Saturday, January 10, 2009
SARAH PALIN ACCUSES COURIC AND FEY OF EXPLOITING HER
Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, in an interview with conservative radio talk-show host and film maker, John Zeigler, wonders if the mainstream media are treating Caroline Kennedy differently from the way they treated her—she wondered if the media would handle her with kid gloves—“if she will be under such a microscope.”
Palin misses the point. First, Palin, unlike Caroline Kennedy, was a total unknown before John McCain tapped her to be his running mate and, therefore, one 72-year old heart beat away from the most powerful office on the planet. Palin has no understanding that the countr would want to know EVERYTHING about the woman who had a very good chance to become the Commander in Chief. She was an unknown entity. Caroline Kennedy, contrarily, is very well known, and the American public knows quite a bit about her family—she has been a known entity for 50 years. And there have been plenty of news stories questioning Kennedy’s experience in seeking the New York senate seat.
Another point Palin ignores in her interview is that she was asking the American people to believe that she was qualified to possibly be the leader of the free world—the president of the United States of America. Kennedy is hoping to be one of 100 senators, and not in line to succeed to the presidency should that be necessary. The fact that Palin doesn’t understand that is troubling.
Also, Palin and her fans don’t understand that being halting and using filler words in speech such as, um, uh, y’know, is a sign of not having learned to speak in public and not a lack of intelligence. Palin is a very smooth speaker when she has someone else’s words to read. She’s very effective. However, when she has to rely on her own ideas, she talks in circles, using contorted and syntactically bizarre sentence sturcture.
Palin also takes swipes at Katie Couric and Tina Fey, saying they exploited her. Really? Did Tina Fey force Palin to appear on Saturday Night Live? Palin certainly looked like she was enjoying herself when she was featured on that show before the election. If she felt she was being exploited, Palin could have declined to appear with her exploiters. She didn’t. This claim is rubbish. And so is the assertion that Couric exploited her. The Couric interview was nonconfrontational, and Couric was respectful and gentle in her questioning of Palin. Palin misinterprets Couric when she says she believes Couric said: "Do you read, what do you guys do up there." Couric did not ask that question. She simply asked Palin what she read—a perfectly normal question to someone the American people know nothing about. One can get an insight into a person by what she reads. Why Palin couldn’t simply name an Alaska newspaper and be done with that simple question, still remains a mystery. Palin sabotaged herself, and now blames Couric.
Blaming someone else (Fey and Couric) or some group (the media) for one’s failures and short-comings is never a good idea. It makes the blamer look weak and petty. Someone should advise Gov. Palin to get beyond what happened during the campaign and stop her whining.
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22 comments:
Sorrrry, I can't agree with you. I don't think that Sarah Palin missed the point at all.
I think that she was right on.
The wole interview was edited and made to come across to hurt her as usual for a CBS newscaster.
And by the way, I am a PROUD NY YANKEE fan.
So you have 2 reasons to hate me
It isn't Katy Couric's fault Sarah Palin can't remember the names of the newspapers she doesn't read.
Exploited?
Absurd.
An unqualified, self-absorbed no nothing in over her head.
But, of course, blameless and pure. A mere victim of those nasty 'elitists'.
Boy is that a worn out record.
Debonaire Dude,
Of course you think Sarah didn't miss the point. She has her fans, and obviously you are one of them and one who thinks she is not responsible for her mistakes.
The fact is that she's made herself look petty, vindictive, and politically naive by lowering herself to sniping at and being catty to Couric and Fey.
And she is totally not self-aware when she tries to compare the coverage of Caroline Kennedy with the coverage she received, and for the reasons I set out.
She has as her fan base only a very small percentage of the Republican party. The big movers and shakers in the party want no part of her.
And the interview she gave makes it painfully clear why.
"An unqualified, self-absorbed no nothing in over her head."
Sorry, criticizing someone for being unqualified is "out" now, considering that the President-Elect ran on his promises, and had little record to speak of.
Even Wasilla, Alaska has a population thousands of people larger than any district Obama has governed up until now.
Dmarks-
Sarah Palin the intellectual or political equal of Barrack Obama? Harvard Law, Illinois State Senate, US Senate. Published author of a best-selling memoir.
Only to the willfully ignorant.
Dmarks-
Sarah Palin the intellectual or political equal of Barrack Obama? Harvard Law, Illinois State Senate, US Senate. Published author of a best-selling memoir.
Only to the willfully ignorant.
"Willfully ignorant" to you meaning "those who do not support the same party you do".
Now to get into specifics:
"Harvard Law" - That gives Obama some good qualifications to be a federal judicial appointee. But that's about it.
"Illinois State Senate, US Senate" - That compares with governor experience. Especially his short, unremarkable terms. eHe has nothing like the legislative stature of a Ted Kennedy or John McCain.
"Published author of a best-selling memoir." - You are really reaching in order to pad out a paper-thin resume. So, why not have Paris Hilton as president? She is also the published author of a best-selling memoir, after all. She must be qualified.
Make that beautifully written best-selling memoir. You should read it. Quite good actually. And I think Harvard Law can't help but suggest a certain level of intellectual rigor. More even than North Idaho College or Matanuska-Susitna College up Alaska way.
