Revealed: Sarah Palin doesn’t have a clue how to fish or shoot

One of the most damning allegations ever levelled against Sarah Palin came when daughter Bristol’s ex-boyfriend, Levi Johnson, told Vanity Fair that this self-proclaimed outdoorswoman has lied about her interest in fieldsports and doesn’t actually know one end of a fishing rod from another.

“People think that Sarah likes hunting, fishing and camping, but she doesn’t,” he told the magazine. “I’ve never seen her touch a fishing pole. She had a gun in her bedroom, and one day she asked me to show her how to shoot it.”

At the time, Johnston’s comments were dismissed as the embittered  of an attention-seeking teenager who had an axe to grind and a liberal media outlet willing to help him.

However this Sunday, America’s favourite “Mamma  Grizzly” will launch her reality TV show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska. And by the look of trailers screened here by TLC, Mr Johnston’s comments appear to bang on the money.

On 21 seconds, you will see Palin allegedly trying to catch salmon. Close examination of her equipment reveals that she is using a spinning rod and a reel (you can also see this in the screengrab above). This is significant: in the world of country pursuits, spinning is a dull and repetitive technique largely used by either children or complete beginners. Real afficianados prefer to fly fish, a more complex and absorbing style of fishing, which takes many years to master.

On 27 seconds, meanwhile, you will see Palin stand bolt upright in the boat. This is unsafe, likely destabilise the vessel, and something that anyone who’s spent significant amounts of time on water would simply never do. Especially when they’re a few yards from a potentially-dangerous bear and their children are also in the flat-bottomed craft.

Finally, on 1 minute 20 seconds, the camera cuts to a picture of her loading what appears to be a pump-action shotgun (a vulgar weapon that has no place in a civilised sporting armoury, though that’s another story). A seasoned shot would re-load their weapon with the muzzle facing towards the ground, for reasons of safety: if it accidentally goes off it won’t endanger anyone. She appears, however, to be holding it on her hip and waving it ahead of her like it’s a harmless toy. This is not the behaviour of someone who knows what they’re doing with a firearm.

From this admittedly-short trailer, I would therefore agree with Mr Johnston: the former Governor of Alaska has embellished her outdoorsy credentials, perhaps in an effort to appeal to red-necked portions of the Republican movement.

She looks, to me, like a woman who is completely inexperienced at fishing, shooting, using a boat, rock-climbing, moutnaineering, and all the other folksy pursuits she’s supposed to have mastered years ago.

When the full documentary airs, we could of course discover that the trailer is misleading and that Palin can cast a beautiful fly, is a lethal shot, and knows the Alaskan wilderness like the back of her hand. But on this evidence, I wouldn’t bet on it.

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• ministerial

  You are partially correct: no one is paying me to comment. Of course as a result, I have no journalistic standards to uphold. This, I find, makes it much easier to speak plain truth.So, as for whether Mrs. Palin is a paranoid Christianist demagogue, shall I break it down?:

  1. Paranoid. Read her. She pretty much believes anyone outside of Fox News who asks her a question is out to get her.
  2. Christianist. i.e. Christian Nationalist. c.f. “Real Americans.” c.f. America, love it or leave it. Would base laws on the Bible (ignoring the “render unto Caesar” part, it should be noted.)
  3. Demagogue. Lets just say that she leans hard into jingoism and away from long rational arguments with inquisitive questioners.

  Among educated Americans (and Europeans,) I reckon 85-90% wouldn’t vote for Palin for any public office, including most fiscal conservatives, hunters, and fishermen like myself. She’s a neocon embarrassment.

  Thanks be to God, should He exist and be the kind of god who enjoys a thorough thanking. Feel free to call me an elitist next. I won’t bother to argue (or reply.)

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_S4QEQI32R65VKKR57XGMQX7OKQ -

  Well, since you’ve already stated you’re not going to bother attempting a rational conversation, I won’t bother pointing out in great detail how absurd your comment was, but I will point this out: You brought out opinions – opinions most people, including people who don’t like her politics, disagree with. (I refer to the “Christianist,” “paranoid,” and the like.) You did not bring out facts. You cited nothing. You spat out the stereotypical insults Leftists spit out. You pulled numbers and “most people think like me” generalizations out of thin air even though actual polls exist contradicting your assertions. Then you stomp off saying “la la la, I’m not listening.” You were not remotely convincing. You were, in a word, pathetic.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_J2QS4O4XE3NAZTVMZQ5FGWJ4DM Dan Bloom

  Hey dingbat! You dont fly fish with kids in the boat. It would be a good way to really injure them. I am an avid fly fisherman. However at the pond or in our canoe with my 3 and 4 year olds, you use a spinning reels much more efficient use of space.

• Yoshi

  Guy Adams must be a clueless city slickin’ sissy. Palin has hunted and fished all her life as documented repeatedly. It’s laughable that Adams quotes the rejected, embittered, pretty boy Johnston to make his feeble case. Some “men”, like Guy Adams, are simply threatened by strong women.

• os2mac

  Lest someone let you off without thinking that population control is necessary evil, allow me to demonstrate why. http://www.adn.com/2010/11/07/1542141/bolder-wolves-fray-residents-nerves.html

• http://twitter.com/estherxqop estherxqop

  hey MORON…. if someone is such a BIG-TIME writer… he might look over his words before he submitted them to his BIG-TIME newspaper….just a thought…. since Sarah has to suffer such ultra criticism you will get it back…go to the huffington post and spew your hatred….

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RODRGVYRLJBC3IOYXLH3LZP6KQ NB

  >”…a pump-action shotgun (a vulgar weapon that has no place in a civilised sporting armoury, though that’s another story).”

  What’s your other story? I’d love to hear it. As a pheasant and a turkey hunter from the Midwest, (and for the record no supporter of Palin,) I can tell you that a pump action shotgun is one that requires a tremendous amount of skill and offers very few second chances. (But we don’t typically do caged hunts for our pheasant like you British people so what do I know?)
  Your aire of superiority is alienating and unnecessary and your article is very obviously strained. I believe you thought you had a point to make when you sat down at your computer to type, but then quickly lost it. Better luck next time Guy.