Guess the Famous Political Commentator/Beauty Pageant Contestant!

Katherine Mangu-Ward | January 18, 2011

"we can't let things like that happen, and they must be handled properly" "it's so important that everybody who's in our borders is safe" A prominent lady offered this analysis of the Wikileaks case over the weekend:

"You know when it came to that situation, it was actually based on espionage, and when it comes to the security of our nation, we have to focus on security first and then people's right to know, because it's so important that everybody who's in our borders is safe and so we can't let things like that happen, and they must be handled properly," she said.

Pop quiz: Were these timeless words uttered by (a) Sarah Palin, or (b) Miss America 2011 Teresa Scanlan?

Answer here, but register your guess in the comments before clicking through.

(My apologies to the women of the world for perhaps setting back feminism a smidge with this post. In the interests of gender fairness, it's important to note that if it weren't for the "she said" we would all assume this was a George W. Bush quote.)

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Rather|1.18.11 @ 12:04PM|#

B and she's dead-wrong

|1.18.11 @ 12:04PM|#

C) Joe Biden.

Old Mexican|1.18.11 @ 12:04PM|#

Oh, oh, oh! Bee! It was Bee!

And the woman as an idiot.

Cecil|1.18.11 @ 12:07PM|#

I think she's only 17 - give her a break.

Old Mexican|1.18.11 @ 12:10PM|#

No more breaks - the gaunlet is thrown!

Mango Punch|1.18.11 @ 12:34PM|#

I'll go with B as well. Her hotness makes up for any faults.

Mango Punch|1.18.11 @ 12:35PM|#

Whereas Palin's hotness only makes up for some (a vast minority) of her faults.

Huh|1.18.11 @ 2:24PM|#

Boingboing's comments are just like H&R's comments. So much for exceptionalism.

Phrase-ologist|1.18.11 @ 2:27PM|#

What exactly is a "vast minority"?

Mango Punch|1.18.11 @ 3:46PM|#

It's unapologetically unclear.

Slut Bunwalla|1.18.11 @ 3:47PM|#

One of those really fat black women that goes to 7-11 on her motorized wheelchair to buy lottery tickets and smokes.

Fist of Etiquette|1.18.11 @ 12:05PM|#

Eva Braun?

Old Mexican|1.18.11 @ 12:09PM|#

You know when it came to that situation, it was actually based on espionage, and when it comes to the security of our nation, we have to focus on security first and then people's right to know [OM:second?], because it's so important that everybody who's in our borders is safe and so we can't let things like that happen, and they must be handled properly[.]

"And if you don't agree with it, you're worse than Hitler!"

Greg Gutfeld|1.18.11 @ 2:14PM|#

Hey, that's my line!

Fiscal Meth|1.18.11 @ 12:10PM|#

I think it was B). I used grammar forensics. I think Sarah would have failed to make the subject agree with the verb in "...everybody who's in our border is safe..." She would have said "...everybody...are safe..."

|1.18.11 @ 12:24PM|#

I went with B more on the fact that the sentence is run-on.

Despite Palin's grammatical errors, she keeps her sentences short.

Billy Shakespeare|1.18.11 @ 12:53PM|#

Twitter sees to this.

|1.18.11 @ 12:37PM|#

No use of Folksy words, I have to do with B.

Draco|1.18.11 @ 12:11PM|#

"The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
-- common wisdom at this point

This is weak tea, especially coming from a beauty (excuse me, scholarship) contestant.

|1.18.11 @ 12:13PM|#

|1.18.11 @ 12:14PM|#

Honest guess - Miss America.

|1.18.11 @ 12:16PM|#

Good Grief, is there one good reason for a beauty pagent not to be held in the nude? That answer destroys any rationale whatsoever for the contestants wearing any clothing.

Butts Wagner|1.18.11 @ 12:20PM|#

Good Grief, is there one good reason for a beauty pagent not to be held in the nude?

Miss America is 17 this year, you pedophile!!!!

robc|1.18.11 @ 12:24PM|#

Thats not what pedophilia means.

