The First Interview
| Thu Sep. 11, 2008 11:20 PM PDT
THE FIRST INTERVIEW....Honest, I'm trying not to write endlessly about Sarah Palin. I really am. But this interview with Charlie Gibson is just embarrassing. Is the Republican Party really serious about this?
Over at The Corner, though, Lisa Schiffren thinks the problem isn't Palin, it's Gibson having the gall to ask substantive questions: "For the record, it just looks condescending and inappropriate for one of the great minds of the national media to sit, notebook in hand, quizzing this younger woman, as someone said, as if she were a grad student." Goodness yes. Holding a reporter's notebook and asking questions. Charlie should have known better than to do that while interviewing a 44-year-old woman running for vice president of the United States.
Jon Chait has more here. Yglesias here. M.J. Rosenberg highlights another part of the interview here.
Meanwhile, non-insane conservative foreign policy guy Dan Drezner reports on the private reaction of GOP foreign policy heavyweights to Palin's nomination: "Having chatted with a few members of this mandarin class, I would describe the range of opinion about Palin's foreign policy bona fides as varying from 'underwhelmed' to 'you gotta be f#$%ing kidding me?'"
But none of that matters. She didn't leap up from her chair and demand that we nuke Moscow unless Russia withdraws from Georgia by tomorrow, so I guess her appearance with Gibson counts as a win for McCain. Those seem to be the current rules, anyway.
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Comments
Submitted by Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle (not verified) on Thu Sep. 11, 2008 11:35 PM PDT.
I think it was good news ... for Rudy!!!
Oh, my...just the tone of her response to this says it all. This is one case where the transcript doesn't even begin to tell the story. She is sooo scripted and clearly not confident or even apparently thinking about the question. She's rifling thru her mental file cabinet for the right Scheuneman response card...oh shit!!!
This is what "Country First" looks like? Shouldn't we at least need more attention on who would be running foreign policy if she became president? The neocons would have full reign, no wonder Kristol is in heaven...
that's a hilarious comment by schiffren!
more seriously, is drezner willing to name names? are these mandarins willing to be quoted? otherwise, who cares? what is wrong with them that they think she's a disaster and won't say so in public?
..condescending and inappropriate for one of the great minds of the national media to sit, notebook in hand...
Wasn't Gibson about the same in posture and tone with Obama as he recited Republican talking points? I thought he was on the prickly side... Palin got the same.
Submitted by Jassalasca Jape (not verified) on Fri Sep. 12, 2008 12:40 AM PDT.
Interesting, the comment of Ms Schiffren that you mention, Kevin. I took a tip from Karl Rove, and watched the Bush Doctrine clip with the sound turned off. Her posture and mannerisms look like those of an eager job applicant with an assertiveness training course under her belt and a mild case of the jitters. There's no way that doesn't sink its way into the nagging question zone for a lot of people.
Notice also that she did not drool. That must be a win for McCain!
Seriously though watching it she was very condescending and caustic towards Gibson. I really dont like her. Maybe its because i know she is unqualified and a liar but watching her sit there and speak with such clear disdain is really off putting.
It was painful to watch; she obviously hasn't a clue about foreign policy. To her credit, she did demonstrate herself to be an excellent parrot and a moderately competent bullshitter.
However, I expect the next couple interviews are going to be focused more on the domestic/life front. I expect she'll do much better, and this episode will likely be quickly forgotten.
She didn't leap up from her chair and demand that we nuke Moscow unless Russia withdraws from Georgia by tomorrow, so I guess her appearance with Gibson counts as a win for McCain.
Are you kidding me? If she had done that, Team McCain would be measuring the drapes now...
I love how Schiffren tries to claim that the Bush Doctrine is only known inside beltway circles - is that spin I smell? I am a graduate student (and I take offense at Schiffren's comparison) far outside the beltway and I know what it is. It is, well, terrifying that this woman could possibly be President.
