BS in Journalism from Idaho University - Class of 1984

[FrenchieCat]

That's what John McCain has put before our country.

Out of 300 million Americans, this is what he offers us.

It is McCain first, country last for McCain.

We, the people, are not amused! :(

[Blondiegrrl]

1. I have a B.A. in journalism, class of 1994.

Why didn't Obama pick me?

:shrug:

[seabeyond]

20. ah hahahah. cute. and i am a mom, can i be nominee. n/t

[XemaSab]

2. To play devil's advocate: the last person with a degree in journalism

was Al Gore.

[bbinacan]

3. Good point. n/t

[K Gardner]

10. Really, its not so good a point.. here's Gore's "resume" up to the point

the beauty queen is at now. We fall into the trap to equate her on any level with Gore OR Obama.

----His father, Al Gore, Sr., was also a senator from Tennessee and exposed his young son to the likes of John F. Kennedy and Sam Rayburn. He attended Washington's elite St. Albans School and went on to Harvard, where he roomed with actor Tommy Lee Jones. He graduated in 1969 and married Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Aitcheson in 1970. (The nickname comes from Tipper's favorite childhood lullaby "Tippy Tippy Tin.") He and Tipper met at his senior prom. The Gores have four children, Karenna Gore Schiff, Kristin, Sarah, and Al III. Karenna recently gave birth to a son, Wyatt, the Gores' first grandchild.

On Christmas day in 1971, Gore left for Vietnam and served as a reporter for the "Stars and Stripes" for six months. When he returned, he worked as an investigative reporter with the Nashville Tennessean from 1971-1976 and took courses at Vanderbilt University's divinity and law schools.

He was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976 and won easy reelection in 1978, 1980, and 1982. As a representative he served on the House Intelligence Committee and spent eight hours a week pouring over arms-control literature. His paper, published in Congressional Quarterly, concluded that the single-warhead missile could help stem the nuclear arms race.

In 1985, Gore won the senate seat vacated by Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, Jr. and served two terms. He launched a bid for the presidency in 1987. On Super Tuesday in 1988 he won the primaries in five southern states, but he wasn't able to maintain the momentum and dropped out of the race.

[FrenchieCat]

5. I could have sworn not.....

Gore was involved in American politics for over three decades, serving first in the U. S. House of Representatives (1977–85) and later in the U. S. Senate (1985–93) (representing Tennessee) before becoming vice president.

Gore joined Harvard University in 1965, the only college he had applied to.

As a freshman, Gore planned to be an English major and was working on a novel.<19> He was not tremendously engaged in his studies until the upheavals of 1968 and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Gore took a political science course, developed an interest in politics, and changed his major to government.

Gore graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government cum laude on June 12, 1969.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Gore

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

9. True, but he went to law school as well.

[Left Is Write]

13. He didn't get a law degree, but yes, he went to law school.

[Cha]

33. Like Frenchie wrote..palin has a BS in

Journalism because that is what she's about.. BullShit.

[chatnoir]

59. I thought it was in a degree in Government

at Harvard? And then later Law at Vanderbilt? :shrug:

[Condem]

4. U of Idaho

The Harvard of the Big Sky.

[SoxFan]

7. See, this is the shit that pisses me off

The snarky references to a state college education.

Bash Palin for her lack of political experience. Bash her far-right views. bash her support for anti-semite Pat Buchanan.

But making an issue of where she went to school makes you look like a petty, elitist asshole.

[K Gardner]

11. Its not WHERE she went to college, its the fact there's little after that to

prepare her for where she is now.

[Left Is Write]

15. I agree. It's not where she went to school. It's the thin resume after that.

So I do wish people would stop harping on the fact that she went to U of I. She's grossly underqualified, but it isn't because her degree came from U of I.

[SoxFan]

19. Then let's stick to that

We don't need snobbish comments about the University of Idaho. There are a hell of a lot more graduates of the University of Arkansas (the Harvard of the Ozarks), Texas Tech (the Harvard of Lubbock), and the University of Delaware (the Harvard of the Delmarva peninsula) than there are actual Harvard grads.

[goodgd_yall]

52. I also agree with that

To just focus on her degree and where she got it in comparison to what we're used to is a weak argument. But it is valid to look at what she's done since then. If she were especially brilliant and a "natural" in leadership, vision, and getting things done, her slim educational resume wouldn't matter. But the truth is, she seems to have bungled things in the positions that she has held. Besides, she's on the wrong side.

[BlooInBloo]

18. If you're unable to think deeply, I can understand that....

UI ranks 98th out of 100 on the top 100 value schools list. She's a journalism major, which means not bright.

You can whine about the criticism being about *all* public schools, but it's just not so. It's just UI and her major that we're talking about.

