GOTCHA: Sarah Palin Invited To Speak At World’s Oldest Running Debate Society
DYLAN HOCK JANUARY 12, 2015
Grab the popcorn and pull up a chair – the circus is on its way to town
Defeated former vice presidential nominee and failed reality television “star” Sarah Palin has been invited to give a speech March 2 at the historical Cambridge Union Society to help celebrate the society’s 200th anniversary, according to Cambridge News.
Palin’s sharp tongue and screwball antics will be in the company of such reputable speakers as Ukranian feminist Innan Shevchenko, and English actor, comedian, writer and activist Stephen Fry. No doubt Palin’s avid reading of periodicals will help her avoid any “gotcha” moments and hold her own in a society that has historically hosted such brilliant speakers as Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Stephen Hawking and the Dalai Lama. It was founded in 1815 and is currently the oldest still-functioning debate society in the world.
(Image courtesy of Flickr)
Admittedly, the female speakers at the Cambridge Union Society have been few and far between, so it will be good to see Palin there for at least one reason. Only Margaret Thatcher comes to mind as preceding her, at the moment. I’m sure you can clearly see the similarities there, right? A reality “star” and failed politician coasting on pseudo-celebrity fumes and a historical, infamously renowned world leader? Exactly.
Perhaps the actual understanding of that discrepancy is why Palin was only invited to offer what is being anticipated as an entertaining, classic Palin speech, rather than to debate. To underline that distinction even further, one debate in 2013 centered on atheist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins versus former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The topic – “This House Believes Religion Has No Place In The 21st Century.” Whereas, one can relish in laughter at the center-ring hijinks Palin has gifted the country for years at this point, below:
Back in 2010, Palin was riding the Birthers’ train to Whackjob City when she hinted toward President Obama’s birthplace being other than America in a speech to CPAC, all while tying the less than genuine sting into the President’s push toward expanding background checks for gun ownership.
Palin just couldn’t seem to help herself, stating:
“More background checks? Dandy idea, Mr. President. Shoulda started with yours.”
She’s a regular Groucho Marx, isn’t she?
Then the irony kicks in. Fast forward through several more Palin-isms and the punchlines get weaker and weaker – all within a year. Like a washed up comic unable to see the irony of telling jokes about washed up comics, Palin kept clawing for relevance and took a gig as a reality TV star, where she could continue to flirt with the public and mouth off about politics she’d long proven she barely understood, all the while conveniently forgetting making such earlier statements as:
“We don’t have leadership coming out of Washington. We have reality television. Except it’s really bad TV, and America tuned out a long time ago.”
Just like they tuned out of Palin’s, reality television show, actually.
Fast forward four years and Palin found herself making yet another address for CPAC, where she offered her genius foreign affairs policy:
“Mr. President. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.”
Right. Forget diplomacy altogether. If Japan taught us anything, it’s that a good bomb dropped in the right place takes care of everything.
It was that same CPAC speech where Palin stated she read an old, altered version of Green Eggs and Ham to her son Trig for bedtime every night. She then read to the smirking crowd a juvenile chain email that had been forwarded around for the last four years. Classic. No doubt it’s even better than the original.
A mere month later, after making a fool of herself at CPAC, Palin showed her true ‘Merican charm by telling a packed NRA convention:
“Waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.”
Clearly Palin is being brought in to address the Cambridge Union Society as a lighthearted gesture to help balance out the more serious, heated and intellectual discussions that will surely transpire. Her infamous public persona will help lend a bit of buzz to the debates, and that’s all she’s needed for in this instance. She’s ranking barely above Budweiser girls at this point.
It’s sad, really. If only Palin would realize she is the tearful clown, too clueless to catch on that the informed public laughs at her, not with her, to actually cry. In the meantime, she keeps smiling and showing up wherever folks will have her.
Like train wrecks, everybody loves gawking at a good freak show.
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