Seriously though watching it she was very condescending and caustic towards Gibson.
To me she seemed nervous, crumpled, and anxious to please. In a cheap bid for sympathy, she excessively appealed to Gibson using his first name. Considering that she had given little thought to foreign policy until last week, she bullshitted her way through OK, although I had expected her to be much more poised and better rehearsed.
Palin was better in the next interview, when she and Gibson are outdoors chatting and power walking beside a gas pipe line. She's more relaxed and a bit flirtatious. It seems she's shifting her views on climate change from "I'm not one who would attribute it to being man-made" to "I believe that man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming".
God help us. And I'm an atheist.
I guess the odds of her ever appearing unedited for a whole hour on one of the Sunday morning shows have just gone to zero after this performance. The McCain campaign is not going to risk her looking this inexperienced in setting in which the most incoherent responses can't be edited out.
Or, it means that Stephanapoulus will get the interview (!) since both Brokaw or Schieffer will look even more like grandpa quizzing her.
From what little I've heard, the most informative and unsettling thing was her claim to be hard wired to not blink. It is no surprise that this response was born of coaching from the McCain campaign, as this is Hon. Sen. McCain's greatest flaw. We've just lived through eight years of a President who eschews careful premeditation and makes quick, poorly informed decisions. Case closed.
I thought she seemed hateful toward Gibson. Her eyes seemed wary and sometimes flinty. I guess you could think of that as a plus in terms of dealing out authority, but it came off to me as someone who deeply resents having to go through the post-vetting of an interview. Ego a la Bush. I, too, noticed how she was trying to win Gibson by calling him by his first name, once things got a little uncomfortable. Seemed like a tip you'd pick up in a sales training seminar: "Look them in the eye and say their name often!"
One more note: I felt like she was modulating her voice to sound less nasally and annoying [sorry, but EVERYONE I know, of all political persuasions, has mentioned hating her grating voice]which made me wonder if part of her 'training' had included voice work. When she was nervous and said 'Charlie' three times in about five seconds, the same old western, nasal thing rang out loud and clear. So petty, but I'm just saying, could they have put this woman through even a dialectitioner? Makes me think of Liza Dolittle and Henry Higgins. I almost feel sorry for her, but also think Palen is too ambitious to be authentic, so the criticisms and training probably roll right off her back, even as she remolds herself effortlessly for success.
Sorry, but I disagree. This is a pretty nice little disaster.
It puts wingers in a neat little box - watching them try to continue the dishonesty will be fun - can't wait to see someone grill Kristol.
I loved how she dug the "Alaska is close to Russia" hole deeper. You can actually SEE Russia from Alaska! Can she see them building missles, or what? And wouldn't this have to mean that she, personally, has been looking into Russia? Otherwise, the statement is even more meaningless, right?
Is she hanging out on the coast, with some binoculars or something?
Thank GOD she's keeping an eye on them!
Too bad Gibson didn't press her on that one.
One thing: I saw the war with Russia thing from a different angle this morning - from the front, right on her face.
If you get to see it, look closely: she actually gives a little laugh when she says "Perhaps so!"
That was weird.
Also, while she clearly didn't know what the Bush Doctrine is, I think she also didn't know the meaning of the word "hubris". Jeeze.
"For the record, it just looks condescending and inappropriate for one of the great minds of the national media to sit, notebook in hand, quizzing this younger woman, as someone said, as if she were a grad student."
Except, of course, that she never actually went to grad school. Good God, even when they're putting Palin in the position of a victim, they're trying to puff her up.
Riding into work I heard the morning drive time jocks on a commercial station say things like they would be "scared" if Palin was veep. These are people not known as political anything - sheer entertainment - and I think their listeners could be described as low-information. I found that interesting. Equally interesting and even unsettling: one of them said (after claiming to be frightened at the thought of a Palin administration) that he didn't know who he would vote for: Hadn't made up his mind; and had no idea how he would vote! Maybe that sentence deserves another ! or two.