Now if anyone can find her place in class...



EDIT: I gave UI too much credit. It's 98th, not 96th.

[SoxFan]

23. You might want to research Biden's academic career

Before you start equating class rank and GPA with political competence, you need to think long and hard about what you are doing. Joe Biden, by his own admission, sucked as a law student. Having endured three years of that particular brand of hell myself, with similar results, i can understand why. Some people are temperamentally better in the real world than in a classroom setting.

Oh, and where did Harry Truman earn his degree? What about Barack Obama's fellow Illinoisan, Paul Simon?

This business of bashing Palin for attending the University of Idaho is foolish, antidemocratic, and politically counterproductive.

[BlooInBloo]

24. Silliness.

[Left Is Write]

37. My brother-in-law...

is a psychologist. He was a success for 9 years as staff psychologist at a private college. He has now entered private practice specializing in sleep disorders. He is a highly intelligent, thoughtful person who has achieved a great deal as a young man (he's only barely old enough to run for president himself). Where did he get his undergrad degree? University of Idaho.

My sister is a financial specialist, a director in her company, supervising over a hundred employees. She is a smart business woman who is responsible for huge revenue for her company. Where did she get her degree? University of Idaho.

I'll gladly attack Palin for being grossly underqualified for the job of Vice President. I won't, however, attack the University of Idaho.

[Left Is Write]

40. Journalism major means "not bright"?

So that goes for all journalism majors, not just Sarah Palin?

[BlooInBloo]

64. Outside of a set of epsilon-ish-ly small measure, yes.

[smartvoter]

67. ROTF. Journalism = not too bright?

This kind of sweeping statement is so ignorant that it's not even worth debating. And that Kiplinger ranking is a list of the 100 best values in public college, not the best "value schools." And those rankings are always questionable because often it depends on what you study. The 85th ranked school in that list has the Number 2 ranked school paper in the country behind Yale) if you want to stick with your journalism theme. (Oh, that's right, journalism is for idiots...)

Plus, I don't care if someone had to scrape by at community college and the University of Phoenix. More power to anyone who gets it done however he or she has to in his/her life circumstance, and shame on anyone for saying otherwise.

I want Palin as VP like I want glass in my cereal, but it has nothing to do with where she went to school. Look at that little gem Harvard and Yale has given us in the oval office right now.

[Berry Cool]

44. "She's a journalism major, which means not bright"?

My, are some of us here snobs...

[Sebastian Doyle]

65. While I don't necessarily agree with the sentiment

Considering what passes for "journalism" these days, it would be easy to assume there isn't much brightness involved.

On the other hand, the one consistent rational voice on cable news for the last several years was formerly a "sports journalist". (No I don't know where Keith Olbermann went to school, but it probably wasn't Idaho)

[sandnsea]

21. Uh, I went to school in Missoula

There is no doubt in my mind that I didn't get a Harvard Education. I'm sure there are plenty of DUers who will be more than happy to chime in and agree with me. I think it's a mistake to make fun of her eating moose and some other things I've seen around here, but she did not get a world class education at the University of Idaho.

[SoxFan]

25. I live in New England

Surrounded by "elite" schools. With the exception of MIT, most of them are no more challenging than UNH or UMass.

[sandnsea]

29. Those are top schools too

UMass is 50th and UNH is 56th. Idaho isn't even on the list, nor is Missoula. Some state schools are better than others. University of Idaho isn't even on the list.

[SoxFan]

31. Screw those foolish lists

The criteria are fuzzy, and the methodology skews against schools with large commuter and non-trad populations. The "Urban 13" institutions tend to get shafted in the US News and Gourman ratings year in and year out because of lower endowment funding and the "graduate in 4 years" criteria.

[GoesTo11]

36. There are profs who will give you a Harvard education at a Missoula

And there are profs at Harvard who don't teach anything. But it's fair to say that Obama's being president of the Harvard Law Review really is noteworthy - people who do that go on to the supreme court and like that. The Idaho degree doesn't really signify anything good or bad. As a substitute for Hillary, though, Idaho BS in J isn't the same as 1st in class at Yale Law School (also by any definition impressive) either.

[Major Hogwash]

61. In the early 80s, the U of I was a well-known party college.

So, I doubt if Palin even remembers going to class there.

[Major Hogwash]

62. The U of I won Playboy's "party college of the US" contest 10 years in a row and was retired

from being entered as a contestant anymore.

The school was retired to Playboy's "Hall of Fame" for party colleges.

The U of I was notorious for holding parties that lasted through the next day and into a 2nd night.

Many professors attended some of these parties and wound up too drinl to teach class there the next day.

I had many, many friends go to the U of I just because of the party atmosphere there.

