Being fair, Couric was playing a little hardball...it's a touch unfair to be grilling Palin on McCain campaign contributions as if she's been in the middle of everything. She was clearly unprepared for most of those questions, but they weren't really questions that were very appropriate for her. She also didn't come across as badly as many of you are trying to spin her out to be. In general, she's going to have a tough road playing catchup - as a governor of one of the 2 non-contiguous states, she's naturally going to be somewhat out of sync with the nation. That's not a pure excuse - it's one of the many blackmarks of her candidacy. It's plain that she was chosen simply for image reasons. Christian conservative to appease the right, female to pull Hillary fans, young to offset McCain's "old man" image against Obama. It's certainly disappointing to see McCain stoop to an MTV-inspired choice to pick a face rather than a person. One last thing....it's almost amusing how almost all McCain bashing has been put on the shelf since Palin is a far easier target. I half regret posting at all in this forum...it's sad how absurdly polarized posters have become. Pure reactionary, ears closed discussion....everyone just ganging up on one side or the other and eating up a wolfpack mentality.
What are you talking about ? We are discussing and commenting on a horrible interview given by someone who could be a heartbeat away from the presidency -- a performance that bad deserves harsh language. No need to sugar coat the obvious...
I haven't posted in D&D for quite awhile now, but I have to say I disagree with you here. It can't be emphasized enough how awful that was. Any number of random people off the street could've done better than that. GW himself could've done better.
The McCain "bashing" is as prevalent as the Palin "bashing", but it's not as noticeable because McCain at least has some ability to come off as an, umm, presidential candidate. I think most people are completely open to discussion on this interview to see what strong points Palin made. But let's be fair...this interview is every bit as bad as all these posters are making it out to be. That, right there, is not leadership material. No one can argue that. She responded to a tough question by saying "Well McCain is known as THE maverick and he'll figure it out!" or the "I'll find some and I'll come bring em to ya!". I can't imagine what the Republicans would do if they had that kind of ammunition against Obama.
Ridiculous. Not appropriate for her? As if she shouldn't be informed about these types of issues anyway. Are there issues that won't be "appropriate for her" in the office? What if she actually takes presidency (which doesn't seem all that unlikely...) Trust me, the McCain bashing has not subsided. See: 'McCain asks that Friday debate be postponed' thread.
I would hope reporters ask tough questions to people a heartbeat away from the presidency. How are questions about her running mate's stance on issues, or his history of economic policy inappropriate? No, she hasn't been in the middle of everything, but she should at least know what she's trying to reform. She wasn't Dan Quayle bad, but that was pretty bad. It's a presidential election, bashing both the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates should be fair game. Palin is an easier target, but she's also the source and cause of all the buzz around the GOP, now. Bringing her down would help Democrats. It's politics. McCain has got his and will get his soon enough.
That's definitely a part of it. IIRC, she didn't even have a real opinion on Iraq when she was named McCain's running mate. If she didn't have an opinion on Iraq, then it's unlikely she had opinions on the vast majority of national issues. The answers she gives now likely do not reflect opinions she formed after careful reflection but are rather stock answers given to her by the campaign. So when she's asked a follow up or thrown a curveball, she gets thrown for a loop and she looks ignorant. She's getting called on it and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. She was a purely political pick. I'm sure she's well versed on Alaskan issues but prior to her selection she apparently isolated herself from national issues. Now she's playing catchup and has to talk about things she knew little to nothing about a month ago. It sucks for her but if you try to act like you know what you're talking about when you really don't, it's going to look bad.
I PROMISE (really, really) that I tried to watch that with an open mind. Palin didn't answer a single question without resorting to sound bites and then going into repeat mode. She clearly has no clue what the interviewer is even asking or any level of knowledge on how to answer the questions. I thought Katie was being really soft on her... This is really frightening. I am curious to hear comments on those supporting this ticket about that interview.
To the base it doesn't matter. You could put a five year old on the vp ticket and they would come up with reasons to support it. I just hope the independents and moderates would see this for what it is and ditch Mccain, at least that is my hope.
even if she doesn't know what she's talking about, shouldn't palin at least be better at bull****ting than this? can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull**** you know? i mean she's a politician for heaven's sake, she should have a phD in BS'ing. i feel like you could drag me out of bed at 4 in the morning and unexpectedly interview me for the position of lead engineer at the Large Hadron Collider and i could hardly be worse. that's what has also surprised me about McCain, how uncomfortable he always seem trying to say every answer. whether anyone agrees with what you are saying, you should have practiced an answer that you can articulate well for any question. even if it's a complete lie, just make me think you've put some effort into crafting this answer. hell, no presidential problem actually requires an off the cuff 60 second answer as is required in an interview, most politicians are already well-entrenched in most of their positions for the major issues, and tons of advisers and others are involved in the decision anyway, so i'm not sure i even care about interviews that much, but damn, at least seem like you prepared for the interview.
i have to agree that it wasn't that bad, except the part about rick davis and her constant, "obama isn't taking action" when he has been steady and her candidate has been changing with the wind. no matter how they spin it, mccain hasn't looked good during these events
It wasn't just the horrible non-response on Rick Davis, it was also the fact that at the end of the clip she didn't know her running mates supposed accomplishments she had just bragged about. She was kind enough to add that while she DIDN'T KNOW she would go find out and bring them to Katie. It would have been hard to look worse.
