{"id":24161,"date":"2014-12-28T01:01:52","date_gmt":"2014-12-28T09:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=24161"},"modified":"2014-12-28T09:48:11","modified_gmt":"2014-12-28T17:48:11","slug":"wtf-sarah-palin-named-american-achiever-of-2014-by-deranged-wingnut-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=24161","title":{"rendered":"WTF? Sarah Palin Named American Achiever of 2014 By Deranged Wingnut Website"},"content":{"rendered":"

You gotta love it when conservatives make such fools of themselves that it’s impossible to tell the difference between satire and reality. An epic and hilarious example of this is the article published by the ultra right-wing blog American Thinker (a name that must have been chosen for its irony).<\/p>\n

\"Sarah<\/p>\n

The alleged “Thinkers”<\/em> have chosen Sarah Palin as their recipient of the 2014 American Achiever honors. Now, you may be wondering what in hell Palin achieved to deserve that recognition. She hasn’t done a single thing since resigning after half a term as governor of Alaska other than her laughable reality programs and some embarrassing segments on Fox News. Well, the Thinkers spell out specifically what she managed to achieve:<\/p>\n

“It would be the height of churlishness for even the most inveterate leftist to deny the import of someone who made Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People”<\/a> list, and then the Smithsonian Institution’s “100 Most Significant Americans Of All Time”<\/a> list. Both affirmations were earned by former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Forgive my churlishness, but this inveterate leftist has no problem denying Palin’s import. Particularly when the examples of her achievements in 2014 include making a Time magazine list that was published four years ago in 2010. Yep, that’s the listing to which the Thinkers linked. And the tribute in Time was written by that bastion of modern political relevance, Ted Nugent.<\/p>\n

They were a bit more on target chronologically with the Smithsonian list that was at least published this year. However, the list was more a fanciful exercise in algorithmic celebrity than actual historical significance. The listees were selected by a process of calculating references, links, and page views in Wikipedia. The authors even noted that their list “has less to do with achievement than with an individual\u2019s strength as an Internet meme.”<\/em> And the Thinkers cited this as evidence of achievement. What were they thinking? Also making the list were Charles Manson, L. Ron Hubbard, And Secretariat.<\/p>\n

The only other notable achievement cited by the Thinkers concerned Vladimir Putin’s support for Ukrainian rebels. But what they regarded as an achievement was a speech Palin made in 2008 that they say predicted Putin’s actions. First of all, Palin’s six year old speech, that was surely written by John McCain staffers, is hardly eligible to be considered an achievement in 2014. And secondly, it didn’t predict<\/a> anything of the sort that she and the Thinkers have been boasting about.<\/p>\n

\n

Get the ALL NEW 2nd volume of
\nFox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.<\/a>
\nAvailable now at Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It takes a special kind of stupid to turn the above irrelevancies into an honorarium. But with so few actual examples of conservative achievements, it isn’t surprising that they need to make things up in order to have something to talk about. It’s not like they can brag about Jeb Bush or Ted Cruz or Michele Bachmann or Rand Paul or Rick Perry. Their desperation is on display, so they swept up some dust balls to elevate their fading Tea Party princess and submitted that as a model of achievement. To which all this churlish leftist can say is “Thanks for the laugh.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You gotta love it when conservatives make such fools of themselves that it’s impossible to tell the difference between satire and reality. An epic and hilarious example of this is the article published by the ultra right-wing blog American Thinker (a name that must have been chosen for its irony). The alleged “Thinkers” have chosen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"WTF? Sarah Palin Named American Achiever of 2014 By Wingnut Website","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,16],"tags":[381],"class_list":["post-24161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-wankery","tag-sarah-palin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/palin-2014-achiever.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-6hH","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2014,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=2014","url_meta":{"origin":24161,"position":0},"title":"Sarah Palin’s Zoo","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/8\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Sarah Palin (left) with Glenn Beck.In a new video from Sarah Palin's PAC, women are brought into the spotlight in some particularly unflattering portrayals. Rather than casting women as intelligent and productive participants in the nation's affairs, Palin repeatedly analogizes them to animals. Starting with pit bulls, then advancing to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5357,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=5357","url_meta":{"origin":24161,"position":1},"title":"Sarah Palin’s Estranged Union Brothers and Sisters","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/6\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In a new Facebook treatise, Sarah Palin has proven again how oblivious she is to reality. The essay begins by criticizing President Obama for remarks he didn't make. Palin, and much of the conservative noise machine, is aghast that Teamsters President James Hoffa, Jr. gave a speech with colorful rhetoric\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=219"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7776,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7776","url_meta":{"origin":24161,"position":2},"title":"Sarah Palin Wants One Name Of A Hostile Republican. OK: Sarah Palin","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/15\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Washed up GOP VP loser, half-term governor, and failed TV reality show star, Sarah Palin, appeared on Fox News last night with her friend Greta Van Susteren. The conversation turned to some of the nastiness on the campaign trail that Palin thinks is exclusively on the side of the Democrats.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3640,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3640","url_meta":{"origin":24161,"position":3},"title":"Sarah Palin Runs Crying For Help To Sean Hannity","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/14\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In the wake of her disastrous video statement Wednesday, Sarah Palin is running to Sean Hannity for a heaping of consolation and damage control. The video Palin released on the day of the memorial for the victims of the Tucson rampage presented her as the victim and, if that weren't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8730,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8730","url_meta":{"origin":24161,"position":4},"title":"The Sarah Palin Chronicles: A 2012 Retrospective Of Humiliation And Hilarity","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/29\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The past year has presented a wealth of unintentional comedy from right-wing raconteurs whose generosity in embarrassing themselves was profound. There was Donald Trump and Dick Morris and Allen West and many others vying for the top spot in the Crackpottery Hall of Fame. However, this year, as in much\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3824,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3824","url_meta":{"origin":24161,"position":5},"title":"Military Charity Event Featuring Sarah Palin Goes Bust","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/7\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Sarah Palin has spent most of the past two years trying to polish her credentials as a super-patriot and portray herself as a supporter of American ideals and, especially, soldiers and veterans. But her popularity (or lack thereof) outside of the Tea Party is increasingly a source of embarrassment. 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