5 commentsPalin-droning
I’m a bit behind on this, but here we go again…
From the second part of the Palin/Couric interview:
Here’s the transcript:
COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
PALIN: That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it’s got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade — we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.
The video gets cut off, but the rest of her answer is “This bailout is part of that”.
First of all, the question is a good one that a lot of Americans doubtlessly have on their minds. It’s not random trivia or a “gotcha” question. Answering this question requires some understanding of how credit works and the effect it has on the economy. She didn’t come close to explaining it, though. I’m not going to bother to climb through the mess of words she assembled, it’s practically meaningless. I forget where I read it, but someone suggests that her response reads like it was sent through google translate several times.
This interview lead Fareed Zakaria to write:
Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start.
Jack Cafferty: “If that doesn’t scare the hell out of you, it should”:
“That is one of the most pathetic pieces of tape I have ever seen for someone aspiring to one of the highest offices in this country”
I can’t think of a counterexample offhand..
It’s still stunning to me that she would not hesitate at all to decide that she was ready to be VP, as she clearly isn’t. If I were suddenly offered CEO of google for some reason, I’d probably turn it down and would definitely take some time to think about it, regardless of the outcome. Every time I start to feel bad for her (an emotion that is, in all honesty, sexist, as I don’t think I’d feel bad for a man in the same situation), I remind myself that she “didn’t blink” when offered the position. She brought this upon herself.
The expectations for Thursday’s debate couldn’t be lower, and I think she’ll do OK: she’ll pull in her narrative, her family, attack Biden on his relationship with the credit card industry, and portray him as a part of the washington establishment that is screwing everything up. To be clear, I’m not criticizing her for making these arguments, this is what a debate is for. I’m fairly certain that the debate will have at least some level of hilarity, as Biden on his own is gaffe-prone.
I’m not hoping for a Palin performance similar to her Couric interview. Well, it would be sorta funny but mostly scary, and probably wouldn’t be politically meaningful. I can’t imagine what needs to happen to convince the remaining Palin fans that she isn’t ready.
In other news, Peyton has weighed in with A Poem against Pain and the McCaign
5 comments
Haha… thanks for including my rant. It’s funny because immediately after I wrote that… I talked to my parents (arch-conservatives) and they were telling me all about the liberal media, and how it’s because of the liberal media that Sarah Palin looks so bad. They also stated how Sarah Palin is more qualified than Barack Obama, because she has “executive” experience and governed over a very large budget (whereas Obama has done “nothing”). I could sort of see the point of the liberal media: I saw the expression on Katie’s face and the tone of her questions, and in my opinion, they’re rather negative. At the same time, I also tuned into an interview with Barack Obama on ABC…and I’m not sure what the news anchor’s name is over there… but needless to say, I’m pretty sure she’s in love with Barack: her smile was so glowing I was expecting tears of joy to pour out at any second.
That said, and I’d be curious to hear from less extremist republicans… how do you defend Sarah Palin? From what I have seen (of the very little she has provided) she quite possibly has worse foreign policy or economic knowledge than me. I am very confident that you or I, Matt, could have answered that question better just by reading CNN the last week. Really, the fact is obvious, McCain chose Sarah Palin for one reason: politics— to get Clinton and women voters— to give him a chance to win the election… he did not put the country first, and I don’t know how anyone could argue otherwise…
And, you know, I watched the debate, and I scratch my head. I’m almost morally opposed to giving 700 billion dollars to bail-out irresponsible business… I’m frightened when McCain says “KGB”… when Obama pushes for nationalized healthcare… I’m not sure if tax-breaks for businesses actually helps the economy as McCain proposes… I don’t know how to take care of Iran or North Korea… I don’t know if we’re heading for another great depression or cold war… frankly, it’s startling how much I don’t know… and to vote or argue on what I don’t know is rather daunting. However, from what I’ve seen, I’m reasonably confident that I know Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president….
