What scares me about Sarah Palin

[Paranoid Pessimist]

She seems to think she's really on top of it, but she's clueless that she's clueless. She believes passionately in herself and when she says that, as vice president, she would go in and take charge of the senate, she fully believes she will. Deluded egomaniacs who don't know how much they don't know are the most dangerous to have in positions of military command power, and considering McCain's age and health history, her chances of assuming commander-in-chiefship are high.

Remember Dan Quayle? I had a sort of sympathy for him because it always seemed to be that he knew he was dumb, and was just out there trying to do his best.

Sarah Palin is the opposite. She's sure she's a go getter winner, confident that whatever she sets out to do she will do.

I really don't want someone like her to have a finger on the nuclear button (remember that?).

[OneGrassRoot]

1. She's very Bush-like, and very Cheney-like.......

and, shit, even Rove-like. She is the perfect storm of putrid politics!!!!

[lonestarnot]

2. She likes her potatoes hard boiled.

[Warpy]

3. I trot this out every once in a while

because it's the best explanation I've ever read of supremely confident but monumentally incompetent people who plague us all: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE7D6173FF935A35751C0A9669C8B63

It's a little long but it's a great read and it does explain a lot.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. I think this is a pretty good observation:

But beneath the surface, the Cornell study touches on a truth far more complex than the notion that it's the idiots who are always most certain they're right.

[hlthe2b]

6. Looks interesting.... Bookmarked for later, thanks!

[Quantess]

8. interesting article.

[Skittles]

4. she knows damn well she is clueless

THAT is what makes her dangerous

[NeedleCast]

10. I really don't think she does

Most people would never admit to being an idiot. I think the OP is correct, that Palin is completely ignorant of her ineptness.

[begin_within]

7. She probably insisted on having the crusts cut off of her sandwiches,

when in the 12th grade.

[AndyTiedye]

9. She'd Start a Nuclear War to Bring on the "Rapture"

Yes, she is one of those.

[Igel]

11. So is she saying she'd routinely preside over the Senate?

Not quite "taking charge,", but not inconsequential.

Routine presiding over the Senate wasn't uncommon, it seems, until the 1960s. Things like holding open votes, or declaring voting open, seem to be the president's responsibility (subject to other kinds of procedural votes, which the president also presides over).

Over time, majorities have granted the majority most of the power. (Then again, that's what majorities typically do, isn't it?) I think Reid actually sets the agenda on a day-to-day basis (or, more likely, some staffer does it).