Did Palin not understand the meaning of the expression 'Achilles heel'?

[Lucy Goosey]

She used the question to talk about how wonderful she is, which I at first had assumed was just a Dubya-like inability to admit any faults, but it occured to me later that she might not have actually understood the question. Thoughts?

[NMDemDist2]

1. I don't think she did

another DUer brought that up last night and I re-read her answer and I truly don't thing she understood the term

[opihimoimoi]

2. She is clever in FOOLING people with mems and BS winks.

A very shallow person...not astute at all.

[Buzz Clik]

3. Damn good thing she doesn't have a dog named Achilles...

... or her answer might have been really strange.

[Uben]

4. Your darned tootin she knew what it meant

....and I want to get back to that energy question.....As governor of Alaska, blah, blah, blah!

[Cass]

5. I'm pretty sure she didn't understand it.

The way she responded to the question made me realize she had no idea what it meant.

[SheilaT]

6. I'm inclined to agree.

She sort of listened to Biden's answer, and because of how she was prepped for this "debate", she followed the instructions about only saying positive things about herself and her record.

Too bad the follow-up question by Ifill wasn't, "Please define 'Achilles heel'."

And too bad that Ifill wouldn't or couldn't challenge the way Palin didn't really answer most questions.

[lonestarnot]

7. No she did not. She apparently knows nothing about western civilization.

:shrug: Questions on that were off limits. :D

[WeDidIt]

8. C'mon, she HAD TO read The Ilad.

Right?

Uh, .... nevermind.

[AllentownJake]

10. or at least seen Troy

:rofl:

[WeDidIt]

13. Ooooooh, and the star of that movie is named "Brad"

:evilgrin:

[Tanuki]

9. I had the distinct impression she didn't know what it meant.

I think she has a very low level of cultural literacy, apart from pop culture and right wing push points.

[DefenseLawyer]

11. She didn't care what the questions were.

She had 7 or 8 answers ready and regardless of the question she had to give one of those answers.

[smoogatz]

12. She's an undereducated pinhead.

But I think she understood the question. I'm guessing she was coached to expect a question about her greatest weakness, and told to use it as an opportunity to talk about her strengths.

[ITsec]

14. She had only 10 answers memorized...

and was only able to function within that narrow parameter.

Achilles Heel? Answer: "John McCain and I are mavericks, dontchaknow."

[TornadoTN]

15. It wasn't a question she wanted to answer so she just answered one she wanted to instead

She did it all night, repeating the same talking points and disjointed screed with her pathetic, forced mannerisms.

She probably knew the question, it just didn't fit *her* agenda, so she just did what she wanted to anyway. Way to go Gwen Ifil, great job on keeping the debate on topic!

[RichGirl]

16. No she doesn't. Just as I don't understand any question so I'll give my canned answer:

Here is my rehearsed and memorized statement about the debate:
Think of all the bad actresses you know, soap operas, B movies, Lifetime movies, Tori Spelling, etc....EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM COULD HAVE DONE WHAT SARAH PALIN DID LAST NIGHT. They could have spent weeks memorizing answers written by other people. When asked a question that they didn't have an answer for, they simply fill in with a canned answer or lines from speeches. Tori could play the part, but if ET stuck a microphone in her face and asked her a real question, she would sound just like Palin with Couric.

Palin's performance grades:

As potential POTUS - F
As an actress - C (But she shows promise...the Lifetime Network should snap her up!)

[Sannum]

17. She didn't know what it was.

[tinrobot]

18. Gewn Ifill pretty much gave her a definition

She told Palin that her Achille's heel was her inexperience.

I think Palin understood the gist of the question. She simply decided to not answer the question humbly by admitting her faults and instead decided to puff herself up.

[cyndensco]

20. Exactly,

Ifill gave her an example of what others were suggesting was her Achille's Heel - her inexperience - and she couldn't even use logic to determine an Achille's Heel was a negative. It was obvious she was clueless.

Pat Buchanan later erroneously/deviously assigned her 'caving when signing the Alaskan budget against her best judgment' response to the Achille's Heel question.

[Arkansas Granny]

19. Her answer would indicate that she was not familiar with the expression.