Democracy Demands Wisdom

Andrew Cohen Finds Sarah Palin's Lack Of Constitutional Understanding Is Defining Down Standards Of American Democracy

(CBS)  Attorney Andrew Cohen analyzes legal issues for CBS News and CBSNews.com.

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First, Sarah Palin couldn’t name a single United States Supreme Court decision with which she disagreed. During that same interview, she showed a frightening lack of understanding about the nature of the Bill of Rights in the framework of our Constitution. Next, the Republican vice-presidential candidate declared that the Vice President “runs” the United States Senate. And now she’s wondering aloud whether the media violate the First Amendment - and her First Amendment rights - when they criticize campaign strategy.

These flat-out-incorrect, borderline bizarre assertions would likely get Gov. Palin run out of any self-respecting law school or political science department in the country. And they are part of the reason why a growing number of Americans - the figure was 59 percent in the last CBS News/New York Times poll - believe she is not prepared to be president. What is astonishing about that figure, however, is not that it’s large and getting larger; it’s that roughly four out of 10 Americans apparently still believe that she is qualified to take over the executive branch should something happen to 72-year-old John McCain.

If, as the old saying goes, democracy demands wisdom, than what does this 40 percent figure say about the state of our democracy (and the state of our historical, legal and political wisdom) as the 2008 campaign winds to a close? Do people not understand the reasons why Palin’s legal conclusions are so objectively wrong? Do they understand but not care? Do they understand, and care, but feel that they’d rather have her in office anyway? I can’t answer those questions - no one can. But I can humbly note here why it is profoundly disturbing that any national candidate for elected office would know so little basic information about such vital topics as the Constitution, the separation of powers, and the Bill of Rights.

Let’s start with the Supreme Court questions. One month ago, Katie Couric asked Gov. Palin: “Do you think there’s an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution?” Now, you should know that some conservative legal scholars have already answered this question with a “no,” arguing that the “right to privacy” is not specifically contained in the language of the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. These folks generally have tended to excoriate the late Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, who in a 1971 case about contraceptives somehow found “emanations” of a privacy right within the “pneumbras” of other parts of the Constitution.

Palin did not mention any of that and I don’t blame her. It’s pretty dense legal stuff (even though criticizing Douglas’ overreach might just be the best legal argument anti-abortion activists have). Instead, Palin answered: “I do. Yeah, I do” and then added in the context of the abortion case, Roe v. Wade, that she believes “that individual states can best handle what the people within the different constituencies in the 50 states would like to see their will ushered in an issue like that.”

I don’t know what that means. But Palin got a chance to clarify when Couric then asked her to name a Supreme Court decision with which Palin disagrees. Palin answered: “Well, let's see. There's, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but …

Couric tried again: “Can you think of any?” Palin responded: “Well, I could think of … any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level. Maybe I would take issue with. But, you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a vice president, if I'm so privileged to serve, wouldn't be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today.” You follow? Good, because I couldn’t. This is the sort of gibberish from Palin that has made Saturday Night Live’s Tina Fey even more famous than she was before.

Now, it’s bad enough that a candidate for vice president of the United States couldn’t name Plessy v. Ferguson, the case which ratified the odious “separate but equal” doctrine under the law, or the Dred Scott case, which stamped blacks as property and not people, or any of the Depression-era cases which blocked child-labor laws and so forth. Most decent high school students could name you at least one of those cases. Heck, even most prime-time television viewers could name you the “Miranda” case about the right to remain silent.

Worse, however, is Palin’s lack of understanding of the Bill of Rights as a bulwark against the tyranny of the majority. The drafters of the Bill of Rights included its individual protections because they were fearful of local prejudices and injustices. This explains why the people of Wasilla, Alaska, for example, cannot simply vote to execute anyone they believe is a witch. That vital distinction is our laws seems foreign to Palin. If she understands it she has yet to communicate it to the public.

