Sarah Palin Unplugged

Sadly, us political junkies and policy wonks are not going to decide this election, it's the people out there who pay attention sporadically, if at all. This is incoherent to us, but how does it play in the hinterland? We might not want to misunderestimate her appeal.

Be afraid.

Look, I know this is crazy, but whenever I see John McCain on tv now I think - Manchurian Candidate. If he gets in, well, we're screwed.

Your last two sentences, Kevin, capture so much in so few words.

Not an impressive answer. She seems to be over coached, as many other politicians have seemed in the past, searching her mind for talking points rather than answering questions. She also needs to loosen up.

I doubt that she is dumb (and I think she is smarter than Biden), and as a practical matter, her only performance that will matter much is at the debate with Biden. She needs to get better than she was in this clip by the time of the debate.

The look on Couric's face is priceless. She's trying super hard to understand WTF the candidate is saying.

As to Kevin's snark about whether she had cracked under the pressure of running for VP, I don't see that but if Kevin asks it about Palen, doesn't he have have to ask it about Biden (FDR going on television to explain the 1929 stock market crash - if she said that, Kevin would declare her a moron)?

I'm with you on this 100%. Many of us had an early inkling that the lights were on but no one was home between the ears of Sarah Palin but this is downright frightening.

I believe it calls into question even her claim to have graduated from college. I heard her say something like this: I, along with other americans, "WERE" devastated....Isn't this English Grammar 101? High School English Grammar 101 at that.

This woman has absolutely no depth to her whatsoever;obviously no worldview (other than what she can see from Alaska) and no innate curiosity or average intelligence to make coherent sense with any of her answers to questions she's asked. The stammering, stuttering, and obvious lack of grasp of even the most fundamental communication tools tells me that she is not innately bright nor is she educated at all.

Surely she has no qualification (other than playing Governor of a state the size of Austin, Texas) for only 86 days (Legislature up there wore "Where's Sarah?" buttons - guess she was hiding like a mushroom from all of them, too? ) One can only imagine what a horrific governor she's made.

There was a very serious recall for her Mayorship of Wasilla and I believe we're seeing prima facie evidence in these interviews which tell us precisely why.

I believe that McCain has slapped the american people in the face with his capricious, reckless selection of this abysmal neophyte; it's on the order of treason in the estimation of an increasing number of folks.

Sarah McQuaylin has given the moniker "ditzy broad" a new face!

Palin giving interviews reminds me of how she shoots poor helpless animals....from an airplane while they're running.

I believe there's an apt metaphore here!

She scares the hell out of me; and John McCain looks like he is in another world.

I was waiting to see if she was going to say, "But the bailout has electrolytes...."

This reminds me of junior high school when one of your classmates obviously did not prepare for their final presentation and is blowing it so badly in front of the whole class that all you can do is feel totally embarrassed for them. God, this woman is less articulate than a lot of those slacker kids who never bothered too study but she is actually running for V.P. Pathetic.

I'd say this pretty much sums it up: huh?

An empty vessel.

If there ever actually is a VP debate, then her incoherence might turn into an advantage. Think about it. It's essentially like trying to argue with with a crazy person. You drive yourself insane just trying to follow her arguments. At what point does Biden start sighing and rolling his eyes? When does he become so exasperated that that he can't hide it in the tone of his voice any longer? He's only human after all. All she has to do is act confident, no matter what she says, and half the audience will think she's a winner. It's TV. Image trumps everything.

The bailout is going to help with health insurance for family???

Well that certainly is news to me. It so much money maybe it outa help out with other things.

But seriously, wasn't this taxpayer "heist" only for investment bankers? Palin seriously has NO clue.

I know what illustrations I'll be doing tomorrow TGIF Cat Day. An Illustrate of a couple of cat burglars by the name of Dubya and Dick Cheney doing the heist of the century.

Huffington Post has this to say: Dick Cheney's signature is all over the controversial features of the Paulson bailout plan.

This reminds me of seeing Janes Addiction a long time ago. On that day, George HW Bush had a heart attack and power was briefly in Dan Qualye's hands. Perry Farrell went to the mic and said: "I don't care what you think of George Bush, but if you think Dan Quayle should be president, you're a f***king idiot." And then the band went into "Idiots Rule." The sad thing is that if Palin ever becomes president, we will wish for Dan Quayle.

Brian -- "... do the very best they can on the big issues..."? Have you been in a coma for the past 8 years?

The amazing thing is that she seems to be getting even worse in her interviews. Compare the Couric interview with the Gibson one. The surprising thing to me is I haven't even see posted what I believe to be her worst moment, when she tries defending Rick Davis.

I don't know if she's stupid or not, but clearly she has no interest in politics, at least national much less international politics. I'm a sports who doesn't follow hockey at all. But if you gave me a couple of weeks to bone up on it along with some good tutors, I'm sure I could sound knowledgeable in a short interview session. I might still get a lot of basics wrong such as what an icing call is and butcher recent hockey history, but I could be articulate about the subject because I like sports and would know how to frame the subject. Palin doesn't seem to have even a basic grasp of politics, and so listening to her is like listening to me try to BS someone about wine, a subject I truly know nothing about nor have any interest in.

I imagine the people who signed off on this pick pictured her being a dim congressman or governor, but I suspect even they overestimated how prepared she was.

My view is that all these folks are good and smart people who will step up, be serious, and do the very best they can on the big issues if they become president.

Brian, honey, running the United States of America is not the Special Olympics where everyone gets points for "doing their best". Lives, futures, and security are at stake here and if you're under the impression that all it takes to lead America is a bit of gumption and an earnest twinkle in your eye, well.....

Shit, whatever. Vote Gomer Pyle.

Glenn Greenwald is pretty funny today.

Greenwald previously said Palin was smart, and now he says that, http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/?source=rss ">"he was so wrong about that".

In the YouTube video above, Palin is clearly reading from note cards, so I guess she can't remember what she is supposed to say about the bailout. Strange how Bush didn't even give McCain a clue about this bailout thing.

Personally, I think Katie Couric is an asshat, and am ashamed that people consider what she does "journalism" but her faces when she interviews this woman are priceless.

And Brian, stop, please just stop. I get that the candidates will not be conversant in every single topic...but at least have a shallow knowledge of the issues.

Its not that the things that she brought up weren't relevant--because tax deduction, trade policy, and decreased spending are relevant issues--it was just incoherent. You can tell that she had been studying up with talking points and freaked out when she couldn't think of the right thing to say. She's out of her league. And unlike others, I'm not going to give her the patronizing pat and say its not her fault---it is her fault.

She knew what she was signing up for and is ill prepared for the job. While it is unfortunate, she put herself in this position.

I was just talking to my sister about this, and she has begun to wonder if John McCain hates America for picking a VP running mate that is so inept---I just think he wants to win. And the conservatives that continue to defend this side show have demonstrated that they value power over principle.

Astonishing. She is speaking in fragmented sentences in the passive voice. Most people -- even illiterate ones speak in simple, declarative sentences in the active voice. You would say, "John did it to Joe." Palin is saying, "The deed, ah, er, was done to John, by, you know. Joe. Astonishing. Just astonishing.

Cassandra,

FYI, you could fit the entire State of Texas into Alaska -- twice -- and have a bit of room leftover. A population of 670,000 rattles around in that immense vastness. With two U.S. Senators and a Congressman, they are vastly overrepresented ;-)