.@sarahpalin Challenge to Sarah Palin: Produce YOUR Academic Papers #p2 #tcot

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/challenge-sarah-palin-produce-your-academic

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Dear Sarah Palin,

You are an ass. A moose's ass. You just opened the lid on Pandora's Box -- a lid you can't slam shut easily, and now I'm gonna call you on it.

Now that you've been completely hosed and defeated over the Birther issue that you so happily trump-eted, I see that you have fallen in lockstep with the newest Donald Trump stupidity; that is, the assertion that the president got into Harvard without having the academic credentials to belong there. All code for affirmative action, which I think you probably have even said aloud more than once.

But this little rant of yours really cannot go unchallenged:

Well, I think the media is loving this because they want to make Birthers as they call people who are just curious about the President of the United States and his background and his associations and his consistency with what he says today versus what he said in both the memoirs that he wrote -- or Bill Ayers or whomever wrote -- the media is loving the fact that some curious Americans are actually asking the questions and they're trying to make those curious Americans sound kinda crazy, so the media is loving this issue and they're perpetuating the issue trying to make sound really worse than it is.

What the heck is wrong with asking the President of the United States to disclose what his college thesis was, what some of the um, uh, Harvard Law Review papers were that he wrote? I don't care about his grades. I don't care if he was a C student, more power to the C student. (You wish, Sarah, you just wish)

What I care about is what goes into his thinking today, what is his foundation? From his background, a lot of that could be reflected in the writings he produced as a college and a grad student.

Here's my simple challenge, Sarah. You attended four universities in six years, before finally managing to eke out a degree from the University of Idaho in journalism. Over that fine university career, did you write anything? If so, would you be kind enough to produce it?

And let's say you can't really produce any documents you wrote when you were in college. Let's talk about the tens of thousands you've spent on 'advisors' to assist you with your knowledge of foreign affairs, your messaging, and your strategies. Let's see.

There's the right-wing journalist Joshua Livestro, who you pay $4,000/month. What does he add to your thinking, your views? Is his background your background?

How about Orion Strategies, who you pay $10,000 per month for "issue consulting"? What, exactly, does Randy Scheunemann contribute to your thinking for that 120K per year salary?

Then there's the matter of the $10,000 per month retainer your PAC pays North Star Strategies to ghostwrite your Facebook posts? Certainly you wouldn't have a Bill Ayers of your own would you?

You know, for the $59,500 per month you shell out to consultants like those I've named, you must be getting a hell of an education. That's pricier than Harvard, and you didn't even have to avail yourself of affirmative action to get in on the action. Plus, it's all paid for by taxpayers!!! Wow, Sarah, that's a real deal.

So what the heck is the matter with me asking you, Sarah Palin, to satisfy my ordinary-person curiosity about what you're learning from all these highly-compensated consultants? How do these people shape your views?

Also, what the heck is wrong with asking a few questions about your husband and his secessionist ways? After all, you can't really live with a man for over 20 years and not pick up a few of his attitudes, right? Kind of what you think about Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers? And if, by osmosis, you've picked up a few of your hubby's radical right-wing anti-American secessionist thought patterns, don't I, as an ordinary curious citizen, have a right to know?

Anxiously awaiting your reply,

Karoli

Note: Dave N. has some notable insights into Palin's academic background:

A word about Sarah Palin's journalism degree: She and I graduated from the same school, the University of Idaho. (She arrived at the school a year after I graduated.) The difference is that when I attended there, I was highly active in the communications community, and was editor of the school paper for a year. Sarah Palin, in contrast, never even wrote a story for the Argonaut, let alone for the J school's other chief outlet, the UI News Bureau; no one at the school's TV station remembers her or has any record of her doing work there. Indeed, the professor who signed her degree barely remembers her, as she was one of those students who simply showed up for class, got a grade, and went home.

Given that kind of background, Palin was lucky to even get a shot at sports reporting for a small Alaska TV station, which was the extent of her actual experience as a journalist.