Plus, 17 is equal to or above the age of consent in ~35 US states (including Nebraska).

Cecil|1.18.11 @ 12:28PM|#

Tell that to the idiot prosecutor.

|1.18.11 @ 12:48PM|#

what?

Fatty Bolger|1.18.11 @ 1:36PM|#

He said 17, Polanski. Not 13.

cynical|1.18.11 @ 2:04PM|#

Yes, you can fuck em, but you can't actually produce sexualized media representations of them.

Butts Wagner|5.22.11 @ 1:25AM|#

Butts troll is butts troll

alan|1.18.11 @ 12:29PM|#

Lust for teenage girls is not pedophilia. Frowned upon in a society dominated by old, leathered shrews, yes, but biologically almost the definition of normal.

Brian Sorgatz|1.18.11 @ 2:42PM|#

Failure to differentiate pedophilia from ephebophilia is one symptom of our society's unjust treatment of postpubescent teens as children. Youth liberation now!

|1.18.11 @ 12:17PM|#

And frankly, who cares what she thinks? The Miss American pageant is a shadow of its former self, and I'm certain that Miss America is not invited to speak at international policy conferences. Although she doesn't sound that much more stupid than some dimwits who get far more press time (Prince Charles comes to mind).

|1.18.11 @ 12:41PM|#

^^This^^

Congress|1.18.11 @ 12:45PM|#

She's scheduled to testify before us

when?

all 13 year old girls|1.18.11 @ 1:06PM|#

If only you were into fucking 17year old girls

alan|1.18.11 @ 12:20PM|#

Caught a clip of Ms. Arkansas ventriloquist yodeling with two puppets. Hilarious. Incredible smile. I think I might be in love. She is much prettier than the one who actually won. The judges must have really bought into the statefluffing wikileaks answer to award the one who won over several of the others who could have shredded her apart with their perfectly sculpted cheek bones alone.

|1.18.11 @ 12:22PM|#

Miss America.

Agree or not, the opinion is not unreasonable or unreasoned. A reasonable person may certainly believe that Wikileaks amounted to a form of espionage and that nations may keep secrets for national security reasons, snarky comments here to the contrary notwithstanding.

Not everyone who disagrees with strict libertarian thought is stupid.

Peanut Gallery|1.18.11 @ 12:26PM|#

They're not?

|1.18.11 @ 12:29PM|#

A reasonable person may certainly believe that Wikileaks amounted to a form of espionage

Only if they don't know that espionage is done by or for a foreign nation.

|1.18.11 @ 7:39PM|#

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....05973.html

AlmightyJB|1.18.11 @ 12:31PM|#

Didn't you read the article? Only the evil fascist George W Bush or the stupid fascist Sarah Palin think that National Security secrets should be actually kept secret. No one else in the whole world thinks that. Except for maybe Hitler himself (ie Cheney).

Libertarian thought police|1.18.11 @ 12:48PM|#

Turn in your decoder ring

Bucky|1.18.11 @ 1:00PM|#

do you own a dictionary
or just a parrot...

|1.18.11 @ 1:05PM|#

So thinking that Berlusconi is a douche is a national security issue?

Yes, you are stupid.

Yeah reasoned|1.18.11 @ 1:58PM|#

Agree or not, and regardless of what a reasonable person may believe, her opinion is not reasoned at all. Did you even read her statements? Please. She's stupid and ignorant.

a|1.18.11 @ 12:25PM|#

Eli Lake?

Old Mexican|1.18.11 @ 12:28PM|#

By the way, Sarah was such a cutie:

http://sarahpalininformation.f.....photos.jpg

SIV|1.18.11 @ 12:29PM|#

There was some minor "live commenting" in one of the weekend threads here on the pageant.
Beauty pageant questions are used to test poise and confidence. The content of the "answer" doesn't really matter. I was more amused by Miss Hawaii saying she is a citizen of the World first, her country and state after. The right answer for an international pageant is "wrong" for the inherently nationalist Miss America.