The same grassroots ignorance arose again a few weeks ago when Palin told a group of school kids that the vice president “runs” the Senate. This is flat-out wrong and a perversion of the concept of separation of powers. Even Lyndon Johnson, one of the most influential Senators in history, essentially got run out of the Senate when he became John F. Kennedy’s second-in-command. And, contrary to Palin’s latest error, the First Amendment is designed to preclude the government from enacting laws that infringe upon the rights of citizens to speak freely. It is not designed to protect government officials from what they perceive to be unfair criticism.

I believe that Palin made these silly statements because she truly does not know any better - I guess five different colleges in six years, ending with the University of Idaho, doesn’t buy you as much as it used to - and because her handlers couldn’t even conceive in their darkest, most skeptical moments that they would have to give her a high school-level briefing about basic constitutional concepts. This is a credit to them and a shame to her. Just as it is a credit to the 59 percent of you who apparently have judged Palin for her lack of coherence about the law - and a shame to the rest who apparently are quite comfortable defining down into parody the litmus test for high public office. You want good governance? Elect smart people. Democracy demands wisdom not just from the elected but from the electorate.

[noloyalisti]

Yes, this explains a lot of how we became a fascist nation with no regard for law under Bush and the GOP crime family. Vote for Obama and a completely democratic and Democratic congress

[willcaine]

Palin also thinks the Founding Fathers said "under God" when they pledged allegiance; the Pledge was not composed until 1892, and "under God" was added in 1954. She thinks the religious wars in Europe were still going on when the Constitution was written: off by more than a hundred years. She is a not-so-bright, poorly educated person.

[ubrew12]

I was actually embarrassed FOR Palin when I heard the Supreme Court question posed. But it was definitely a fair question for someone who may be appointing TWO Supreme Court justices in the next four years, who will then rule over the Justice system for the next forty.

So, with McCain a challenging 72 years old, suddenly it MATTERS whether or not Palin is a Bush-like figurehead or not.

Bet she can name you every book in the Wasilla library she wanted banned, though.

[hennighg]

Yes, wisdom is a prerequisite. Hence, the Great Depression II via Bush the II. He didn''t serve in the military and so I doubt he ever studied in school, either. With Obama, perhaps perception will return to the White House.

[jaykay3141]

Mencken''s derision of the "booboisie" rings even more true today than it did 90 years ago. Intelligence and education are condemned as "elitist". Thoughts are less important than feelings. Precision and accuracy are considered to be annoyances of no use to the so-called common man.

Bush won in part because voters felt he was "like them" and "a person they could have a drink with" instead of being a leader who earned that position by being more competent than the average person. Now we''re being fed an Alaska Barbie who''s even lower. She''s ignorant of the most basic facts about government, believes the Bible is a science textbook, and can''t string two coherent sentences together unless her surrogate dad McSame is sitting next to her! And just to confirm that the clowns are running the circus, the neocons have thrown in an unlicensed plumber who claims he''s a businessman but doesn''t even know the difference between gross receipts and taxable income!

Is there any other supposedly first-world country on the planet that revels in such mediocrity? Are there still enough of us left who THINK and ANALYZE instead of seizing on sound bites? If Nov. 4 proves otherwise, what this country has become will need a lot more than God''s blessings to recover its greatness.

[charlieisdad]

Maybe, just maybe, the 40 percent would rather take a on an idiot backup to a 72 year old than throw away all chance on someone who has lied from the beginning. I have voted Democrat for 40 years but don''t trust Obama. Before you scream race, I have been raising 4 mixed race children for the past 4 years. I just can''t abide a liar.

[ddaymichael]

After suffering through eight years of imbecilic, partisan looting under Bush & Co, I would hope that the American people would recoil from the spectre of a Palin Presidency (a fairly likely scenario if McCain were to be elected)

She''s not only woefully ignorant, she''s arrogant about it, as only fascist rednecks can be arrogant, disparaging anyone with an education and a brain as being %u201Clibs%u201D and %u201Celitist.%u201D These creatures revel in their ignorance, proudly proclaiming it to the world on their bumper stickers, mud flaps and coffee mugs and shrieking about it in their right-wing, fundamentalist churches (where God is not a friend, He%u2019s an employee)

It%u2019s rather easy to feel smugly superior when you%u2019re too *** dumb to comprehend how second rate you really are.

