her speech was  being called a big political mistake , there was a post titled
Not only does the "author" Sheya, write suspiciously like Sarah herself she even leaves the "HOW" off of "the Who, What, When, Where, and Why."  This person, whom I believe was Sarah, stresses the point that there is "no supporting evidence to suggest any connection" between Sarah and the shootings.  Isn't that what we hear over and over about the fake pregnancy?  No evidence. Chuck Heath said it like this, "You can't prove that." 
Shaya on C4P, finished in a very Sarah-like manner. " Come on cut me some slack, I didn’t even go to Journalism school."  Who talks like that - "Journalism school"?  Wouldn't most people say "go to college and study journalism" or say "I didn't study journalism in school" or maybe say "major in journalism."  Who says "go to Journalism school?" except Sarah Palin.  Is journalism school like hair school? (The quote below is from Fox news Feb.17, 2012, I hope my computer didn't pick up a nasty virus looking this up.)
 Willow’s doing awesome. She’s going to graduate high school a year early, and then she’s going off to hair school, and she’s so excited about that. She’s 17, and she was in New York and D.C. with me at the beginning of the week, and Willow got a little taste of real life because she was telling some folks that she was proud that she was getting to graduate a year early and that she’d gotten everything lined up and then she got accepted to hair school. Then it occurred to her, she was like, “I think they looked at me, mom, like, ‘well if you’re willing to pay the tuition, doesn’t everybody get accepted to hair school?’” But she’s still real excited, and I’m excited for her.
Maybe Sheya was Willow. 
 And that's as funny as today's message is going to get. Because this really isn't funny at all. It's stomach-turning. When I compare the actions of Barack Obama to Sarah Palin in these two videos, what I see is the difference between day and night.  One shedding light to dispel darkness, one exposing the darkness within herself and spreading it to others.
Meanwhile, there is a public that still follows Sarah Palin's interviews, tweets, and the C4P website. She could have made strong statements about the tragic shooting in Florida.  She could have offered condolences to the parents of a dead child. She could have, but she didn't. She doesn't have the words, the class, or the courage.
Sarah, where’s your diploma?   
Sarah, where’s your heart?
Sarah, why haven’t you spoken out about Trayvon Martin? About guns killing people?  Or about police drug testing an unarmed dead black kid but not the armed adult who  disobeyed the 911 operator, tracked the kid down and shot him?
Sarah, sit down and shut up.

40 comments:

Anonymous said...

THAT was well done,thank you!

Anonymous said...

Why did Obama jump on the Trayvon bandwagon and not reference the murders in his hometown recently or reference any other similar crime? Because metropolis crimes are common? Because the little girl killed wasn't ethnic enough to matter in voting? He made a statement before anyone knew any specifics about the case. This FL case did not need to be media news over others. The media destroys more than it helps. Look at how much has been deluded and exaggerated in this one case.

Really the only difference between Sarah and Barack is, the media aids him and the media uses her for its own entertainment purposes. He wasn't a lawyer. He was nothing before politics. The same can be applied to Sarah apparently. Many people don't use their degrees at all. At least she uses hers in the sense that she knows how to look past an opponent's lies and see what is really happening. NO liberal bloggers can do that with Obama, because it's personal for them. Anti-Palin bloggers and commenters who support Obama no matter what are no different from Palinbots. They make things personal because, for whatever reason, they see something we don't in each of their "idols." I personally don't understand how people can write some of the vomit-inducing things about either Sarah or Michelle, or about their kids. Assumptions are too often made to the detriment of politics and the country.

Allison said...

How quickly we hear from inside the Palin camp. Someone's earning their PAC paycheck today.

Anonymous said...

A simple Freedom of Information Act request to the U of I should secure a list of their graduates from the year Sarah claims to have graduated. Anyone know how to file such a request and to precisely which U of I office such a request should be directed?

As for the ignoramus at 1:16, President Obama used his Harvard Law degree for 12 years when he taught Constitutional Law. Miss that, did ya? The rest of your spurious allegations are too ridiculous to even warrant a rebuttal. At least we can agree that Sarah is a source of amusement to those on both sides of the aisle.

Anonymous said...

The troll comments are inane, but then again, only an inane person would defend Sarah Palin in 2012. On Twitter, you can see that more and more people call Palin out, esp. former supporters. This resident troll you have--is one of her last remaining supporters. That should tell you something about the troll. Remember, Sarah's IQ is only 83. Can you imagine how low your IQ would HAVE TO BE in order to find anything attractive about Sarah Palin in 2012? And yes, I suspect that some of the C4P "names" are really just fronts for Sarah to post fantasies about herself.

Unknown said...

