Sarah Palin

[blzrul]

Are you going to fly to NYC for another new outfit if Obama, Inc. wins?

 

 

What with Nordstrom's flagship store 20 minutes away?

 

[elegantelliotoffen]

I can't wait for this video to come out!

 

Of concern to McCain's campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin's interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing.

 

The Palin aide, after first noting how "infuriating" it was for CBS to purportedly leak word about the gaffe, revealed that it came in response to a question about Supreme Court decisions.

 

After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases.

 

There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence.

 

As a conservative you'd think that she's at least know Kelo!

[Kelly the Dog]

The gift that just keeps giving... Tonight's interview with Couric, Palin and McCain...

The interview began with a question about an incident on Saturday in Philadelphia, in which a voter in a restaurant asked Ms. Palin about cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan.

 

She had said she approved of such attacks, to “stop the terrorists from coming any further in,” which is the position of Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee.

 

Asked if she and Mr. McCain were “on the same page” on this subject, Ms. Palin said:

 

“We had a great discussion with President Zardari as we talked about what it is that America can and should be doing together to make sure that the terrorists do not cross borders and do not ultimately put themselves in a position of attacking America again or her allies. And we will do what we have to do to secure the United States of America and her allies.”

 

Ms. Couric noted that Mr. McCain had said earlier that such attacks were not something that should be discussed out loud, and asked him again: “Is that something you shouldn’t say out loud, Senator McCain?”

 

Mr. McCain said: “Of course not. But, look, I understand this day and age ‘gotcha’ journalism. Is that a pizza place? In a conversation with someone who you didn’t hear — the question very well, you don’t know the context of the conversation. Grab a phrase. Governor Palin and agree that you don’t announce that you’re going to attack another country.”

 

Ms. Couric asked Ms. Palin if she was sorry she had made the statement, but Mr. McCain jumped in.

 

“Wait a minute,” he said. “Before you say, ‘is she sorry she said it,’ this was a ‘gotcha’ sound bite that, look …”

 

Ms. Couric said it was not a “gotcha” moment and that the question was tossed out by a voter, not a journalist.

 

“No,” Mr. McCain said. “She was in a conversation with a group of people and talking back and forth. And, I’ll let Governor Palin speak for herself.”

 

Ms. Palin said that Mr. McCain was “absolutely right on.”

 

She added: “In the context, this was a voter, a constituent, hollering out a question from across an area asking, ‘What are you gonna do about Pakistan?

 

You better have an answer to Pakistan.’ I said we’re gonna do what we have to do to protect the United States of America.”

 

Ms. Couric said: “But you were pretty specific about what you wanted to do, cross-border … .”

 

Ms. Palin said: “Well, as Senator McCain is suggesting here, also, never would our administration get out there and show our cards to terrorists, in this case, to enemies and let them know what the game plan was, not when that could ultimately adversely affect a plan to keep America secure.”

 

Ms. Couric asked her what she had learned from the experience.

 

“That this is all about ‘gotcha’ journalism,” she said, smiling. “A lot of it is,” she said, quickly adding, “But that’s O.K., too.”

[Johnny Coli]

The gift that just keeps giving... Tonight's interview with Couric, Palin and McCain...

So she blew a question shouted to her from a kid in a pizza shop. That's "gotcha" journalism? What a joke. It's almost like they're purposely pushing the bar so low that anything aside from her drooling and hitting herself in the face will be considered a victory in Thursday's debate.

 

And the McCain campaign is no longer allowed to accuse anyone of being sexist in how they handle Palin. Not when McCain is going to talk over her during interviews.

[Kelly the Dog]

So she blew a question shouted to her from a kid in a pizza shop. That's "gotcha" journalism? What a joke. It's almost like they're purposely pushing the bar so low that anything aside from her drooling and hitting herself in the face will be considered a victory in Thursday's debate.