[Major Hogwash]

66. But, you're not the one on McCain's "Straight to Hell" express train!

Nobody was saying anything about Missoula.

[FrenchieCat]

22. Look, in America, anyone can be what they aim to be.....

but putting a little work up front is how it normally works.

I believe that we need "highly" educated people in government.
Certainly there are some dumb people with a lot of degrees too....
But I wouldn't rate her as a natural genius with 4 years of college
under her belt.

If Obama had gotten his BS from Occidental college in Black Studies,
I'd be having a real problem with that.

[Berry Cool]

42. I am tired of:

--the snarky references to a state college education

--the snarky references to a journalism degree, as if it's for only stupid people or lightweights or "BS" or easy.

That said, the University of Idaho is not known for its journalism school.

How relevant that is when talking about a future VP, I don't know. But I'm getting quite tired of the "state school graduate = airhead" and "journalism school graduate = airhead" memes.

And yeah, I have reasons for taking this crap personally. Although I have a private-school degree, too.

[Left Is Write]

I have reasons for taking it personally too.

[FrenchieCat]

8. Or something like that.

A master would have been nice....perhaps in Business or Government or something.

[justiceischeap]

6. We can't really attack her on the education front IMO

Just because her educational credentials aren't what we're used to seeing from a politician doesn't mean she's not intelligent. Besides, Shrub has a Masters in Business and look what a wreck he is.

[seabeyond]

17. we cant talk about that either. do tell... what else can we NOT talk about. rove LOVES

you

[justiceischeap]

28. Oh come on, be realistic for a moment.

Thomas Edison, one of our greatest inventors never went to college. I'm just saying it's a weak argument. Whether you like her politics or not, she became Governor of a state with that puny little BA in Journalism.

Go out and tell all the people in the middle-class without college degrees (or less-distinguished degrees) that they aren't capable of improving their lives or doing as well as the next guy 'cause they don't have a piece of paper.

And Rove wouldn't love me, for one I'm a big old dyke, two, I'm a liberal who knows how to pick her arguments that will have the most impact and this argument is a loser that will alienate people. It's been said many times, there are many things we can use to rip her apart, her education isn't one of them.

Some examples that, IMO, are much more important:

Lack of interest in World Politics
Not knowing what a VP does
Her Ethics violation allegations
Leaving a town of 6,000 people in a hole to the tune of $20mil
Married to Big Oil (literally)
Actually supported the bridge to nowhere before reversing her stance

[seabeyond]

32. i dont really care. we just had a dumb ass bush, evident mccain is a dumbass

i dont want another intellectual lite.

is she.... she can prove otherwise to me but at this point she is short on education. i want more.

now you are another one putting out exactly what we are suppose to talk about according to you. where are ALL you who have to direct and guide the board on where to go

fuck that shit

[seabeyond]

34. in all your wisdom, i have repug country males here that are going to be unimpressed by her degree

in journalism. you can say how it is a non issue and how clever you are at picking the battles, but you are way off if you dont think the upper crust republican that is pissed at bush, can handle obama cause they aren't bigots are not going to be underwhelmed by that education

[justiceischeap]

38. I too am underwhelmed by her degree however

That is the least of her problems (and it doesn't speak to whether or not she is actually intelligent).

Obviously you can harp about what you want and I can harp about what I want, it's just that her BA in Journalism, IMO, isn't the biggest issue she can be hammered on and I think the majority of us know that. That said, most people do not vote on the issues, they vote on whether or not the like the candidate. A friend of mine told me today she was excited about Edwards because "he was handsome." She could have given two shits about anything else and she is not in the minority.

[seabeyond]

41. difference being is i am not telling you what to talk about and what not to talk about

you on the other hand are telling me to let this go

i can talk about many and all the things and the people i am talking about are intellectual enough they will be able to grasp the MANY relevent things about this woman that shows she is not capable of stepping into white house as a pres.

[justiceischeap]

45. Good for you! IMO, her degree doesn't disqualify her. Her positions or lackthereof do (nt)

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. She should be Press Sec'y, not Veep

[BlooInBloo]

14. Yup - she's very dim - was the first thing I looked up.

[seabeyond]

16. and she is a point guard and was in beauty contest.... really dont sell her short

i am appalled that such a limited education is what could run this nation.

[BigAnth]

27. And she plays the flute too!!!!!!!!! Don't forget that!

That's what CNN included in her list of accomplishments. Not sure whether this was done tongue-in-cheek or whether they thought this was important. It was probably her talent for the Miss Alaska contest.

[pettypace]

26. BA in Pol Sci from Wyoming Univ - class of 1965

None other than Richard B Cheney.

GOP has a history of this - lookup Dan Quayle's alma mater.