I mean if existential fear of the alternative can't get you to decide to vote for Obama, what can?
Taking bets on how long before St. Scarah is redeemed after being "attacked" by Obama and his left leaning socialist media ...no respect or deference because she was expected to ANSWER QUESTIONS...the most insightful (if not laughable these days) thing I took from Obama's appearance in the "forum" last evening was the reference to becoming informed as one of the requisites of being a CITIZEN!!! Sadly that is not something that many people believe or practice. I'm frankly sick and tired of having people tell me that they don't want to talk or know about POLITICS...they're the first ones to BITCH, however, if it all doesn't go their way...
It all depends upon the way she is being judged. If we are looking at this as how do we like a personality who has been randomly picked picked out. In this light, not knowing very much is perfectly expectable, for the average Joe it means she has a life, rather than studies all the time. The real problem, is that we are somehow seeking out someone with whom the average Joe can identify with, rather than a super knowledgable leader who can find the best path through dangerous times.
Submitted by Jassalasca Jape (not verified) on Fri Sep. 12, 2008 7:28 AM PDT.
Paul Miller,
Can she see them building missles, or what?
Hmm. Michael Moore has actually visited Russia on a mission to have the missile for Flynt Michigan pointed somewhere else. So he's qualified to be VP as well? (shudder) The arguments in support of Palin are rapidly descending into the undiscussible headscratch zone.
Just throwing this out there, my opinion of course, but Schiffren is way off base to think that Gibson quizzed Palin like a professor quizzes a grad student.
Gibson quizzed Palin like a professor quizzes an unqualified, misinformed, didn't-do-her-homework college sophomore who skated through her freshman year because her daddy plays golf with the dean.
She's not qualified. All the pundits crying that she is so too qualified, and that it's sexist to imply that she's not qualified, are full of horseshit. She's not qualified and it's not because she's a woman. I'm sure there are women qualified to be in her position; Palin's just not one of them.
Look, it's pretty obvious to me by now that, as much as the GOP would love to keep the White Hosue in 2008, and they're going to run as nasty a campaign as they ever had (if not nastier), the truth is, they've accepted the fact tat they'll probably lose. For all the puffery over Palin, she was chosen to be McCain's veep because she's expendable. NOT because she's qualified, NOT because she agrees with so much of the base, but because she's expendable. She had little national face time. They don't rightly like McCain that much anyway. Why "sacrifice" someone to be McCain's veep candidate in 2008 who might otherwise make a good stab at the gig in 2012 without the stench of loserdom in 08 hanging over his or her (snicker) head?
For all their bluster about sexism, gender is exactly why they chose Palin. They make "history" by having a female veep on their ticket for the first time, and if they win, awesome, if they lose, well, screw it, who was Sarah Palin anyway? Let her go back to Alaska and not bother anybody, here's a few billion more in earmarks, keep it on the downlow.
That's why they're letting Palin and McCain front as nasty a campaign as this is. They'll take all the heat if they lose, and then in 2012, the GOP can "find itself" again. That's why Limbaugh has been championing Palin's ascension to her position; he doesn't want to risk a man losing crediblity when 2012 rolls around. They're using Palin, they're using McCain, they're running a horrendous scorched-earth campaign, and if it wins, theyr'e just as f**ked as we all are, because these people do not know how to govern, they're impulsive vindictive and hot-headed, and they don't know enough about war to win one, so they won't be able to lead. For the GOP, Palin is one of those "be careful what you wish for" moments. And while they'll never break ranks (unless someone's microhphone is left on again - whoopsie), they've been running this campaign to lose, and it'll be a real Rod Serling/Kurt Vonnegut moment writ large if the GOP wins this November.
Sarah Palin's profound understanding of foreign policy:
"We have to keep an eye on Russia."
Frankly, I could BS my way through an interview on foreign policy better than she did, and I could do it off the top of my head without a week-long cramming session.
