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Just to remind you, five things Sarah Palin said that turned out to be pure and absolute hokum

 

Tuesday 04 March 2014 17:32 GMT
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(Reuters)

So Sarah Palin got one piece of political analysis sort of, vaguely, kind of right, if you squint at it through Republican spectacles and ignore a lot of the wider context. That is she said back in 2008 that Obama's even-handedness over Russia's invasion of Georgia would "only encourage Putin to invade Ukraine next". Which Putin's only gone and done! But don't shatter your crystal balls or chuck out your tea leaves just yet, as here are five other statements that the Great Seer Palin won't be as keen to refresh:

1. That Obama's healthcare act would see 'death panels' created

In August 2013, in a Facebook post, Palin said:

'The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care.'

This is, as Philip Bump at the Wire points out, nonsense.

2. That a few basic questions might be asked in interviews

In a 2008 interview with Katie Couric of CBS News Palin was asked:

a) Which magazines or newspapers do you read?

Palin said: "All of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years", but could not name one.

b) To name a Supreme Court decision other than Roe v. Wade

Palin tried to deflect the question.

3. That Obama was moving the phrase 'In God We Trust' to the margins of coins

In 2009, Palin pushed an anti-Obama conspiracy:

"Who calls a shot like that? Who makes a decision like that? It's a disturbing trend".

Obama had nothing to do with the coins. The decision was taken under the Bush administration, and later reversed by Congress.

4. That Nicholas Sarkozy called her for a chat during the Presidential race

In 2008, Palin took a phone call from 'Sarkozy' in which the supposed French President said:

"You know my wife is a popular singer and a former top model and she's so hot in bed"

"Gov. Palin, I love the documentary they made on your life. You know Hustler's Nailin' Paylin? "

Palin heard nothing wrong. Speaking was in fact a duo of Canadian radio DJs known as the Masked Avengers

5. That ethics charges against her would be thrown out by the 'Department of Law'

In 2009, Palin said, following charges made against her of wasting state money:

"I think on a national level, your Department of Law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out."

There is no Department of Law. So it wouldn't have thrown anything out. Palin meant the Department of Justice

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