Anonymous @ 1:16 President Obama didn't jump on the Trayvon bandwagon or reference this case on his own. He was asked a question by a reporter and he answered it. Your silly tactics of using cases that aren't in the national news are not comparable to this one because this young man who was shot was done so in extremely questionable circumstances and there was a rush to judgment by the police department in Sanford. Obviously, if they had a solid case, this would not have happened.

Where the hell do you get off saying President Obama was nothing before politics? Who are you to claim that a community organizer is not an extremely beneficial position to the community? Did you fall for Sarah's bullshit about responsibilities? As if she would know anything about the responsibilities of the mayor, LOL! She had to hire a city manager to do the daily work of running the city because she couldn't do it herself. Palin looks past an opponent's lies? You're delusional. She can't see what's right in front of her. She was not qualified to be Mayor, let alone Governor or V.P. Has she ever spoken in any interview about policy in an in-depth manner? Hell, NO! But President Obama has and to say the media uses him for entertainment purposes proves you're not the least bit knowledgeable about what has been going on for the last four years. He's respected by other world leaders. He can speak with confidence and clarity on topics of foreign policy with an understanding of the situation that Palin couldn't hope to achieve if she studied them for the next decade or two.

As far as vomit-inducing, look at Palin's latest FB post where she talks about women being treated equal to men in Alaska, that they are respected by men. WTF? She was Governor for over two years and is still unaware of the fact that Alaska leads the nation in rape and domestic violence and tries to spin the state as being respectful to women? Only an idiot would write something so "vomit-inducing".

Come back when you can argue facts with some knowledge and basic understanding. You're as clueless as Palin at this point.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Allison. Very well done. We have heard so much over the years but so nice to revisit the important ones and see how lucky we are to have President Obama at the helm of our country and so well respected around the world for his diplomacy. I just shudder to think where we would be today if McCain had won. She is one frightening woman totally unprepared to be in office at any level. Just reading the comment by the bot sends shivers down my spine. There are some frightfully unintelligent people out there that think she was qualified. It just has to be one of her uneducated off-spring to write such dribble. They just can't get it thru their heads that this was not a beauty contest! With the access of the internet everything one says or does is avaiable for everyone to see and decide who is the most qualified to be a President and running mate. This was never about her, but she made it about her and showed us how unqualified she was and you couldn't believe a thing she said. John McCain was not qualified and they thought a pretty girl would mask his short-comings. All one had to do was check on the internet. When she opened her mouth, my chin dropped and said NO WAY! That woman if a fool!

Keep up the good work and expose her for what she is. Her kids writing here just confirms it. And we thought Todd's involvement in the AIP was disgusting. Dodged the bullet on that Dude!

Mrs Gunka

Anonymous said...

Hey Sarah or Bristol,

President Obama was asked the question by a reporter about the Trayvon. He gave the perfect answer. What did you want him to say I don't want to answer that question because I don't want to offend whitey. Oh please. Please Sarah run because I think all the dirty your party has on you will come out. The cheating couple Sarah and Todd. The so called virgins in the family Bristol and Willow. Please give us a all good laught now. I wonder truly have any of your children really finished school?

Anonymous said...

O/T - A little psychology on blog trolls - http://voices.yahoo.com/internet-crazies-psycho-trolls-flame-wars-4915540.html - "Don't feed the need." Trolls are turned on when they garner a response. (I just responded as well, so I'm posting this as a note to self.) Come to think of it, the link applies to Sarah Palin, too.

Anonymous said...

Back to your original (excellent) post--has anyone ever come forward who claims to be a classmate or fellow graduate of SP? Anyone who is now proud to say that they sat with her in class, was in her study group, remember her from graduation ceremonies? Have any of her schools ever confirmed her attendance, as they would if she had listed them on a resume? I don't understand why her degree (or lack of same) isn't easily verifiable.

Cracklin Charlie said...

Great post, Allison! You are a really good writer.

What is wrong with someone who thinks that "What do you read?" is a bias, spun, and ginned up question from a reporter? What a ridiculous person.

Anonymous said...

I'm a two-year college science instructor. Students who write as poorly as Sarah speaks are told to take developmental courses to get them up to speed before they can take college level courses. The lack of logic in her diatribes, written and spoken, would never pass muster on a lab report or a journalism essay. My students are engineers, notoriously poor writers (compared to liberal arts folks), yet even at the beginning of their college careers they show better critical thinking and expressive skills than this college "graduate".

Anonymous said...

Check out the paragraph on Sarah Palin "college" on wikipedia.


Palin returned to the University of Idaho in the spring of 1986, and received her bachelor's degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism in 1987.[23][30][31][32]

Now check out 23-30-31-32 reference numbers.

