The Sarah Palin train wreck (updated)
Here’s Sarah Palin, for whom English seems to be a second language, expounding on Afghanistan policy in part deux of her Katie Couric interview. Drink a shot every time she fails to complete a sentence or veers off into unrelated talking points:
The logistics that we are already suggesting here, not having enough troops in the area right now. The… things like the terrain even in Afghanistan and that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where, you know, we believe that- Bin Laden is- is hiding out right now and… and is still such a leader of this terrorist movement. There… there are many more challenges there. So, again, I believe that… a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there as it has proven to have done in Iraq… And as our leaders are telling us in our military, we do need to ramp it up in Afghanistan, counting on our friends and allies to assist with us there because these terrorists who hate America, they hate what we stand for with the… the freedoms, the democracy, the… the women’s rights, the tolerance, they hate what it is that we represent and our allies, too, and our friends, what they represent. [CBS]
Near Ground Zero yesterday, ESL McRambliness took four quick questions. One was about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. She’s so tough, her sentences don’t even need verbs:
I think our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to further security of our nation, again, because the mission is to take the fight over there. Do not let them come over here and attempt again what they accomplished here, and that was some destruction. Terrible destruction on that day. But since Sept. 11, Americans uniting and rebuilding and committing to never letting that happen again. [NYT]
Every American student needs to come through this area so that, especially this younger generation of Americans, to be in a position of never forgetting what happened here and never repeating, never allowing a repeat of what happened here. [Politico]
Here she tries to defend her stance that Alaska’s proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience. And she doesn’t know the word ‘caricatured.’ You’ve got to see this clip to believe it:
Couric: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?
Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land- boundary that we have with- Canada. It- it’s funny that a comment like that was- kind of made to- cari- I don’t know, you know? Reporters-
Couric: Mock?
Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah… when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where — where do they go? It’s Alaska. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation — Russia — because they are right there.
Here she is going moose-in-headlights. She recites a talking point. Couric pushes back. She blanches and then repeats the talking point in the exact same words. Go to 0:50:
Couric: I’m just going to ask you one more time… Specific examples in [McCain's] 26 years of pushing for more regulation?
Palin: I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to you.
At the beginning of this clip, she freezes, then regurgitates the talking point. Later, you see her glancing down at a cheat sheet:
Palin: I love John McCain’s idea on the oversight — overseen [overseein'?] board… That’s why I say, I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out… Trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing, but one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today… reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions…
Not necessarily this, as it’s been proposed, has to pass or we’re gonna find ourselves in another Great Depression. But there has to be action taken, bipartisan effort — Congress not pointing fingers at this point at … one another, but finding the solution to this, taking action and being serious about the reforms on Wall Street that are needed…
Her fractured syntax actually reminds me of George Bush Sr., only his problem was more about verbal stumbling and haziness than actually knowing the issues. In interview after interview, Palin speaks in nonsensical, incomplete sentences. It’s painful, like listening to a novice debater during cross ex, or some auntie called up to some interview and not allowed to say the words, ‘I don’t know. This isn’t my field.’ She doesn’t even have the basic political skill to bullshit plausibly.
Watching these cringeworthy clips, I actually feel bad for her. Interviewers Charlie Gibson and Couric have been wearing the pursed lips of a displeased schoolmarm. Palin’s flailing, clearly in over her head. But it’s not completely her fault. Were this were a hiring interview, not only would she get the boot, you’d call in the screeners and chew them out for wasting your time.
The McCain campaign knew the interview was a train wreck. So they canceled on David Letterman in favor of McCain doing an impromptu, damage control sit-down with Couric. Boy, was Letterman pissed. And they told the press they wanted to delay the debate between Palin and Biden.
These rescheduling shenanigans are McCain’s self-induced psychodrama. They remind me of the stumbles of Hillary Clinton and her husband during the primary. First you shoot yourself in the foot, then you raise a hue and cry about it. McCain should never have elevated someone so patently unready for primetime. And that’s before you even get to her being saved from witchcraft, espousing beliefs more fit for the figurehead Indian president.
