I do not think Matt Damon is qualified to make judgments about Sarah Palin's qualifications.
It has been fun to watch the Democrats and the Liberal dominated media try and spin the qualifications of Sarah Palin. The Left has gone completely bonkers. Even Senator Barack Obama said the most absurd thing about why he is more qualified to be President than Sarah Palin. Running for President makes one qualified to be President?

Imagine that you are at a job interview and they ask why they should hire you or why you are qualified for the job. You respond by saying that the fact that you are there for the interview is why you are qualified for the job. Because you got up that morning, took a shower, ate breakfast, dressed yourself and then drove to the interview. That is the same circular reasoning Obama used in his analogy. Plus, he focuses on Palin as a mayor not a governor, big difference if you ask me. Obama's campaign and his adoring media following need to decide if they want to attack Palin on experience or judgment. Unfortunately, either avenue is a losing one.

http://whyimnotademocrat.blogspot.com/2008/09/obama-more-qualified-than-palin-i-think.html

Charlie Gibson missed a real opportunity.

Matt Damon is correct in wanting to know if she believes that dinosaurs roamed the earth 4,000 years ago.

While a seemingly ridiculous question, it's not far off from some of her other beliefs and issue stances.

As much as the McCain campaign has focused on making this election about character and personality, it's important that you as a citizen stay as informed as possible on the issues.

Sarah Palin is on the wrong side of the issues that matter most in this election.

Learn the difference, vote smart.

www.SarahPalinISNTHillaryClinton.com

"I do not think Matt Damon is qualified to make judgments about Sarah Palin's qualifications. "

Why not? Aren't we all supposed to make judgements on her qualifications? Isn't that what voting is all about?

I like how he actually wants to learn her stances on the issues, and isn't automatically against her merely because she's a Republican. He's doing his homework.

On a less intellectual note, I... am a little turned on. :)

What's wrong with Matt Damon's qualifications?

Is he a pundit? Not at all, but he's a smart guy. I'm not a pundit, I'm not a Constitutional law scholar (I was going to say "neither are the people on here," but that's not true).

The fact is, these are things that we are all qualified to talk about because they effect us. This is the future of our country and we don't need a masters in political science to talk about it.

I did sort of the awkward half-laugh at the "bad Disney movie" line, because it seemed a little dismissive to me, even though the overall tone was not. This really is a scary thought.

I do not think Matt Damon is qualified to make judgments about Sarah Palin's qualifications.

People always act like people in the public eye are different from the rest of citizens when it comes to politics - but they're not, they just have more visibility. We're all going around expousing our feelings about the candidates, the only difference is that the media isn't telling everyone what we said. And if they suddenly did, I doubt any of us would shut up because of it.

Not the jump on a thread derailment but:

Campaigning for president is good training for being president. You have to make adjustments each day depending on what's going on. Obama and McCain have dealt with the Georgia/Russia situation, the downward spiraling economy and many other issues. They are constantly in meetings, receving advice, refining policies and they are constantly being attacked by each other and the media. In my opinion, Obama has kept the cool head in this vs McCain who's ads are showing a really really bitter and scary side. If you asked me who is wearing this campaign well and showing that they can handle the stress of the presidency it damn will isn't McCain.

sorry for the typos, I'm at work and have to type fast to avoid detection :)

Jumping in on this, Matt Damon is a voter. That makes him qualified. Part of the basic -idea- behind democracy is political discourse. If someone asks a celebrity their opinion on politics, they have full right to say it. Hell, his points were valid.

Let's skip the entire small town mayor part, it's a fine beginning for any politician. Let's focus on her as a governor. You know, she could have been the most brilliant governor in America's history, and she would STILL be underqualified to serve. Compare her with the other people who were considered in the running for the veep spot, and how -long- they've been in politics.

Obama is a spring chicken, but if you look at his background, the qualifications are there. He's spent his entire life in political activities, and the -type- of activities that would allow him to understand national issues more than Palin. I'm also pretty damn sure he knew what a vice president does before getting elected to senate.

As well, Damon's comment about it being a bad Disney movie where a hockey mom becomes the President and then outwits the evil Russians with her 'folksy wisdom' is bang on. When you honestly examine the political environment that she's (potentially) moving in to, it's terrifying how completely unqualified she really us.

Alixana:

Word. I never understood the whole 'actors shouldn't be political!' thing. As long as they do their research and have a point to make, why shouldn't they? If I were famous, I'd be by God using that fame to make my voice heard right now.