Someone needs to do some changing & challenging on that wikipedia page!

Ivyfree said...

I think it's perfectly fair to say that Sarah whinges, which isn't nearly as gender-fraught as whining.

Anonymous said...

It seems that there is a sentinel troll at their post monitorinng every blog as they are the first to post a commet, as if the minute a blog post goes up their fingers start flying in response. This means someone is sitting there refreshing their computer screen continually waiting for the newest blog post to appear.

You would have to be either really really crazy or be paid to do that.

Anonymous said...

It seems that there is a sentinel troll at their post monitorinng every blog as they are the first to post a commet, as if the minute a blog post goes up their fingers start flying in response. This means someone is sitting there refreshing their computer screen continually waiting for the newest blog post to appear.

You would have to be either really really crazy or be paid to do that.

Anonymous said...

Nah - they don't need to be refreshing. Can't they just have alerts sent every time the name Palin appears in an article? Oh wait - isn't that what Sarah does?

Marz said...

It's pretty easy to see why Republicans don't want to take Trayvon Martin's side in all this: there was a gun involved. End of story. Some man, who had a concealed weapons permit and a legally owned gun, acted in and then used the weapon in an illegal manner.
Any sort of brouhaha or condemnation on their part would feel like a step toward gun control.

Anonymous said...

Remmber Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor.

Anonymous said...

I don't beleive she has a college degree. It doesn't make sense that the five colleges she attended in 6 years. She took time off and there are requisite classes and normal progression of a major that she couldn't possibly have achieved with her piecemeal history. And damn!! Is it journalism or communications? And what about the poly sci minor that is bandied about sometimes? Does she think taking one elective course in poly sci constitutes a minor? Could be in her impaired brain.
Yeah, it SHOULDN't be so hard to figure out if she really has a degree, but likely this is another McCAin operation coverup.
Whatevs. She comes across as illiterate and uneducated. The U of I should be mortified that she claims to come from their system. Their system obviously sucks!

Anonymous said...

I don't beleive she has a college degree. It doesn't make sense that the five colleges she attended in 6 years. She took time off and there are requisite classes and normal progression of a major that she couldn't possibly have achieved with her piecemeal history. And damn!! Is it journalism or communications? And what about the poly sci minor that is bandied about sometimes? Does she think taking one elective course in poly sci constitutes a minor? Could be in her impaired brain.
Yeah, it SHOULDN't be so hard to figure out if she really has a degree, but likely this is another McCAin operation coverup.
Whatevs. She comes across as illiterate and uneducated. The U of I should be mortified that she claims to come from their system. Their system obviously sucks!

Unknown said...

I can't remember when it was but I think it was 2010, a regular poster on Palingates called U of I and inquired as to a degree for Sarah Heath. They said there was NONE listed for the year she claimed to have graduated nor was there anything in the year preceding or following her alleged year of graduation. When they asked if it could be under another name, the poster said, "Palin" and the person she was speaking to put her on hold, then came back and said they weren't able to speak about her as it was a matter of privacy. WTF??

If you look at the timeline when she said she was in college, the dates don't add up to enough credits to receive a degree, especially when you consider that not all courses are transferable. Palin lied AGAIN. She also lied about receiving additional education when she applied for a job as a dispatcher in Palmer. There are so many holes in her stories but what does she do? She tells more lies. Sarah Palin lies so much that she can't remember where she said Trig was born or at what point in her alleged pregnancy that he was supposed to have been born. It's so much easier when you tell the truth but for Sarah, that is impossible.

Stefanie said...

Allison,

What a wonderfully written and important post! Very well done.

I would first like to offer you a commercial size container of "Troll Spray", you're welcome.


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7109/7023981515_27e013e00d.jpg

I would also like to to add that at one time there was a photo circulating of Sarah in her 'cap and gown' from the U of I and from what I recall there was a discussion pertaining to color of her tassel, and hers was not for journalism, but nursing? Apparently different degrees were represented by the different colors. I believe it was on Palingates that this was mentioned. Could be nothing, but could be a small piece of the puzzle.

Anonymous said...

There was also conjecture that the picture was of SArah's sister and not Sarah. If her sister got a dental hygienist degree of some sort, that may qualify for a health science degree and maybe the tassel is the same color as nursing, another health science? Isn;t one of her sisters in the dental field, but not a dentist?

Anonymous said...

Yes, just checked, Sarah's colors should be crimsom for journalism or communication (hood color). Need to check more into this.

Anonymous said...

I called U of I alumni relations and they were so nice. the color tassel for journalism program is CRIMSON. Anyone know what color Palin;s tassel was.

Stefanie said...