CBS will be trickling out more of these disaster clips here. Why does the English-only party keep nominating those who barely speak it?
Update: More of the interview:
on Thursday, September 25th, 2008, 2:03 pm in John McCain, Politics, Sarah Palin, TV, Video clips › 
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I *love* “moose-in-headlights.” I will be using it frequently over the next 40+ days.
I am having such a difficult time understanding why aren’t their PR peeps doing their jobs? Where the are the idiots being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep the candidates informed? Even basic media training would have helped reduce the number of “uh’s” and “man, politics.” No candidate should ever face top tier press with a cheat sheet? I don’t feel bad for her, because she knows of her media weakness, as seen by the campaign curtailing access to her meetings from yesterday. But, I am constantly amazed she is not spending a hour of time in coaching or training her as opposed to her choosing her accessories. It’s almost like politics turned reality show!
I cannot even begin comment on the quality on answers, as the anger is blurring my non-Pissy laptop.
She’s all lipstick and no pitbull.
If Americans elect them, and possibly put this lady in the position of leader should anything happen to McCain……it’s just terrifying. Bush was bad enough. It’s not even funny anymore.
That’s a great question. I’m so glad you asked.
She makes Dubya sound like a Rhodes Scholar, is all I have to say.
Ouch… I sat through it in full finally and it was painful.
But this may actually work out in favor of McCain-Palin. I have a reference point. A similar drama is playing out north of the border in that the leader of the ruling political party has trotted out several public statements to present himself as a man of the people and his opponents (and the media) as an elitist, out-of-touch bunch. It IS working. Any flak he draws creates the appearance that the elitists are ganging up on the ‘hard-working true Canadians who built the country by dint of honest sweat and hard labor’ (sic). They are leaving the opponents in the dust.
Similarly, I have a feeling the core demographic for the republican party will see the same vid and think it is a hoity-toity newsperson trying to shame one of them . It is a solid political move. In one fell swoop Mr McCain lifted himself above the debate by having his Veep nominee take on his opponent directly. The opponent looks petty if he tries to defend himself, and like a bully if he tries to win a debate through logical argument. It is a brilliant move. Why get in the fight with a media darling when you can bash in the head of media itself and thus emerge the victor of debates without needing to debate.
She didn’t have a script and oh boy it’s messy… Again, McCain should’ve picked Romney…
Ծ_Ծ
Fuck the campaign, McCain should suspend himself. From a high ceiling with a rope. What a dickwad for riding into town, stirring up a ruckus just so it can seem like his showboating had a point, and trying to worm his way out of a debate with Obama, which can then conveniently be rescheduled over a canceled Palin-Biden debate.
The Republican Party today is an embarrassment.
I’d feel better if Trig was VP.
Trainwreck is right. I recommend watching the whole CBS clip directly for the full effect.
It’s obvious to me which the party of responsible, thoughtful adults is, and which isn’t. I’m not confident that it’s as obvious to most voters though.
Khoof: your analysis might have worked for the Charlie Gibson interview, but not for this one. Katie Couric is totally non-threatening and I don’t think she’s seen as a hoity-toity newsperson. Hasn’t she been called “America’s Sweetheart” ?
They should’ve picked Jindal. Same wingnut cred, same belief in the occult, but would chew up Biden in the debate.
Makes Katie Couric look like real journalist !! Even Tollywood cannot dream of such a bad movie.
To add insult to injury, the English-only crowd attacks those who speak and write English well as being elitist and slick. Go figure.
No vag though. Also seems elitist.
Palin’s flailing, clearly in over her head. But it’s not completely her fault.
It’s entirely her fault. One has to be self-aware.
This just in:
Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism
Had no clue she bounced around, BUT, how can she have a journo degree, and speak such utter bukwas?
Come on. She has 5 semesters at U of Idaho, and 2 more at North Idaho College. I don’t know her personal circumstances, but lots of people spend time at more than one institution on their way to the baccalaureate, and she did finish, and that’s a solid thing in her favor.