One final word on this new rant (I gotta listen to your email message Matt— about making things shorter):
my parents a few days ago (before the vote on the bailout) said: “the liberal media say it’s the Republicans fault that we can’t pass the bail-out bill— but think about it— Democrats have control of both the House and the Senate— therefore, if they wanted it they could pass it immediately!” At first, I found this convincing, but then I saw the vote totals yesterday and how far more Republicans voted it down than Democrats…. And then, and this upset me, I read how McCain blamed Obama for killing the bill (immediately after the vote). Now, as a skeptic, maybe McCain’s right… despite the fact that far more democrats voted for the bill, maybe some voted “no” to give Obama an edge in the election. I don’t know the “truth”. But what I am sick of, and this has been going on as long as I’ve been alive, and will probably go on in perpetuity, is how I don’t believe almost a single word that comes from that TV anymore. There’s so much partisan crap being shot at me— and when I read that Wall Street lost over a trillion dollars just yesterday alone— I think “wow”. It’s hard to believe that most of the politicians (or even some in the media) actually put the country first. Anyway, I am sick of them… almost all of them. And Palin is the best symbol of the partisan crap, because well, she isn’t very good at hiding her crap. Then again, if you’ve seen President Bush when not giving a planned speech, he’s equally terrible (anyone see that Olympics interview with Costas?) Anyway, I know Palin’s crap, and that alone, is enough motive for me to vote Obama. The McCain/Palin ticket does not stand for “honor” nor “integrity”. Ok… I’m done… thanks for the outlet
Nice mega-comment!
I agree on almost all the points (except the ones below). The problem isn’t even that she doesn’t know the answers: she doesn’t even know the questions! She acts completely unfamiliar with many important national political issues. You’re right: I think you or I could have at least made a good attempt to answer the questions she dodged (bush doctrine, bailout). The latest interview segment has her refusing to name a single source of news she reads. I’m not even saying that she doesn’t read anything of merit, but I don’t know why she wouldn’t want to share that.
Two points of disagreement:
- First, I didn’t see the ABC interview with Obama that you referenced, but I did notice some of Couric’s expressions and tone being a bit antagonistic. However, I don’t believe that this is sufficient evidence to prove a “liberal bias” and more than it’s a proof that Couric hates women, Alaskans, or hockey moms. If there were a significant liberal bias, the questions wouldn’t have been as fair. This (bailout question) was an excellent question to ask a candidate, and it was entirely fair, topical, and predictable. A fair reporter should ask questions like this, but I don’t think it’s fair to expect the reporter to be some sort of actor with an understanding expression when you reply with a minute of verbal diarrhea.
- Second, I don’t think it’s accurate to call Obama’s heathcare plan “nationalized heathcare”. The overview of the plan (with links to details) is here: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/. I’ve only read that page, but it doesn’t seem like a large expansion of bureaucracy to me.
On your disagreements:
1) I agree that Couric’s tone is not sufficient to prove a liberal bias. Really, I think it’s amazing how she was able to keep such a straight-face. I tend to think that the way the interviewers react to Obama and Palin has as much (if not more) to do with the candidates’ presence as much as their party-affiliation. I guess I was just thinking out-loud how I would go about defending Palin… and really, “liberal media bias” or this “gotcha thing” is the only argument the conservatives have for why she looks so very not-ready.
2) Thanks… for the link about healthcare… I can’t speak about what’s right for the healthcare industry… my sense is that the problem stems from people putting greed above people’s welfare (much like the current financial crisis) (maybe much like every crisis). I’ll check out Obama and McCain’s positions.
Oh… and when you get the chance… this video was interesting:
http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/10/01/news.romans.100108.cnnmoney
Yeah, that makes sense. Remember how McCain was a media darling for a long time, too.
If you learn more about the healthcare plans, I’d be curious what you think of them.
That CNN video is interesting and rather scary.. I may write a post about it if I have time later.
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