I found the graduation photo I mentioned before:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6103/7024388677_f6c9c884e7.jpg

Here is the post from palingates:

http://palingates.blogspot.com/2010/08/sarah-palins-crazy-college-daze.html

Have at it !

Anonymous said...

Thanks.
She is holding a diploma holder, but her tassel is still on her right. It is supposed to be movef to the left after getting an undergrad degree.
Is the devil in the details?
Is this a fake picture and like everythnig she stages she stages it WRONG?
The tassel looks light to me, not crimson.

Anonymous said...

I think people thought she was wearing her sister's garb?

Anonymous said...

There are lots of pictures of Molly out there that Sarah claims is her.

FEDUP!!! said...

From Stefanie's picture @10:32am: That tassel is NOT crimson, and YES, once you graduate, you put it on the left hand side - and as far as I am concerned you definitely will REFUSE to put it back on the right hand side...
IF that is $arah AT ALL in that picture, she definitely is FAKING something, because NO-ONE will keep the tassel on the right hand side once they have graduated - and NO-ONE will get the graduation-holder BEFORE she graduates.

Anonymous said...

OK, I agree with the holder- you pick it up at the ceremony. But please don't read too much into the tassel. I've been to 35 yearly graduations (not my choice, it's in the contract) and students have no clue which side the tassel should be on (maybe they were brighter in the 80s?); they have to be told and still they get it wrong. Besides that, it can blow in the wind (I find myself playing with mine to stay awake during the boring speeches). I think the fact that she can't speak a coherent sentence to save her life is better proof that she never graduated from college.

Gyalist said...

I was the person who did the research that raised the doubts as to whether or not Sarah Palin had completed a degree course in college.

This was my first post on the subject at Palingates in December, 2010:
I have, for a long time, been very sceptical of Sarah Palin's claim of being a college graduate. It simply is not believable that she could accumulate enough credits to do so in four years despite attending so many disparate colleges. I've just revisited Idaho Vandal's excellent post on her college career and the first thing that struck me about the two photos that have been used as proof of her graduation, is that she does not wear a hood in either of them. If she were a graduate of Communications or Journalism, she would have to wear a crimson hood with her gown.

The regalia that she is wearing (and I'm not entirely convinced that it is her in one of the photos) is that of someone graduating with an Associate's degree.

Maybe it's time for us to do some more investigation on her college career.


From the discussion that arose from that post, I went back and checked the University of Idaho's
Faculty Staff Handbook and the Academic Costume Code and established that Journalism graduates wear a crimson tassel on their mortarboards. Further investigation from the U of Idaho established that Communications graduates, as a branch of Arts, Letters & Humanities, wear a white tassel.

In the photos that purported to be of Sarah Palin, the person is wearing a Golden Yellow tassel which indicates a Science graduate.
Molly Heath McCann Wooten McCann Hackett is a graduate of University of Idaho and would have worn a yellow tassel. That led to speculation that it wasn't Sarah Palin in the photographs but her sister. I believe this to be the case.

Gyalist said...

BTW, the original thread on Palingates is here. It begins on page 11 but the whole thread would be a worthwhile read as my original post took us down some very interesting paths.

Anonymous said...

No one can access a student's academic record without the student's consent. That's the law - FERPA.

It's not inconceivable for someone with the barest minimum of credits and a low GPA to still graduate with a diploma. It doesn't really matter to me whether she's got the piece of paper or not.

Whether she graduated or not, she's still dumb as a box of rocks.

annettej said...

I always thought Sheya was Sarah.

My three year old cousin calls her sister, Sarah, Shaya.
Just saying--it sounds like the developmental language
ticks of a three year old someone may use to make up a name.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if, as with HIPAA, FERPA can be overridden in cases of fraud? A VP candidate representing herself as having a degree she doesn't have, and then acting as a Faux news correspondant and spouting off about a non existant degree, may constitute fraud. But hey, it's not like anyone other than the bloggers are frickin interested in investigating this moron orcalling her out on her shit. Pulitzer prizes be damned apparently.

Allison said...

Annettej - I like that explanation of Sheya for Sarah. Levi said her kids call her "Sarah," and the grandkids do,too. Bet you just outed Sheya! Ha!

Anonymous said...

By my calculation, based on an article in the Anchorage Daily News, she attended five colleges for nine semesters. As a retired professor, I find it impossible to believe that anyone could transfer that often and change majors and still graduate only one semester behind schedule. She would have lost credits with each transfer and had to take additional core classes to meet each school's requirements. Therefore, I can't believe that she ever graduated.

devsoft said...

Software testing is an important part of the systems development life cycle.
It has its own phase in the process and has its own specialized IT professionals("dev2one").

tests