SIV|1.18.11 @ 12:40PM|#

IIRC, Miss Scalan's answer is roughly the same opinion held by former Miss America Gretchen "Fox and Friends" Carlson

Almanian|1.18.11 @ 12:52PM|#

Exactly who came to mind when I read this! She's such a ditz...

SIV|1.18.11 @ 1:34PM|#

Her wikipedia entry claims John Stewart accused her of playing dumb for the audience when she actually has a sociology degree from Stanford (cum laude).My experience with sociology-degreed women suggests they don't need to fake it.

Almanian|1.18.11 @ 1:36PM|#

Even Psych majors laugh at Soc majors...

Billy Shakespeare|1.18.11 @ 12:57PM|#

Fetchin' Gretchen

|1.18.11 @ 12:30PM|#

Miss America

Joe M|1.18.11 @ 12:38PM|#

I'm hoping it was just another stupid pageant girl answer, so I say Miss Whatever 2011. Though Palin was a pageant girl once upon a time.

|1.18.11 @ 12:38PM|#

I vote for Miss America

|1.18.11 @ 12:40PM|#

She sounds like she's in line for the next open spot at Fox.

alan|1.18.11 @ 12:50PM|#

Ambitious little critter.

As for the substance of her answer for which there seems to be a desperate line formed to defend, it is based upon the assumption that the rhetorical descriptions of what the damage wikileaks has caused to our national security is correct.

What is more of a danger to our security? Our diplomats taking sides in domestic disputes in every nation where that is bound to piss the other side off, or the revelation to the American public of the details in those matters? After all, in every case I have looked at the disputed parties were already aware of what we were doing.

The real worry is that the American public might at some point, after significant blowback, tell the political establishmet to stop doing that in our name, and on our dime.

SIV|1.18.11 @ 1:37PM|#

Excellent timing!
see my shared timestamp comment above.
She can be the next Gretchen Carlson.

Virginia|1.18.11 @ 12:41PM|#

Authoritarianism is an obsolete, futile philosophy. Pairing it with pageantry is natural.

|1.18.11 @ 12:53PM|#

u dont know kimchi from shinola

Hugh Akston|1.18.11 @ 12:59PM|#

Orrin, even crazy dictators know the difference between a pronoun and a letter.

|1.18.11 @ 1:03PM|#

I wouldn't be so sure.

|1.18.11 @ 1:12PM|#

lol

OhioAOLrin|1.18.11 @ 2:03PM|#

Me too!

SIV|1.18.11 @ 1:40PM|#

See Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia for the textbook example.

Britney|1.18.11 @ 12:42PM|#

Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision he makes and should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.

contestant #69|1.18.11 @ 12:50PM|#

You forgot world peace

Bucky|1.18.11 @ 1:03PM|#

whirled peas?

|1.18.11 @ 12:42PM|#

I think it's become something of a trend to say something controversial in beauty pageants. With their declining ratings, if you say something controversial and win, the pageant gets a lot more press, and if that publicity's good for the pageant, then saying something controversial probably helps you with the judges...

If I've told you all once, I've told you a thousand times - poise counts! It's just as important as the others. Swimsuit! Evening wear! Controversy! Poise!

Miss Almanian|1.18.11 @ 12:58PM|#

My edgy answer is that you should try to eat some of all the things on your plate, and it's OK to let the peas touch the mashed potatoes, even if you don't like one or the other of those things. It's OK if your food touches, and you should try it all. Because that's like people coming together, and experiencing other things. Although not actually people, like the unintegrated neighborhood I grew up in. But vegetables and other food? It's OK.

That is my edgy, controversial answer. Yay, America! Woo hoo!

MWG|1.18.11 @ 1:26PM|#

"If I've told you all once, I've told you a thousand times - poise counts! It's just as important as the others. Swimsuit! Evening wear! Controversy! Poise!"

One of my favorite episodes.

Almanian|1.18.11 @ 12:54PM|#

I think that girl from South Carolina (I think it was SC) who got the web redemption on Tosh.0 should have gotten a shot at this.