Also: Oh, Matt Damon. How much do I love you? More than I love dulce de leche cheesecake and thinking about McCain weeping bitter emo tears away as Obama is sworn in. So, a LOT.

hey, bluecollarphilosopher, you claim on your site that "progressive policies of the left actually hurt hard working men and women," yet under Clinton, the unemployment rate went down EVERY YEAR, from 7.5% when he came into office, to 4.2% when he left.

Bush, on the other hand, has overseen unemployment rise from 4.0% when he came into office, to 6.1% last week. since it went above 4.7% in 2001, however, it has never dropped below 5%. how is that good for working people? wages sure as hell haven't risen.

anyways, why should i even be reading your blog? you're no more qualified that Matt Damon, after all...

i like the video... it's not wonky, Damon's not a politician or a newscaster, but he has some serious concerns... as any citizen should.

And bluecollarphilosophe, I love that you say that Matt Damon is not qualified to make judgements on Palin, but ... you have a blog making judgements on the candidates. So what makes you so special, eh?

See, in the eyes of folks like bluecollarphilosopher and the entire GOP, no private citizen is qualified to judge any Republican's experience, let alone demand that they answer pointed questions about their philosophies, policy positions and/or record. We the people are just supposed to trust the GOP to do what's best for us. In their eyes, Sarah Palin is simply entitled to be VP (and McCain POTUS), and it's out of bounds for any of us to challenge her or examine her in any way.

Bluecollarphilosopher:

If I hear one more fucking time that the media has a liberal bias, my head is going EXPLODE.

Rupert Murdoch owns 3/4 of the WORLD'S media. That means TV, magazines and newspapers. He's not a liberal. I suggest you rent Outfoxed: Ruport Murdoch's War on Journalism.

Also FYI:

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/07/b122948.html

Notice how bluecollarphilosopher doesn't address any of the actual concerns brought up in the video. Because miraculously, despite being an actor and therefore obviously not qualified to have an opinion about who to vote for, Matt Damon was actually able to express valid worries about Palin's fitness to serve as VP. Someone who doesn't believe in evolution and thinks the war in Iraq is a task from God - that leads me to question her abilities to think rationally and logically. So yeah, I agree with the "unqualified" actor. I want to know in what ways she is ready to lead our country.

I appreciated that Matt Damon didn't come out and say what WE should do. Matt Damon simply expressed his concerns about Sarah Palin and the probability of her being president. He didn't offer any advice, or try to spin anything, he seemed genuinely concerned and wanting to know more about her. And I think that is definitely a valid stance for an Actor, or indeed any American citizen to take.

Also, this is the second time in history I have found Matt Damon attractive. The first time was when he was all peirced and tatooed in the beginning of Eurotrip. Yum.

Maaaatt Daaamooooon.

As for experience, whatever Palin lacks she's catching up on pretty fast. Already she was for the bridge to nowhere before she was against it.

Hate to break it to you, but it looks like your new way-smarter-than-Sarah-Palin boyfriend fell for an absurd hoax/parody viral piece...

"Lizards of Satan"? Really? That didn't clue him in?

Damon didn't say anything new, or anything more intellectual than what we've been hearing and saying on this site about Sarah Palin. However, we do live in a culture of celebrity, and those words coming out of his mouth are going to make an impact on people who like and respect him. He also takes something of a career risk in openly questioning the pick, though it isn't nearly as risky as the Dixie Chicks or Sean Penn slamming George W. Bush before it became popular to do so.

I forgot to ad that Damon's attack on Palin's qualifications are a good thing. They actually help show Obama has less than she does. She's accomplished more in two years as governor than Obama in his 20 years of doing whatever Obama did. So keep attacking Palin on that and more people will think about Obama's experience, or lack of it and see he is less qualified than Palin, and Palin is only running for VP.

I forgot to ad that Damon's attack on Palin's qualifications are a good thing. They actually help show Obama has less than she does. She's accomplished more in two years as governor than Obama in his 20 years of doing whatever Obama did. So keep attacking Palin on that and more people will think about Obama's experience, or lack of it and see he is less qualified than Palin, and Palin is only running for VP.

I forgot to ad that Damon's attack on Palin's qualifications are a good thing. They actually help show Obama has less than she does. She's accomplished more in two years as governor than Obama in his 20 years of doing whatever Obama did. So keep attacking Palin on that and more people will think about Obama's experience, or lack of it and see he is less qualified than Palin, and Palin is only running for VP.

