Comments on: Palin Has Trouble Defining What A Terrorist Is

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By: blackout

blackout — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:24:43 +0000

@Kranky, would it be reasonable, using your own formulation, to expect that our candidates for highest office have a working definition of terrorism? Why be an apologist on this particular point? Palin wasted a great deal of our time asserting that Obama is a friend of terrorists. It’s reasonable to expect her to understand the loaded words she’s tossing around, no? And devour her? Absolutely. There should be no doubt that the sort of mediocrity which W embodies will no longer be electable.

By: kranky kritter

kranky kritter — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:20:01 +0000

Ok, Justin, what’s your working definition?

I spent enough time in graduate school to know for sure that the inability to give a well-developed working definition is very different from lacking an understanding of the concept.

I bet 95 out of 100 people would struggle to come up with a good formal, functional definition of a terrorists as distinct from myriad other overlapping concepts such as murderer, political dissident, organized group member, etc, etc. And yet all these peoeple would feel comfortable thinking that they know terrorism when they see it. And they’re 99.9% right to think so.

When someone is asked in a public forum to provide a definition, that’s right at the top of the list of gotcha practices. As you know, I’ve jumped aboard the bandwagon of folks who call Palin out of her league. But must she be devoured?

By: Pete Abel

Pete Abel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:49:59 +0000

I don’t know — I’m no Palin fan, and I certainly don’t condone the incessant focus on Ayers, but she ended up OK on the answer, I thought: “anyone who would harm or kill innocent (people).” What’s more pertinent to me than any specific answer is her clear struggle — obvious in her darting eyes — to understand whether or not these are “gotcha” questions. She’s frightened. She’s confused. She most certainly is not “presidential.”

By: leapsecond

leapsecond — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:10:21 +0000

I think the part on elitism is worse than her shaky answer on what constitutes a terrorist. She equates elitism with arrogance, which is ironic in and of itself since they’re running for the highest offices in this country…