[totodeinhere]

30. Harry Truman was only a high school graduate and he turned out to be a great president.

Let's get Palin on the issues, not her educational background.

[Vattel]

39. Truman was a mass murderer n/t

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

63. I couldn't disagree with you more (in an amicable, friendly way)

Back in Truman's day, it was not unusual for CEO's to have high school educations. The world was much less sophisticated. Also, dare I say that the quality of the average high school student in the United States was better in Harry Truman's day than it is now. Nowadays, a college degree is virtually required to do anything of importance. What do you learn in high school that can equip you to be President in the current era?

I fail to see how people can say that a college degree means nothing. To me, it means everything. Barack Obama, for example, is an intellectual and I honor him for it. A Harvard law degree and the honor of being President of the Law Review are significant intellectual accomplishments. I'm tired of ma and pa in the ozark mountains telling us they want an idiot to be president with whom they can identify and have a beer. Being President of the United States is one of the most intellectually taxing jobs you will find. It requires someone who has been educated from the tips of their fingers to the ends of their toes. It requires someone who is widely read and who has been exposed to intensely challenging thinking and decision-making processes and who has learned to see problems from several angles. You just don't get that from today's typical high school education.

[BlooInBloo]

35. I want the smartest motherfucker in the room. A journalism major from UI...

isn't the smartest motherfucker in ANY room.

Except maybe the bathroom. If she's alone.

[seabeyond]

43. i want smart too...... god i need smart. i am desperate for smart. n/t

[Berry Cool]

47. I have two journalism degrees, BlooInBloo.

Bachelor's and master's.

And I have always been the smartest motherfucker in the room.

Your prejudices, OTOH, don't make YOU look like such a smart motherfucker.

[justiceischeap]

48. It's classist to state a degree in journalism makes a person unintelligent. (eom)

[BlooInBloo]

51. Grats.

[QC]

57. Could you please post your CV

so that we can know whether we should take you seriously?

[BlooInBloo]

58. I could, but I believe in my right to anonymity just like everyone else....

I have degrees of varying levels in philosophy and mathematics, though, if that suffices for you.


EDIT: But the decision as to whether or not you take someone on the internet seriously is wholly your own.

[Berry Cool]

60. Well, if you don't mean to be taken seriously,

why post stuff like this?

[CitizenPatriot]

46. yes, it is pertinent

because they are telling people she is a "constitutionalist".

yes, you heard me right.

you realize their base never read the thing and doesn't realize the whole separation of church and state issue exists or that obama is a constitutional lawyer.....or that she is claiming ex privilege to avoid being accountable in the abuse of power investigation.

so, I bring her education up in response to that, coupled with having NO experience -- 1.5 years as governor and already being investigated isn't exactly "experience" you can count on, now is it? or, is it? That sounds like Bush, so I guess it is reliable in its abuse.

[Berry Cool]

50. Well, I consider myself a constitutionalist

and I would wager most graduates of legitimate journalism schools do.

After all, if you attend journalism school you are taught that the First Amendment is sacred. And there's really no reason to believe the First Amendment is sacred if you don't believe the rest of the Constitution is sacred, too.

I have serious doubts that Palin is a "constitutionalist." In her case, that's probably just a code word for "against 'activist judges' who would interpret the Constitution in liberal ways I personally disagree with because I am a conservative."

[CitizenPatriot]

56. ha ha!

Of course her journalism degree doesn't mean she can't be a constitutionalist -- it's more that the msm is selling her as such, based on nothing, while they IGNORE the few actions we have to judge her on, which say clearly she doesn't give a hoot about the paper the thing was written on. NO insult to your degree intended AT ALL! Sorry if I wasn't clear enough! This made me mad, and I tend to write fast and furious when I'm mad:-)

I think you are right -- their definition is different, but it is inaccurate....I mean, you can't go around preaching about teaching creationism in schools and blowing off accountability and transparency and claim you are a constitutionalist! someone has to point out that you are what you DO, damn it!

[ellie]

49. How can she be class of 1984?

Isn't she 44? She would have graduated from high school in 1982 or 1983, then attended college for four years. I am 43 and I graduated high school in 1983.

[pettypace]

53. Sarah is class of 1987

per the UI website. So she finished at age 23 presumably.

[Berry Cool]

54. Where does the information that she graduated in 1984 come from?

I have found at least one says she graduated in '87. Come to think of it, I think that's what KO said too.

Do keep in mind, regardless, that not everyone graduates from high school at age 17 or 18, and not everyone who goes to college goes straight out of high school or completes college in exactly four years. So when someone appears to have a college degree in what sounds like a "suspicious" year to you, it's not necessarily incorrect or deliberately false information about either graduation year or age.

[ellie]

55. i was just going off

what the OP wrote. 1987 makes more sense.