"People in Africa - such as - and edumacation - such as - derp"

The most epic beauty pageant answer ever. Till the next one...

|1.18.11 @ 1:08PM|#

Tosh was surprisingly nice to her. I guess he had to be to get her to come on.

alan|1.18.11 @ 1:24PM|#

I recall that. I think he was showing contempt for those amateurs of snide derision who plucked the low hanging fruit there, and thought that reflected well on their own skills.

Tosh is truly an artist.

|1.18.11 @ 1:58PM|#

He's always nice to the hot girls, as Yahweh intended.

robc|1.18.11 @ 1:16PM|#

She did pretty good on amazing race too.

Fatty Bolger|1.18.11 @ 1:45PM|#

She's just echoing the prevailing wisdom. It might be wrong, but I don't see how it makes her stupid.

Saro|1.18.11 @ 2:55PM|#

Blindly echoing prevailing opinion makes one smart?

Fatty Bolger|1.18.11 @ 3:42PM|#

How do you know she's "blindly" echoing? To answer your question though, no it does not, but it doesn't necessarily make you stupid, either.

Brian Sorgatz|1.18.11 @ 2:28PM|#

I'm following the rule, posting my guess before following the link. I might have guessed (b) Scanlan, but Katherine's apology to the women's movement tilts me towards (a) Palin.

Brian Sorgatz|1.18.11 @ 2:32PM|#

Oops! Good bluff, Katherine.

Arthur Alan Wouk, Esq.|1.18.11 @ 2:34PM|#

THIS is why I am a homosexual pedophile and sometimes zoophiliac. Women are just so STUPID!

Not Nick Gillespie|1.18.11 @ 5:37PM|#

The misspelling could be a clever ploy to avoid the valiant Reason editors from pulling the post. They aren't scared of anybody named "Wouk", even the guy who wrote The Winds of War.

Brian Sorgatz|1.19.11 @ 3:11PM|#

That's exactly what I would have guessed, which makes me pleased that my above comment with the correct spelling of the fool's name has not been deleted at the time I write this.

|1.18.11 @ 2:54PM|#

Who cares, I'd do her. That's all that matters isn't it?

AlmightyJB|1.18.11 @ 2:57PM|#

Exactly. Not sure when or why we started asking women their opinions anyways.

Nick|1.18.11 @ 3:05PM|#

And what if she had instead said something like "One of the most upsetting things I'm seeing in politics today is the corruption of public officials to take from citizens. Even the Supreme Court approves of it and I think ruled incorrectly in Kelo v. New London!"

I guess my point is... this post is actually not worthy of even being written. Its a pure Ad Hominem... had she said something we all agree with, then you likely would have posted that "Even Beauty Pageant Winners Know More Than Sarah Palin".

The magazine is called Reason. We back up opinions with good reasoning and logic. We don't simply attack people as a means to disprove their opinions.

|1.18.11 @ 3:22PM|#

It seems to me that Mangu-Ward was showing how similar the conservative opinions of these two women (and George Bush are) not much criticism or insult that I can see in this post. Don't take everything so seriously, it's just a blog!

David E. Gallaher/Ruthless|1.18.11 @ 3:13PM|#

Sarah P. (Now I'm going to check my answer.)

¢|1.18.11 @ 3:57PM|#

I knew it wasn't Palin, or you wouldn't have mentioned Palin.

Then I read it, and it didn't syntactically resemble Palin's speech at all. It's distinctively Southern and/or black.

Just like Bush is.

Rich|1.18.11 @ 4:44PM|#

I'm playing this game in earnest.

I'm thinking, based on H&R's well-known sneakiness, that the answer is Janet Napolitano.

Rich|1.18.11 @ 4:45PM|#

Damn it! 8-(

sounds real good|1.18.11 @ 11:09PM|#

B. Because Sarah Palin doesn't have a smidgen of interest in propriety.

pj|1.18.11 @ 11:53PM|#

b for bimbo

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