I read Obama's second book a while ago. If you have read both, which is better?
I've read 'Dreams From My Father...'. The one not written by Bill Ayers :)
Quite well written.
dmarks,
By your reasoning, Sarah Palin is more qualified than Abraham Lincoln was when he ran for president. Actually, Barack Obama has more "experience" than Lincoln did when he ran.
I think what Arthur Stone is talking about is intellectual rigor.
Now if you truly believe that Sarah palin is the intellectual equal of Barack Obama-who graduated summa cum laude from one of the world's great educational institutions and who holds a law degree and taught Constitutional law, then we can debate that.
There are thousands and thousands of small town mayors across this country who are probably very nice people and have carried out the duties of their small office, that does not mean that those thousands and thousand of small town mayors are qualified to be president.
Experience is valuable to a point, but without intellectual rigor and the ability to communicate one's vision for America in a clear and concise way, experience won't help you run the most powerful country in the world.
And speaking of the world. How could Palin even hope to be its leader when she hasn't visited it?
One has to leave one's backyard at least a few times in one's life in order to understand how big and diverse this world is.
Palin never did that in her 44 years of living on this planet.
She's a small time mayor and a governor of our smallest in population state.
Not only is she the governor of our least popular state but she is also governor of the state that receives the most in federal handouts.
Now, if she wants to rant about her handlers that is fine...but other than that you knew the rules of the game before you entered the game....
Its no different than athletes blaming a ref's call for losing a game...
Its called whining.
If she is such a "Momma Grizzley" then she should have thought about her family a little more before she entered the race.
Sorry, at the end of the day she lost and that makes her act now nothing more than whining.
Yes, Tao,
Her nickname in high school when she played basketball was "Sarah Barracuda," because she was a formidable opponent.
Where is that temperament now? She's been whining and complaining since her defeat.
Sarah BarraGUPPY is more like it.
"Published author of a best-selling memoir." - You are really reaching in order to pad out a paper-thin resume. So, why not have Paris Hilton as president? She is also the published author of a best-selling memoir, after all. She must be qualified.--demarks
Oh c'mon, demarks. Now you're just being silly.
Are you going to compare Paris Hilton's writing credentials with say a Nobel Prize winning author, like Toni Morris?
Both of them have produced best-selling books. Being a best-selling author means, of course, that your book has racked up a lot of sales.
It says absolutely NOTHING about the quality of the work.
Barack Obama's memoire has been reviewed by credentialed literary critics and praised for its style, lucidity, and the author's ability to open himself to his readers.
This is the point when we argue about Sarah's "experience," vs. Obama's.
You and others take into account only the number of years Sarah has spent in an executive position, without taking how she has educated herself (beyond her community college degree), grown in understanding complex issues and reached out through extensive reading and travel to learn about the world.
Obama has done all of this. Has Palin?
Her poor performance with Gibson and Couric shows that she may be able to pass a budget but her grasp of the bigger world outside Alaskan politcs seems to be weak.
A president is a representative of a nation. One would hope to have him or her be the best educated, most widely read, and able to welcome and process a wide range of ideas and choose those that best serve the country.
We also hope that a president chooses his advisors wisely.
Do you really, really believe Palin (who never left this country for 44 years, and barely visited the lower 48) would have a deep knowledge of the best and brightest in this nation?
No serious person believes Palin is intellectually superior to Obama.
Curious how people react to negative publicity concerning their own actions. Joe the Plumber, for example, is exploiting his fame (noteriety?) and is now a war correspondant...
You make much better points, Shaw. But you should really drop the memoirs from it. He's not going to be Poet Laureate. If his resume were not so thin, nobody would even mention the memoirs.
BB: Notorious for what? Asking a tough question that took Obama by surprise?
Drop Obam'a memoirs from a discussion of the New President? Nope. His beautifully written 'Dreams For My Father...' send the signal loud and clear Obama possesses an intellectual rigor beyond that we've seen over the past eight years of Republican White House occupancy and well beyond his opposition in the 2008 election. The man can write.
And that does (and should) matter. It's, if nothing else, a refreshing change.
Now about Joe the Plumber. Initially I thought with his financial savvy and keen grasp of the economy he'd be a shoe in for Secretary of the Treasury in a McCain/Palin Administration.
Now with his reincarnation as a 'war correspondent' and 'expert on media bias' I have to believe Obama would be wise to reach across the aisle (WAY across) and tap Joe for Secretary of Defense.
He described himself as a "peaceloving man," but added, "when someone hits me, I'm going to unload on the boy. And if the rest of the world doesn't understand that, then I'm sorry."
I can't recall a more elegant and to the point synopsis of the ongoing tragedy in the Middle East.
Heh. Heh.
Now I need to seek out that book. As for intellectual rigor, he did not show much of it with his very bad promise to clobber the economy with more over-taxation. But he has shown wisdom on this and other issues, and has backtracked on his tax increase promises. It's smart to change your mind when you are wrong on something.
Joe is one tough guy ....
Did he tell her "you'd better put some ice on that" ?
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