Palin taken aback by Obama 'superpower' remark

[Tx4obama]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON, Ill. (AP) -- Sarah Palin criticized President Barack Obama on Saturday for saying America is a military superpower "whether we like it or not," saying she was taken aback by his comment.

"I would hope that our leaders in Washington, D.C., understand we like to be a dominant superpower," the former Alaska governor said. "I don't understand a world view where we have to question whether we like it or not that America is powerful."

Obama said earlier this week that the United States must do its best to resolve conflicts around the world before they grow too serious.

"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them," Obama said. "And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PALIN_SPEECH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-04-18-00-17-09

---

It is going to be very important for us all to push back on the newest Palin BS.
Palin has posted an article on her FaceBook page with a truncated version of President Obama's quote that says: "whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower." and she based her article on those few words and used the quote out of context.

Here's a link to the FB article: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=380458453434&comments#!/notes/sarah-palin/mr-president-is-a-strong-america-a-problem/380458453434

The FB article with the BS was posted 15 hours before the AP article came out.

The web and Twitter is all a buzz with the misinformation.

Hopefully Gibbs will jump on this with a strong clarification before it gets too far out of hand!

[XemaSab]

1. With great power comes great responsibility

Do we really want to be responsible for the welfare of the rest of the world?

Palin, for one, would say no.

[SB37]

28. You said it, Uncle Ben...

[aquart]

30. WONDERFUL response!

Well worth stealing.

[breadandwine]

40. I am so sick of these ignorant Palinistas, Palinites and Palin ----

the cheater with the heater.

This country needs a Palinectomy.

[Cirque du So-What]

51. Hell, she shirked HER responsibility

by bailing out as governor of the next-to-least populous of all American states halfway through her term.

[handmade34]

58. or as good Christians would say:

For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Luke 12:48

Sarah Palin is a small minded little person who is doing great harm

[DallasNE]

59. Exactly

This was a swipe at Bush's decision to invade Iraq and the devious methods used to drum up support. It is also a call to consider carefully the consequences before declaring war against Iran. Obviously, Sarah Palin would rather shoot first and then ask questions afterwards. There are far too many that would rather "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" than look for a diplomatic solution.

[Kablooie]

70. With great power comes great irresponsible boobs that lord it over everyone else.

[marshall]

79. They don't get folks that have no interest in being the top dog of every kennel

More often than not, it's the top and the bottom who end up killing each other off. The folks in the middle are the survivors.

[Skittles]

2. why the FUCK does this gal's opinion matter

FUCK I AM IN BIZARRO WORLD

[elleng]

7. Because it does.

Face it.

Fortunately her opinions can be easily countered, and should be, THOUGHTFULLY, and measuredly, so people can and will recognize how off she is.

[movonne]

13. I agree with you...I'm so tired of tea party crap and palin...our media

is nothing but palin, bachmann, and the tea party...and we here seem to be doing lots of posts on these morons...

[Skittles]

22. I'm not faulting the OP for posting

I'm faulting the media for behaving like that stupid woman is in any way credible - it's fucking INSULTING

[yurbud]

32. will Obama have to respond to a homeless schizophrenic wino next?

''We do not have satellites broadcasting messages to Wilbur Davies under the Broadway bridge nor did we hire Chunky Charles to steal his shopping cart.''

[kckc]

56. (snort)

somebody owes me a new keyboard!:rofl:

[Golden Raisin]

33. Because the Corporate

Ministry of Propaganda (aka the media) give her a pass and virtually 24/7 coverage to spew idiocy, fear and hatred to the same rabble that support Hannity, O'Reilly, Limbaugh and Teabag Mania.

[IntravenousDemilo]

3. Wow, with talk like that...

I'm just going to have to assume that Sarah Palin has a 12-inch cock and balls down to her knees, and she's a top. Oh, and she has a brain the size of an almond, which is the case with all people who want their country to be a global superpower.