[messiahx4eve]

and when wisdom, real courage, sense of fairness & fair play, compassion, and heart aren''t available, just steal an election and do things the "texass good ole'' boy" method, works best on the lower educated sector sickie rich populations such as King chimp, darth cheney, karevil rove. "Money buys neither a way into heaven nor a way out of hell." Enjoy it while you can chumps, hope it was worth it.

[jn122736]

Maybe, just maybe, the 40 percent would rather take a on an idiot backup to a 72 year old than throw away all chance on someone who has lied from the beginning. I have voted Democrat for 40 years but don''''t trust Obama. Before you scream race, I have been raising 4 mixed race children for the past 4 years. I just can''''t abide a liar.
Posted by charlieisdad at 07:20 PM : Nov 01, 2008
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Then you must have a real problem looking at yourself in the mirror!!!

[markangeloo]

No the flaw in democracy is that it cannot help but dumb down to the masses;
there is no nobility therefore no chance for noble thinking.
Trotsky dealt with this problem in communism :
was it worth it to save some noble ideas or art from the oppressive
slave owning classic age where entitlement was god given.
Things not possible with equality.

[samthetvcat]

This analyst is constantly crusading for one cause or another - CBS must share his ideology to put up with such aggressive interpretations of the law.

Here''s the real skinny - there are two types of philosophies of the role of the law. The first accepts it as it IS, a social contract used to promote social welfare that only needs interpretation where it''s ambiguous or silent. That''s utilitarianism.

Then second rejects law as it is and seeks to shape it into what it WISHES it to be. That''s advocacy.

Barack Obama has show evidence of his belief that the law is a tool to be used to turn the world into what he wishes it to be. He used the law to disqualify the incumbent who was favored to win re-election and all the other challengers so he could get his foot into the State Senate in the only way he could win. He has used the law as a weapon to attack commercials on technicalities of the groups who made them rather than address the claims on the lack of merits. He''s been caught most recently in a radio address talking about his frustration over the Constitution being unwielding in it''s designation of Congress as sole holders of the power of the purse, thereby allowing the Courts no wiggle room to provide economic redress.

I think too much is made of his Barack''s Constitutional scholarship given that he''s not on record having produced any. And the snippets we''ve seen of his philosophy aren''t ideas to which I think most people subscribe . . .

[flavia1965]

Now you will see all the rivals and enemies of the USA openly favoring Barack Obama, counting on our blindness and stupidity so we elect the other team -their team- and thus completing the economic and political ruin of this power in the coming four years. People, we are facing world class political chess players, appearances are deceiving. As in judo, you take advantage of the massive body of your opponent, his excess of confidence and ...his lack of brains. We need a political Kasparov on this one.

[flreason]

I agree that Palin''s lack of understanding of the U.S. Constitution is appalling, and should disqualify her as a candidate for the second-highest elected office in the country.

However, I wonder if attorney Andrew Cohen understands the difference between wisdom and knowledge. One would hope that a Vice Presidential candidate would have both a working KNOWLEDGE of the Constitution, and sufficient WISDOM to understand the threats to freedom that the Constitution was meant to address.

I''m also appalled that Cohen would identify the late Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas as William O''Douglas. Or is it that CBS''s journalistic standard has dropped so low that they don''t proofread the articles they publish, allowing that clerical error in content, along with a misspelling of penumbra attributed to Douglas, to be published on-line. If the Vice-Presidential candidate is to be held to a legal standard of "wisdom," the fourth estate should be held equally accountable for both content accuracy and an English language standard.

