Claire Berlinski, Margaret Thatcher's biographer about Sarah Palin: A "ridiculous candidate for the Presidency", "case of mass psychosis"

There have been a few very interesting statements made about Sarah Palin recently. Let's start with an incredibly important statement which has so far not received the attention it deserves.

On October 1, Matt Lewis from www.politicsdaily.com interviewed Claire Berlinski, the writer of a highly acclaimed biography about Margaret Thatcher: "There Is No Alternative - Why Margaret Thatcher Matters."

Way into the interview, Matt Lewis brings up the topic of Sarah Palin. In my opinion, it's more than fair to compare Sarah Palin to Margaret Thatcher, as she is supposedly Palin's favorite "role model", next to Ronald Reagan. Just a few months ago Sarah Palin and/or her handlers had the "brilliant" idea of arranging a meeting with Margaret Thatcher in the UK. However, it appears that the meeting didn't happen in the end, as Thatcher suffers from dementia, which made the visit appear as an act of exploitation.

You might think that Claire Berlinski sees obvious similarities between Palin and Thatcher, because the mantra of the Palinbots. As is already apparent from the first 17 minutes of the interview, Berlinski is a sharp thinker and straight-shooter, so her statements regarding Sarah Palin are very much to the point and can only come to as a surprise for the members of the Palin-cult, but will be less of a surprise for intelligent people.

Matt Lewis writes:

Regarding how Sarah Palin compares to Margaret Thatcher -- a predictable question, to be sure -- Berlinski told me that Palin "has to be looked at as sort of a fluke, because she was elevated by the McCain campaign into a position of prominence that I don't think ordinarily she would ever have been in."

Berlinski added that Palin is

"obviously a talented politician ... [but that] there's something so ridiculous, however, about Sarah Palin as a serious candidate for the presidency. It's really a case, almost, of mass psychosis -- that anyone could ever have been seriously considering this."

Claire Berlinski also calls Sarah Palin a "figure who is out of place" - if she "had remained in Alaska, I would have been perfectly happy with that."

I highly recommend to listen to the full excerpt of the interview which deals with Sarah Palin, as Claire Berlinski also draws unflattering parallels to Margaret Thatcher, which makes the statement even more powerful. The above quotes are only part of what she is saying about Sarah Palin.

Here is the excerpt which deals with Sarah Palin:

The complete interview can be accessed HERE.

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There is more.

As Malia Litman has reported earlier today, Aaron Sorkin, creator of the West Wing, also said something about Sarah Palin. Yesterday he was a guest on CNN's "Parker Spitzer" and said about Sarah Palin:

"Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on. This is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman."

Watch the CNN clip:

Newsbusters writes:

Parker jumped in: “Wow. What do you base that on, the meanness part?” Sorkin explained: “When she talks about real Americans versus not real Americans, that's a divisive thing. I'm pretty sure I fall into the category of a not real American.”

Parker came back with a quip instead of a serious rejoinder: “Right. You're not real. Because you have those horn-rimmed glasses.” Sorkin proceeded to show his resentment:

Because I have these glasses, because I'm from New York, and because I work in Hollywood. Let's ignore the fact that my father fought in World War II, put himself through college on the GI bill, that his parents were immigrants who came here and my paternal grandfather was one of the founders of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.

Aaron Sorkin then "reloaded" and added, echoing Bill Maher:

“The Democrats may have moved into the center, but the Republicans have moved into a mental institution.”

In celebration of Aaron Sorkin, we have chosen an especially moving scene from the "The American President", written by Sorkin. The President's speech you all would like to see!

Enjoy!

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