 

And the McCain campaign is no longer allowed to accuse anyone of being sexist in how they handle Palin. Not when McCain is going to talk over her during interviews.

It's amazing they allow her to open her mouth...

 

Here's the latest...

 

Katie Couric: You made a funny comment, you've said you have been listening to Joe Biden's speeches since you were in second grade.

 

 

Gov. Palin: It's been since like '72, yah.

 

Katie Couric: You have a 72-year-old running mate, is that kind of a risky thing to say, insinuating that Joe Biden's been around awhile?

 

Gov. Palin: Oh no, it's nothing negative at all. He's got a lot of experience and just stating the fact there, that we've been hearing his speeches for all these years. So he's got a tremendous amount of experience and, you know, I'm the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he's got the experience based on many many years in the Senate and voters are gonna have a choice there of what it is that they want in these next four years.

Ummm... Sarah? Do you understand what you say?

[Lurker]

Ummm... Sarah? Do you understand what you say?

I get the sense she speaks 'general electorate,' which is a devolutionary offshoot of the english language used by 70% of the voting public. So in that regard, I suppose she does.

[Mike in Syracuse]

The gift that just keeps giving... Tonight's interview with Couric, Palin and McCain...

 

It's hard to believe but Palin actually makes Paris Hilton look like an absolute genius. The fact that she's on the ticket should be an utter embarassment to every Republican.

 

McCain speaks often about how he puts "country first". Apparently that doesn't apply to your VP choice. Anyone that defends this misfit is a pathetic shill for the party.

[Kelly the Dog]

It's hard to believe but Palin actually makes Paris Hilton look like an absolute genius. The fact that she's on the ticket should be an utter embarassment to every Republican.

 

McCain speaks often about how he puts "country first". Apparently that doesn't apply to your VP choice. Anyone that defends this misfit is a pathetic shill for the party.

You can't make this stuff up, and it's time after time after time. I really find it almost impossible to believe that serious people are taking this person seriously.

 

Katie Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious: what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Sarah Palin: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

KC: But, like, what ones specifically? I'm curious.

SP: All of 'em, any of 'em that have beenin front of me over al these years.

KC: Can you name a few?

SP: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news too. Alaska isn't a foreign country, where, it's kind of suggested and it seems like, 'Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C. may be thinking and doing when you live up there in Alaska?' Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

[molson_golden2002]

She couldn't think of the name of one damn newspaper? Then she just won't shut up, blah, blah, blah. Imagine if McCain pulls this off and dies the first day

 

What fun!

[elegantelliotoffen]

She couldn't think of the name of one damn newspaper? Then she just won't shut up, blah, blah, blah. Imagine if McCain pulls this off and dies the first day

 

What fun!

 

[molson_golden2002]

I can't view youtube here

[TPS]

It's amazing they allow her to open her mouth...

 

Here's the latest...

 

 

Ummm... Sarah? Do you understand what you say?

It's becoming difficult to tell whether I'm watching "real news" or another SNL skit....

[pBills]

"I've debated Governor Palin more than two dozen times. And she's a master, not of facts, figures, or insightful policy recommendations, but at the fine art of the nonanswer, the glittering generality. Against such charms there is little Senator Biden, or anyone, can do."

 

Found that quote to be funny.

[Johnny Coli]

Interesting article (NYT via MSNBC) on Palin's debate style.

Ms. Palin often spoke in generalities and showed scant aptitude for developing arguments beyond a talking point or two. Her sentences were distinguished by their repetition of words, by the use of the phrase “here in Alaska” and for gaps. On paper, her sentences would have been difficult to diagram.

 

John Bitney, the policy director for her campaign for governor and the main person who helped prepare her for debates, said her repetition of words was “her way of running down the clock as her mind searches for where she wants to go.”

 

These tendencies could fuzz her meaning and lead her into linguistic cul-de-sacs. She often used less than her allotted time and ended her answers abruptly.