Those are the issues Damon brings up and they undermine the whole Obama candidacy.

bluecollarphilosopher:

If the job you're interviewing for is writing resumes and you get the job based on your resume then it's completely appropriate.

The job of president depends heavily on administrative ability and selecting people to handle various aspects under the auspice of your position. the position being taken by the DNC on experience is that Sen. Obama has demonstrated administrative ability through organizing his campaign.

The RNC is the one who began using "experience" as a major disqualification for Obama, all the DNC is doing is saying: "Look, if you guys are going to talk experience then you can't very well put up someone with even less than my own or even close to my own as a serious candidate."

But that's the nature of your entire party. A bunch of deluded assholes talking out of the side of their necks about "fiscal responsibility" and "human rights" and "democracy" while being the biggest deficit spenders in history, denying human rights here and ignoring them abroad unless oil is involved, and invading sovereign nations for bullshit reasons then criticizing Russia for doing the same damn thing.

bluecollarphilosopher: You never answered our question on what makes you qualified to comment on Palin's qualifications, since Matt Damon, according to you, isn't qualified.

I forgot to ad that Damon's attack on Palin's qualifications are a good thing. They actually help show Obama has . . . what? Someone said that already?

Internet issues, sorry for the repeated posts.

bluecollarphilosopher:

Palin more qualified?! On the basis of education alone, Obama blows her out of the water. She has a BS in communications (finally after skipping around more than 3 different colleges before earning her degree), he's a constitutional scholar. Remember that piece of paper? I know it must be tough to recognize since Bush & Co has used it to wipe their collective shitty asses over the last 8 years, but it still exists.

I could go on, and bury you with a shitstorm of facts and real intellectual debate, but for what? You are obviously trolling.

Zvebab,
he didn't say anything about "Lizards of Satan," though, he just mentioned the 4000 years old thing. and that's a pretty common take from young earth creationists, which Palin may or may not be [see link below].

http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2008/09/saradise-lost-chapter-sixten-palins.html

there's been a lot of banter about Palin's views on evolution, though, and i think Damon's point is just that we, as citizens, have a right to know whether or not the 2nd highest office in the land is going to be occupied by someone who thinks that evolution is up for debate. mind you, while i've heard her talk about how evolution is just a "theory" that should be open for discussion, i've not heard her say similar things about other popular theories, like, say, "gravity," "general relativity," "graph theory," or "plate tectonics."

if she's particularly challenging evolution and not other theories, it certainly makes me think that she has some reason to, um, disbelieve (?) in this easily proven theory. maybe it's because disbelieving in gravity has more immediate negative consequences (like falling) than disbelieving in evolution.

Thanks Jessica, now I'm gonna have that song stuck in my head for six MORE months.

Intellectual crush list just grew.

1) Rachael Maddow
2) Eugene Robinson
3) Jay Smooth
4) Sara Haskins
5) Matt Damon

http://www.idrewthis.org/d/20060629.html

This is by D.C. Simpson, a transgender online cartoonist I really like. She did this one after the Dixie Chicks cd came out in 2006, but I still feel like it applies.

Yes, puckalish, YES. When anyone says, "It's just a theory! I realize then that they are a complete moron who does NOT understand scientific theory.

I do not want a VP who can't even grasp what a scientific theory is. That's FUCKING MORONIC.

"On the basis of education alone, Obama blows her out of the water. She has a BS in communications (finally after skipping around more than 3 different colleges before earning her degree), he's a constitutional scholar. Remember that piece of paper? I know it must be tough to recognize since Bush & Co has used it to wipe their collective shitty asses over the last 8 years, but it still exists." --JennyP

"YES. When anyone says, "It's just a theory! I realize then that they are a complete moron who does NOT understand scientific theory." --marilove

Amen on both points.

bluecollarphilosopher ignores off course that the Republican establishment and its wanton promotion of free labor markets (without compensation for environmental, social and political inequalities) has done more to hurt working class Americans than any other policy by any political group by many orders of magnitude. The pro-economic liberalism power brokers merely blind many voters to their culpability with distracting social issues which play on people's insecurities and prejudices. To blame "progressive politics" only shows a person who has swallowed their poisonous bait hook, line and sinker.