[ThomThom]

49. They want us to be a super-power but they don't want to take

any responsibility. They just want to go around intimidating the world and pushing people around. Working to solve problems is not apart of their thinking. This kind of thinking is not presidential.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

4. Well there ya go!

She revealed the GOP/conservative/teabagger mindset with that remark. Of course we all know it's 'good to be the king' so to speak due to where America is on the list of world powers. But what she ignores, or doesn't address is the fact America stands on the shoulders of others to be the dominant superpower. We get bananas in our grocery stores fairly cheap because 100 years ago the Marines under Smedley Butler made sure no one would interfere with that operation. There are plenty more examples. We exploit other nations for their resources/geographical location and pretty much cripple anyone (or any nation) that appears to threaten our status. Therefore we MUST be an empire of imperialism, or we wouldn't do it like that. Or would we? :shrug:

[Webster Green]

5. The snowbilly really needs to give it a rest.

She's getting rather tedious. She's no match for the prez.

I hope he's smart enough to never mention her name again. It just gives her credibility that she really doesn't deserve.

The wingnuts are so desperate to find fault with Obama, that they really have jumped the shark.

[Proletariatprincess]

20. snowbilly...I love it! Perfect name for her.

[BlooInBloo]

6. ohnoes. Blithering Idiot is taken aback by something. Whatever shall we do.

[lordsummerisle]

8. wgaf

what that idiot has to say about anything?

[Prometheus Bound]

9. Dogs barking

[PearliePoo2]

10. oh, she's taken aback, is she?

I hardly think so.
This mindless twit isn't CAPABLE of any reasonable thought or opinion, let alone putting it to paper and pen.
Anyone that truly believes she writes even one word on her farcical FakeBook page....well I've got a "bridge To Nowhere to sell you.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. "we like to be a dominant superpower"

I just bet you do, Sarah.

[KingFlorez]

12. Something out of nothing, again

I don't see the need for any clarification, any rational person can see that this is not a wrong statement. Being a superpower is huge burden and responsibility, Obama's statement reflects that.

[Tx4obama]

14. But her FB page article was posted at 9am, long before the AP article

and the FB article misinformation is now all over the net.
Here's the BS article: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=380458453434&comments#!/notes/sarah-palin/mr-president-is-a-strong-america-a-problem/380458453434

[eShirl]

15. Nothing will ever please that woman.

Nothing.

[No Elephants]

36. Unfair. She seems quite tickled by every word that comes out of her own mouth.

[truthisfreedom]

16. *yawn* Shut up back there Sarah or we're going to pull the country over and make you walk.

[jaysunb]

17. AP

Another soon to be relic....:evilfrown:

[kestrel91316]

18. The only thing newsworthy about this is the bizarre fact of

AP's feeling the need to tell us what Caribou Barbie thinks about ANYTHING.......

[tomm2thumbs]

19. AP= FOX nuff said about their 'news' reporting

[Gman]

21. Now, now, Sarah. There's a whole lot of things that you don't understand

So try not to show it so much.

[rpannier]

23. She was taken aback

because superpower has 4 syllables and he was able to say it without writing it on his hand (complete with phonetic pronunciation)

Palin would have said "We have a big army, o.k."

[sandnsea]

24. Protesting taxes while demanding a $700 billion military

What a bunch of geniuses.

[NI4NI]

25. Hey John McCain, do you like it or not?

the fact that Sarah Palin will always be a HUGE part of your legacy.

[FrenchieCat]

26. Is there a reason that we soooo care what Palin says......

and that it shows up all over DU?

Is there something tangible that this woman has done to benefit this country,
that allows everything that she says to be reprinted all over the goddamn place?

Will there come a time when we can just ignore the fool?
Cause now would be a good time.
All we have to do is refrain posting the shit that she spews....
is that something doable....cause I think so.

[gtar100]

73. I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment and personally practice it in general.

But as long as there are a significant number of Americans gullible enough to take her seriously, I think it's important that her lies get debunked and scorn be thoroughly heaped upon her. She is driving the stupidity of America into overdrive so she deserves not just attention but thorough scrutiny.

I look forward to the day when the average American just laughs at the ridiculousness of her statements but we need to raise the bar on "average" first.

[chollybocker]

27. Palin has never used the expression 'taken aback' in her entire life.

The A/P has now sunk to scripting the MSM versions of Palin's tweets.