 

When questioned about the nuts and bolts of governing, Ms. Palin tended to avoid specifics and instead fell back on her core values: a broadly conservative philosophy and a can-do spirit.

 

This explains why she looked so bad in the few interviews she's done. In the Couric interviews, specifically, she just seems to blurt out a few non-specific talking points, often having no relevence to the actual question, and fills up the rest of what would be dead air with bizarre referrals to Alaska or whatever else pops into her head.

 

An example from the article:

“My attitude and my approaches towards dealing with the complexities of health care issues,” she said in an AARP debate in October 2006, “is a respectful and responsible approach, and it’s a positive approach. I don’t believe that the sky is falling here in Alaska.”

 

It's very simlar to her bordering-on-ignorant answer to Couric's bailout question last week:

Ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up the economy– Oh, it’s got to be about job creation too. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions.

 

I expect more of the same on Thursday. The McCain campaign lobbied for, and got a change to the debate format that allows for two-minute answers and no direct questions between the debaters. I think her answers will be very short on specifics of any kind, will stick to a handfull of pocket talking points, and will generalize in a way that appeals to the base. Her strength is that she appears to be "like everyone else," a style that appeals to many who go to the polls. It's almost a given that the chattering monkeys in the post-debate analysis will give her a tie or win against Biden simply because the bar has been set so low.

 

For anyone who knows even a glancing amount of info regarding some of the issues that will come up in the debate, I'm sure many will be stabbing themselves in the eyes because Palin's answers will amount to nothing more than neocon talking points and gibberish. I've described it before as akin to a high school student answering an essay question on an exam. Repeat the question to fill up space, then spew everything and anything you know about the subject, however general or whether it has anything to do with the question, and hope to get two or three points out of ten.

 

If she sounds like she did in the Gibson and Couric interviews, even after the absurdly low expectations, the massive amount of prep and the very forgiving debate format, then even the most biased fan-boys in her party will be hard-pressed to declare victory. In any event, this debate is going to define her political career. If she does well and McCain goes down in flames in the election, then she'll be gunning for the GOP '12 nomination. If she falls flat, her career in politics and her excruciating and shrill 15 minutes of fame are essentially over.

[Ramius]

Its getting painful to try and watch her answer questions. As was said above, if you played the sound bytes without showing the video, i'd have a very difficult time determining which clip was really from Palin and which was from the SNL skit.

[X. Benedict]

Its getting painful to try and watch her answer questions. As was said above, if you played the sound bytes without showing the video, i'd have a very difficult time determining which clip was really from Palin and which was from the SNL skit.

 

At least for some her poor appearances are proof positive that she can never get a fair shake.

 

The worse she does the more proof they have that the media is out to get her.

 

Poor girl.

[PastaJoe]

When Coric asked her about banning abortions even after rape or incest, she kept referring to what she would personally do in such cases, but wouldn't say what her policy would be. The same thing when asked about teaching alternatives to evolution in science class. She needs to be pressed on what her policy recommendations would be, not on what she would personally choose.

[Johnny Coli]

At least for some her poor appearances are proof positive that she can never get a fair shake.

 

The worse she does the more proof they have that the media is out to get her.

 

Poor girl.

It's a perpetuating narrative that the GOP has become very skillfull at. They've driven it home into the consciousness of the American viewer or reader that the media has a strong and overwhelming anti-GOP bias. This has done two things very successfully for them over the past dozen years.

 

One, it immediately inoculates them against any damaging article or investigative journalism, however factual, from such longtime above-the-board news sources as the Washington Post, the New York Times, 60 Minutes, CBS, NBC, etc. This allows them to easily swipe away any damage simply by labling it as a "liberal media hit-piece." It is at the point now where many, including even those on this message board, will immediately dismiss the information as biased just because it comes from the NYT, etc, and they won't even read the article's content.