Wow, bluecollarphilosopher, that's one of the most phenomenally stupid statements I've seen on Sarah Palin (right up there with "She has foreign policy experience because she's close to Russia").

This woman hasn't done anything as Governor of Alaska.

She didn't sell the jet. She didn't create jobs. She didn't stop the bridge to nowhere.

She's not qualified to do anything. She's not even qualified, in my opinion, to be Governor of Alaska.

This is a woman who has tried to inhibit the first amendment rights of her constituents by taking books off of the shelves in libraries, and you're going to support her? You should be ashamed of yourself, not just as a conservative who claims to believe in freedom, but as an American who takes refuge in the protections afforded to you by the constitution.

bluecollarphilosopher:

"She's accomplished more in two years as governor than Obama in his 20 years of doing whatever Obama did."

As a 26 year Alaska resident I need to know some things from you. Please list the things Sarah has accomplished in her two years as governor.

You can't list the natural gas line since her accomplishment in that was using a pen to sign some paperwork after the legislature did all the work creating the paper work.

You can't list the oil tax "do over" since that was started by democratic senators and not her. Again she used a pen to sign some paper work.

She did manage to sell an over priced jet aircraft left behind by the former governer. Sell it at a loss due to it being such a crappy plane.

She did manage to talk the legislature into giving every Alaskan resident $1,200 today to off set the high cost of "energy" up here. This money originates in the taxes charged to the producers and with the record prices this summer the State is drowning in money so the state decided to share some of the profit with the citizens.

So, that is two things in the last two years that she has accomplished. What else ya got?

I simply don't want the reincarnation of Aimee Semple McPherson to have her hands on the levers of power.

Palin is a known believer in the lunatic fringe of Christian practice -- Evangelical-Pentacostalism. She opposes a woman's right to choose (even in case of rape or incest), equal rights for gays and lesbians, sex education other than abstinence in school, supports oil companies pillaging the environment (Why not? God geve man dominion, right?). The list goes on.

Here’s what gets me, and I’d love to hear some other opinions on it.

Blue Collar Philopshy’s blog (take with a grain of salt of course) says this:

“Under the banner of compassion, Liberalism would rather kill unborn baby boys and girls with birth defects then let the live and "suffer" for a lifetime.”

Of course, my bullshit radar started tingling. Has the word “suffer” actually been used? And if it has, I resent anyone saying that it is the feminist or the Liberal perspective. The issue is about the choice to make an educated decision.

In a side note: Matt Damon. You rock.

Here’s what gets me, and I’d love to hear some other opinions on it.

Blue Collar Philopshy’s blog (take with a grain of salt of course) says this:

“Under the banner of compassion, Liberalism would rather kill unborn baby boys and girls with birth defects then let the live and "suffer" for a lifetime.”

Of course, my bullshit radar started tingling. Has the word “suffer” actually been used? And if it has, I resent anyone saying that it is the feminist or the Liberal perspective. The issue is about the choice to make an educated decision.

In a side note: Matt Damon. You rock.

Of course she doesn't think that dinosaurs were living amongst humans four thousand years ago. It was six thousand. Silly Matt Damon.

LOL @ cellardoors (btw, does that name come from donnie darko?)

Matt Damon is entitled to his opinion, as we all are. But when he states he does not know anything about her as Mayor and Governor, give me a break! Any intelligent person can get on the internet and actually see what exactly what positions Palin tool on various laws, bills, and ordinances. ( Something that you cannot do with Obama since he has no track record of significance)

Notice that I stated intelligent person. I am a fan of Damon, but his reasoning is rather infantile at best.

For those of you that plan to make your decision based on facts, not ignorance, go to the following link to read a credible article by USA Today that research Palin's voting record. If you actually do read the article, I think that although you may not agree with some of her social positions, her actual governing was fairly moderate.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-11-palin-cover_N.htm

I challenge any of you to come up with actual documentation regarding Obama's track record.

Ever wonder why the media and blogs continue compare Obama to Palin? Could it be that they are actually similar in experience and I think, if you read the article, some actual energy positions as well.

Please people. Grow up!

On second thought.....
We must unleash Michelle. And Whoopi. And Pamella. And Sean. And Susan, and Clooney, and Damon, and all of the heavy hiters. It is time that the Liberal braintrust step up to the plate!

Oh come on Matt Damon!! That's a silly argument with an understatement attached. I mean how much do people really know about Obama or McCain? It's not like they are close buddies wi