Heckuva job, Ron F. :hi:

[ThorDem]

29. I started to post

on this thread by saying that Palin is a joke, yada, yada. I'll tell you, though, she has survived a number of massive political blunders, mispeaks and a rather large personal crisis that in many ways pretty much cost the Republican Party the presidential election. You know, Hitler's failed Beerhall Putsch was a massive debacle. Read "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and you'll see that he made such an ass of himself that even his party faithful abandoned him left and right. Naturally, he had a bunch of them killed in the night of the long knives once he had taken power in Germany...but I digress.

My point is, I hope nobody here is underestimating this nutty bar. She would not still be dealt into the Great Game if she didn't have some guile.

[No Elephants]

37. Sarah the Joke survives because her admirers are a joke, too.

Even a strong majority of Teabaggers say she is not fit to be President.

That said, my motto is, "Assume nothing." And my other motto is, "Count no election before it's hatched."

So, while I mock, I am not complacent.

[DonCoquixote]

31. Here is a thought

What has being a "superpower" actually done for us?

Yes, no one has invaded, even though anyone would have to sail across the ocean to do so.

But has being a superpower gotten us free from being entangled from the world's affairs?

Even on Missions (like World War 2 or Korea) where we have beaten an invader off, does the world like us for it?

No and no.

[GreatGrey]

34. Strikingly dishonest (even for her)

Greg Sargent http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/palin-mangles-obamas-quotes-to-paint-him-as-america-hater/">does a pretty good smackdown on Saint Sarah over this and shows how she mangled the quote.

[redwitch]

45. Thanks for the link!

Great reading. And welcome to DU!

[Robb]

48. +1, and welcome to DU. nt

[Turborama]

50. That's an excellent piece, shame it couldn't be posted in LBN instead of the AP article

Quite a lively discussion beneath it, too.

Thanks for the share & welcome to DU! :hi:

[Tx4obama]

71. Here's another one

Gryphen over at Immoral Minority did a pretty good piece too - which includes the FULL QUESTION and full answer, 9 hours before the AP article came out.

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2010/04/sarah-palin-purposefully-misquotes.html

Excerpt:

Ed Chen of Bloomberg asked the following question:

CHEN: Thank you, Mr. President. Good afternoon. Given the progress you have cited in recent days on your foreign policy agenda, to what extent do you feel like you have gained political capital with which to take further to the international stage for the rest of this year, to perhaps rejuvenate some initiatives in trouble spots such as the Middle East and elsewhere?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them. And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure.

So I’m going to keep on at it. But I think on all these issues -- nuclear disarmament, nuclear proliferation, Middle East peace -- progress is going to be measured not in days, not in weeks. It’s going to take time. And progress will be halting. And sometimes we’ll take one step forward and two steps back, and there will be frustrations. And so it’s not going to run on the typical cable news 24/7 news cycle. But if we’re persistent, and we’ve got the right approach, then over time, I think that we can make progress.

[Kahuna]

35. Ugh. Just, ugh.

:puke:

[No Elephants]

38. Y'all didn't expect Sarah to know a lot of Americans don't want the U.S. to be tthe world's

cop/bully, do you? I mean, that would take awareness, and believing with all your heart that Adam and Eve could have had pet dinosaurs does not exactly send the Awareness O Meter off the charts. Just sayin'.

BTW, sometimes, the AP seems like more of a pot stirrer than a news organization. Then again, that is true of all so-called "news" media.

[ixion]

39. Palin opens mouth, says something stupid: viola! News!

Not so much. :eyes:

[Altoid_Cyclist]

41. Why do I get this impression of "The Queen of Quit" every time she opens her mouth?

In Greek mythology, a harpy ("snatcher", from Latin: harpeia, originating in Greek: ἅρπυια, harpūia) was one of the winged spirits best known for constantly stealing all food from Phineas. The literal meaning of the word seems to be "that which snatches" as it comes from the ancient Greek word harpazein, which means "to snatch".



Hey Sarah, either say something useful, constructive or truthful or else STFU!!!

[Christa]

42. Oy vey, I just read this remark on Facebook:

by
Roger Nickol
Liberals will never get it so don't worry about hurting their feelings.

:eyes:

[NikRik]

43. Our press is so lame !

Why is this nobody lady Palin getting so much coverage ,she could'nt even fininsh out her term as Governer of Alaska ! Please give us something new worthy to read and stop us from having to hear what this no influence un important laughing all ther way to the bank lady has to say.Go back home and give all of us a break from your twisted way of thinking.I blame the press for creating this monster. When are the reporters going to actually start covering stuff that really matters ?
IMHO ,NikRik

[WVRICK13]

44. Whether I Like It Or Not

Sarah is still alive breathing and on the news.