It's all about perception. She's striking a chord with all the "politically involved" soccer moms and the rest of the people who think that somehow our leaders must be "just like us".
I don't know about you but I want someone elite running the country -- someone better educated than J. Random Citizen and with a higher level of attainment than a bachelors from some cow college (after bouncing through three others). Not that there's anything wrong with either (hey, I have neither but I'm not running for the second highest constitional office in the land) but "communications-journalism? Seriously?
I'm not electing a drinking buddy or someone to sit in the bleachers with me at a hockey game, fer Pete's sake. . .
Was anyone else bothered not just by the rote nature of her (thrice) answered question about 'second-guessing' Israel but by it's actual substance.
The United States is not Israel, our interests aren't always the same. If Israel acts in a way that risks involving the US in a war, we damn well better second guess them. Doesn't mean we wouldn't agree with what they eventually do, but our folks ought to be asking really hard questions of an ally that could commit us to action.
That might not be the Bush/Cheney way, but it is the responsible way.
Ouch. Here's my impression: she doesn't understand the issues, and she doesn't really care that she doesn't understand them. She's very, very anxious to give the correct talking point in response to questions. You can see her rifling through her script - and when she comes up blank, as in the question on the 'Bush Doctrine,' you can see the concern on her face.
Yes, the Israel answer was a farce.
It was like pulling the string on one of those talking dolls - except that the doll was stuck and kept repeating the same words.
Now, put this interview in the context of Jonah Goldberg's post on The Corner that Palin keeps saying the same thing over and over at campaign stops because she is staying "on message" - ta da!
Come to Jesus moment for the wingers!
Submitted by Julia Grey (not verified) on Fri Sep. 12, 2008 8:31 AM PDT.
You can see her rifling through her script - and when she comes up blank, as in the question on the 'Bush Doctrine,' you can see the concern on her face.
Hmmm. Maybe not as good an actress as we were thinking? That's interesting.
Submitted by indie in CA (not verified) on Fri Sep. 12, 2008 8:32 AM PDT.
It was like Palin was defending her dissertation or thesis! Gibson's priggishness was revolting. On the plus side we're no longer discussing rumors about Palin's children.
indie, I've defended a dissertation and have been to many a dissertation defense. At all of the ones I've seen, the candidate is clearly more on top of their game than the committee. You get some smart ass questions from the audience, and the soon-to-be PhD smacks them down like nobody's business. This is because a PhD spends half a decade or more immersing themselves in a topic and becoming a world's expert.
Sarah Palin was a smart-ass freshman getting smacked down by an senior undergrad TA. Embarrassing.
The condescension of small town America at us liberal elites hurts, you know that? LEAVE ACADEMICS ALONE!!!
Hmm. Michael Moore has actually visited Russia on a mission to have the missile for Flynt Michigan pointed somewhere else. So he's qualified to be VP as well? (shudder) The arguments in support of Palin are rapidly descending into the undiscussible headscratch zone.
The point, dear itchy one, is that Sarah Barracuda is even less qualified than Moore to be VP.
Have you been checked for lice?
She came off well for a community organizer - PTA and all... I mean - uh- wait she did that too? Looks she has even more experience that Barak Obama.
She came off well for a Governor of a large state.
All I say is "No BO in the Whitehouse."
Submitted by Daryl McCullough (not verified) on Fri Sep. 12, 2008 9:44 AM PDT.
Ordinary Americans resent politicians who pretend to have "knowledge" about the "issues". It's refreshing to have somebody like Sarah Palin who clearly doesn't know any more than we do.
Lisa Schiffren thinks the problem isn't Palin, it's Gibson having the gall to ask substantive questions: "For the record, it just looks condescending and inappropriate for one of the great minds of the national media to sit, notebook in hand, quizzing this younger woman, as someone said, as if she were a grad student."
You will not be surprised to learn that Lisa Schiffren was one of Dan Quayle's speechwriters.
