Can I See a Show of Hands?

by
Suzann Darnall

I am amazed that the people who just love Mr. Teleprompter (AKA: Barack Obama) would have the nerve to criticize anyone for any way they chose to make notes, use reminders, or give speeches. After all, Obama is seemingly incapable of even making the basic proper pronunciation choice after having his entire speech scrolled right before his very eyes.

The "pretender-in-chief" can't properly say corpsman? "Corpse-man" just doesn't hack it! Isn't this the man touted as being the smartest President ever? Aren't his IQ numbers supposedly in the genius category? Doesn't he (and everyone else in the Progressives roll call) brag on him having a Harvard education? Shouldn't this mean he is capable of reading and pronouncing common English words? Or, does he now need an earpiece for verbal cues to go along with the written word presented on his ever present teleprompter?

Sarah Palin has come under scrutiny from too many facets of political society to keep track of them all. But, the Obama bandwagon seems to take particular delight in ragging on her about something ALL the time. For this particular week it is apparently her methods of note-taking and speech-making. I guess if she used a teleprompter, rather than her hand, she'd be the intellectual equivalent of Obama. But, since she didn't, she's apparently just another conservative idiot with barely enough IQ to breathe.

I do not think you can measure someone's IQ based upon their method of reminders. For one thing, reminder methods vary from age to age, field to field, and person to person. What works for one person might not work for another, especially if their environments are sufficiently different.

My own father has a PhD in Education. He was an Air Force navigator for many years. He retired as a colonel. He is a professional newspaper columnist. He admits to scribbling notes on his hands for many years when he was flying. But, maybe the Obama-philes would consider him just as imbecilic as Sarah Palin, since he is also a GOP conservative who attends church and believes in the sanctity of life.

I know other people who write notes on their hands. Some scribble them on any scrap of paper they find in their purse. My paternal grandmother used anything she could get her hands on for writing notes and memos: calendars, boxes, envelopes, books, etc. We have some treasured memories saved by her on the most unusual resources. Chocolate boxes were a particular favorite of hers.

I personally tend to use post-it-notes or my iPhone. My husband often texts me to add something to the calendar or my to-do list. My husband and I, both, call our home phone to leave messages on our answering machine about things we need to put on the calendar or do after returning home. We've just started using dry erase markers to leave notes on our bathroom mirror, a trick we learned from our daughter and her husband.

Many of my friends and family have gone into surgery with a "note" scrawled on some part of their body. It is a common practice now for nurses and/or doctors to advise patients to put "NO" or some other message on whatever body part is not the one being operated on. This helps keep left knees from being repaired when it is the right knee that's got a torn cartilage, or whatever the body part and problem might be.

I'm sure people would think some of my cryptic notes are total nonsense. I only write, type, or speak the basics of what I need to jog my memory or others. My iPhone has lots of little memo apps available for my use. I've got Notes, Calendar, Voice Memos, Dictation, Mail, and Messages. I've also been know to use Camera to record something I've seen that gives me an idea for making or writing something. This comes in particularly handy in regards to my quilting.

My point is that Sarah Palin is not alone in her "hand-notes or body writing." Nor is she somehow dumber than other people because she does it. It is a very common practice, one not confined to high school students. And, what does it matter that she scratched something out and substituted something else? Don't we all do editing on the notes and lists of our lives?

I personally am tired of the mentality assassination of the Progressives when it comes to anyone that might be more conservative. They did it to Gerald Ford, Dan Quayle, and George W. Bush. They are now trying to do it to Sarah Palin. And, all the while, Obama is getting passes from them on mistakes that make all of the above look positively brilliant. He has a string of gaffes that goes on and on … but mostly unreported (or at least un-emphasized).

I'd like to name a couple of my favorites. There is, of course, the 57 states of America. I'm not quite sure when those extra 7 stars slipped onto our flag, are you? Speaking "Austrian" in Austria. I was always under the impression that Austrians speak German, even if they don't actually live in Germany--just like Americans speak English, although no longer part of England's British Empire. Or, do we maybe speak Britain?

And, it isn't just in speaking that he's ham-handed. There has been the handshaking with Marines he should be saluting, confusing White House windows for doors, hitting his head getting onto the Marine One helicopter, the numerous crotch salutes, failure to put his hand over his heart for the National Anthem, bowing to the Saudi King, the Japanese Emperor, the Chinese Premier, even the Mayor of Tampa, and so on. Had any one of these been done by Ford, Quayle, or Bush, we'd have heard about them for weeks, if not years. Yet, how many of y'all have never even seen a single report about some of these screw-ups?

If the Far Left wants to get all up in arms about a few hand-written notes (pun intended), I guess we got no choice but to let them. However, I certainly am capable of picking out the wheat from the chaff. Sarah Palin offers lots of kernels of wisdom in her speeches, no matter where she keeps her ideas handy (pun also intended). On the other hand (I know, I know, intentional puns getting out of … ummm … hand), Obama just flings a lot of debris about with his mouth and all the technology in the world won't make his words more palatable or more sensible.

So, let's give a hand to Sarah Palin for being a practical, sensible, evenhanded, down to earth kinda person, like most of us. I, for one admire a woman who has no need for artificial behaviors. What we see is apparently what we get. I wish we had gotten her a little closer to the Oval Office! In my opinion, she may well be the hands-down winner for common-sense politics in today's world.

© Suzann C. Darnall, FEBRUARY 2010

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