 

Second, it has resulted in an over-compensation effect in the media, where they have gone to extremes to not look biased in their reporting, and in even some cases where information is parsed to not sound as damaging. Very few hard questions have been asked by the press over the past eight years, leading to many of the White House press corps, among others, to look like administration flunkies, rather than actual journalists. When one does ask a penetrating question, as Helen Thomas often did/does, that person is immediately labeled a "liberal-biased reporter" and viewed with contempt.

 

In the case of Palin, they immediately portrayed the media as nothing more than frenzied paparazzi and National Enquirer-like garbage diggers. Right from the start, even a simple question about her record in Alaska was been met with obstruction, and any criticism, however warranted, has been brushed aside as sexism. Palin will get a free ride tomorrow night because the narrative that the media is out to get her has already been established. This isn't a new phenomenon.

[molson_golden2002]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columni...,3151779.column

 

WASHINGTON — Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a Dumpster, but since she didn't, I should "off" myself.

 

Those are just a few nuggets randomly selected from thousands of e-mails written in response to my column suggesting that Sarah Palin is out of her league and should step down.

 

Who says public discourse hasn't deteriorated?

The fierce reaction to my column has been both bracing and enlightening. After 20 years of column writing, I'm familiar with angry mail. But the past few days have produced responses of a different order. Not just angry, but vicious and threatening.

 

Some of my usual readers feel betrayed because I previously have written favorably of Palin. By changing my mind and saying so, I am viewed as a traitor to the Republican Party—not a "true" conservative.

 

Palin's fans say they like her specifically because she's an outsider, not part of the Washington club. When she flubs during interviews, they identify with that too. "You see the lack of polish, we applaud it," one reader wrote.

[Kelly the Dog]

It's a perpetuating narrative that the GOP has become very skillfull at. They've driven it home into the consciousness of the American viewer or reader that the media has a strong and overwhelming anti-GOP bias. This has done two things very successfully for them over the past dozen years.

 

One, it immediately inoculates them against any damaging article or investigative journalism, however factual, from such longtime above-the-board news sources as the Washington Post, the New York Times, 60 Minutes, CBS, NBC, etc. This allows them to easily swipe away any damage simply by labling it as a "liberal media hit-piece." It is at the point now where many, including even those on this message board, will immediately dismiss the information as biased just because it comes from the NYT, etc, and they won't even read the article's content.

 

Second, it has resulted in an over-compensation effect in the media, where they have gone to extremes to not look biased in their reporting, and in even some cases where information is parsed to not sound as damaging. Very few hard questions have been asked by the press over the past eight years, leading to many of the White House press corps, among others, to look like administration flunkies, rather than actual journalists. When one does ask a penetrating question, as Helen Thomas often did/does, that person is immediately labeled a "liberal-biased reporter" and viewed with contempt.

 

In the case of Palin, they immediately portrayed the media as nothing more than frenzied paparazzi and National Enquirer-like garbage diggers. Right from the start, even a simple question about her record in Alaska was been met with obstruction, and any criticism, however warranted, has been brushed aside as sexism. Palin will get a free ride tomorrow night because the narrative that the media is out to get her has already been established. This isn't a new phenomenon.

True, although personally I wouldn't call the papers, networks, etc, longtime "above the board". I think there is a liberal bias, it's just not nearly as pronounced as they would lead you to believe, nor is it as intentional, nor does it pervade everything these leaning liberal reporters and writers and anchors do. Nor does it come close to be the total bias of the talk radio and Fox News guys (excluding their leftist counterparts like Olberman).

 

But, what they have also successfully done, at least for a significant portion of the public, is to lump the Internet and blogosphere into "The Media", so that when a stupid site or a site with stupid people like Daily Kos does something stupid, they attach it to the major newspapers and major networks when there is no connection whatsoever to them.

 

This is beyond the palin though. I don't see how anyone on the right can defend her performance, over several interviews, with Katie Couric lobbing easy questions at her, and she is talking gibberish, non-answers, or nonsense. Nice lady, bad accent, pathetic comprehension of world events and lack of basic knowledge required for the job.