[waynester9]

Mr. Cohen obviously wasn''t paying very close attention to the VP responses given concerning the responsibilities of the Veep position. Palin''s responses were generally considered far more accurate than those of Biden -- who made several embarrassing gaffes. Biden has been in office far longer than Palin. Shouldn''t he be be more familiar with the duties of the Veep? Why is he getting a free pass? Mr. Cohen states that her answers "... would likely get Gov. Palin run out of any self-respecting law school ..." If that is so, then it seems rather certain that Mr. Cohen''s inability to get the story right would get him kicked out of any self-respecting journalism school.

[flreason]

bunwiper:

Fruit fly science may seem unnecessary to Sarah Palin, but it refers to the use of fruit flies to identify genetic traits. If Gov. Palin had actually researched the subject, instead of just memorizing ideological talking points without any understanding of the topic, she would have appreciated the benefit to agriculture and genetic disease understanding that they represent. A simple Internet search would have led her to a NASA web site about fruit fly studies that would have explained in easy-to-understand language why they are used in research. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/03feb_fruitfly.htm

BTW, if you''re suffering from a fruit fly infestation, it may be because you''re buying organic fruit that hasn''t been sprayed with insecticides, or because some species, through the process of natural selection that Palin and the evolutionary nay-sayers contest, have become resistant to the pesticides used to control them.

[skysoldier75]

It''s become quite apparent from the many ''abuse of power'' scandals that keep popping up, one after another, in Gov. Palin''s wake, that she never really even did her homework on the role of a state Governor, let alone delve into national Constitution issues.

So far she''s displayed a knowledge of government no deeper than that of your average grade-schooler.

Talk about "on the job training" carried far TOO far...

[doctor--o]

Democracy requires both knowledge and wisdom. A disconcertingly large percentage of the population possess neither yet believe just the opposite.

Instead many cling to what they choose to believe regardless of the facts. Even worse, facts are denigrated as biased if they disagree with what people choose to believe.

Stupidity compounded. That is the state of affairs.

The base of the Republican party thinks Sarah Palin is fantastic.

Need I say more.

[singlasalil8]

There is a huge amount of publicity about Sarah Palin and she%u2019s definitely no typical woman. Yet there is a lot about her that people don%u2019t know about. Dailysource.org has a lot of evidence on Palin%u2019s current political views and actions, which presents her high and low career points as Alaskan Governor. Go to http://dailysource.org/palinvideos to see it.

[wontread]

I''''m not thrilled she "blew" the answers to some of the WASHINGTON MEDIA ELITE''''S QUESTIONS, but I also would rather put someone in the Executive Branch who prefers a rural state than urban DC.

Posted by KristianInAL at 10:34 AM : Nov 02, 2008

Give me a break. Those were not media elite questions. They were basic civics issues. The role of the VP? The basic functioning of the first amendment? Any high school student should know the answer to those.

Furthermore, any Governor should know how the first amendment works, given that the first amendment applies to the states.

[hughema]

Palin couldn''t pass the citizenship test to get become a citizen of the United States, let alone a high school civics course. Sorry, Sarah. I will not be "hiring" you November 4th

[dburfears]

Ignorance of basic functioning of the U.S Government disqualifies this lightweight from being V.P.

[trohunt00]

"Palin''''s responses were generally considered far more accurate than those of Biden.."

Didn''t Biden say "VP is the tie-breaker in the Senate"? Isn''t that right? If I decide to become the new Agriculture commissioner and don''t know anything about farming, agriculture, or what the job entails, should the voters take me seriously? If someone asks me what I don''t like, I''ll either tell them or say I like them all? How hard is that? If her idea of what the 1st amendment is were correct, wouldn''t she and MCCain have violated Obama''s 1st amendment rights by criticizing him? The fact that so many people are wild about her is because they think, or don''t tdo much thinking, the same as her. And as a Black city guy, small towns ain''t exactly been loving to me when i''ve had to pass through. "Real America" indeed.

[p-syrus]

She is a "rural" Republican. She is from a state that was built and thrives on independent living and total right to control one''''s life.

Posted by KristianInAL


Cashed your state welfare check yet, Kristian?

Alaska, the ONLY state where every citizen is a welfare queen.


Mark A. Baker