[Turborama]

46. She's spewing disinformation, not misinformation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misinformation">Misinformation is false or inaccurate information that is spread unintentionally. It is distinguished from disinformation by motive in that misinformation is simply erroneous, while http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation">disinformation, in contrast, is intended to mislead.

[perdita9]

47. Sarah Palin is an Idiot!

Maybe the press should go back to covering what Paris Hilton thinks about military defense. She has as much credibility as Caribou Barbie has and Paris doesn't hunt wolves from helicopters.

[hobbit709]

52. Palin thinks a superpower is like x-ray vision.

[Lucky Luciano]

53. Yeah, well I am taken aback that anyone gives a flying fuck what this uneducated

Moron (Palin of course) has to say.

[Better Today]

54. Every friggin' day we have to hear about Palin's every thought? Even HERE on DU?

WTF, you all just empower her even more. Ignore her. Quit giving her political power for every frog that jumps from her mouth.

[NoodleyAppendage]

55. WHO GIVES A SH*T WHAT SOME DUMBASS CHRISTOFASCIST THINKS?

Seriously. Why does this "woman" have any power or media coverage? If not for circumstances, she was tracked to be a Dairy Queen checkout person.

J

[Cha]

66. +1

[bitchkitty]

57. What have we come to?

When the AP thinks that Sarah Palin being taken aback is newsworthy. Why does the Associated Press stoop so low? Did someone write this story with a straight face?

[Cha]

65. AP is mediawhorecentral.

[CLANG]

60. Sarah, you moron - you aren't the only one living here!

[COLGATE4]

61. Palin taken aback......

Just fill in the blank with any noun that describes something intelligent, and you've got Sarah's whole shtick. I think she's probably taken aback by the fact that the sun comes up in the morning, or how the refrigerator knows how to turn the light off when you close the door...

[MindandSoul]

62. This demonstrates how naive and stupid Palin is!

When she flaunts America as a "super power," she only see the "strengths, the pride, the control" involved in this status.

President Obama, with his intelligence and pragmatism, can also consider the heavy RESPONSIBILITIES that come with being a super power. . .the heavy costs, the possibilities for failures, the possibilities that that power be used in a negative, destructive fashion. . .as it was under Bush when the lies took us to a drawn out war in Iraq!

Palin is considering the "super power" status as a means to bully the world. Obama is considering the "super power status" as a huge responsibility that may, sometime go against the best interest of America (as in terms of funding all those military "super power" equipments and man power in foreign countries, rather than funding programs that help each person in America).

Just my opinion though!

[mvd]

64. My opinion, too!

Using your power for diplomacy, aid, and helping defeat the takeover of the world like in WWII are good. Illegal wars like the Iraq war and meddling in the ME for oil are not.

[MindandSoul]

74. Exactly! Irresponsible power is destructive and dangerous.

I believe President Obama understands that and is threading more carefully.

[Historic NY]

63. I want to see her IRS returns? Let her produce them.

[PSPS]

67. What about Joe "the Plumber?" Get with it, AP. We need to know what he says too!!1!

[AlbertCat]

68. Palin Take A-Back... to Alaska and Left Adrift on an Ice Flow...

...I wish...

[Odin2005]

69. Palin reminds me of a co-worker who makes up shit to get attention.

[mulsh]

72. WHY IS THIS OF ANY IMPORTANCE? " I know I'm shouting,

I like to shout" what the fuck does it matter that this person has any opinion about well, anything? why do people keep posting shit like this? are they trying to perpetuate the myth that she needs to be taken seriously?

[ShockediSay]

75. If you're against big government, you're against big military spending

These guys really don't know what they're talking about

[Thor_MN]

77. Hypocrisy is a well developed skill of the conservative mind set

Hypocrisy makes it much easier to paint everything as completely Black or White.

[classysassy]

76. When will the media

end their love affair with that brainless broad?

[Javaman]

78. I'll state the obvious...

she's an idiot.

[Bill McBlueState]

80. There's a lot she doesn't understand.

"I don't understand a world view where we have to question whether we like it or not that America is powerful."