Secondly, this election isn’t about her, it’s about him. She was McCain’s choice: ‘balance’ his ticket, pull in the PUMAs, and ‘change the game’. She got drafted, she didn’t run for the job. But it was a win-win situation for her, she thought: she wins even if the ticket loses - she won’t be front runner in 2012, but she’ll get lots of national exposure and that can’t be all bad. The other reason McCain chose her was precisely that she was a lightweight - he didn’t want a Cheney-type situation developing. Again, it speaks to his insecurities and personality quirks than anything about her.
I don’t buy the ‘if this was a job interview….’ line of reasoning. This isn’t a job interview. And by the way, Manish, the analogous situation is not Gerald Ford, but Spiro Agnew in 1968, who was Veep 1969-73, till he resigned. Ford was nominated VP as he was House Republican Leader in ‘73, and later succeeded Nixon in ‘74.
Since 1900, 5 Presidents out of the 19 there have been - did not complete their term and were succeeded by their Veep: McKinley (shot 1901), Harding (died 1923), FDR (died 1945), Kennedy (assassinated 1963) and Nixon (resigned 1974). But mostly, the Veep is there to come in everyday and inquire after the President’s health, and go to foreign funerals. Just ask GHW Bush, who had one of the most impressive resumes of any Veep going in.
Having said all that, it was I who: (i) Called attention to McCain’s health situation that makes this different (ii) Suggested the Republican convention refuse to endorse her. (iii) Indicated clearly that I support none of what she stands for.
Still, this relentless beating up on her bothers me. You can imagine what it will do to the ‘core’.
Sorry, I still have some resentment of a city I didn’t like. I still remember a certain chair, looking down his nose at me like Charles Gibson, saying to me, “how can you leave us? We are finally fully staffed in your area!” Huh, how come when I was practicing all these years, you all were like, but, we are fully staffed?
Okay, sorry. Flashback. Time to do yoga breathing or something and decide which third party candidate to vote for.
(You didn’t win Manish - I may yet vote for McCain because I can’t stand that do-nothing Obama.)
I agree. I hear Vlad Putin and Wen Jiabao pull out blankets and ‘nilla wafers before they send in the tanks.
Running America isn’t a contest. And what do Boston brahmins have to do with competence? Isn’t that linkage what you’re complaining about in the first place?
As McCain has amply demonstrated in the last 2 days, sometimes doing “nothing” is the best course of action. Of course, McCain creating a ruckus meant that people didn’t pay much attention to another edition of Palincompetence, so there is marginal benefit he might have derived from that effect.
And please, please, please read up on Obama before throwing out random adjectives. You have the right to make whatever decision you choose to make, and you are clearly a Republican by inclination (based on previous comments), but talking points does nobody’s intelligence any good.
What? Katie Couric beat up on her? How? By asking questions about her statements about her running mate? By asking questions about her claims about herself?
Then at least give her this much: Whatever else she might or might not be, she sure as hell isn’t a Boston Brahmin (which by the way had nothing to do with smarts, only with hereditary privilege).
There’s been a Yale or Harvard man at Prez or Veep for the last 28 years - ever since Reagan-Bush 1980. If McCain-Palin should win, that will break the
trendcurse.Not that I give somebody credit for being a Boston Brahmin, but give me a break. I don’t see why somebody needs to be given credit for not being a Boston Brahmin. I agree that hammering on her meager educational credentials is unproductive, but that doesn’t give her a free pass to parade her ignorance and obtuse unwillingness to learn.
And Clinton and Obama didn’t get their high academic distinctions because of any inheritance or societal advantages.
But that’s exactly what you’re doing here:
“And Clinton and Obama didn’t get their high academic distinctions because of any inheritance or societal advantages”
No, I mentioned that fact as a counterpoint to your statement where you say that there has been a Yale/Harvard man, right after your point about Boston Brahmins, as if, somehow all Yale/Harvard alums were beneficiaries of undeserved advantages. My point is that the achievements of Clinton and Obama are inarguably reflective of their natural abilities.
My point is the fact that a woman from Idaho/Alaska makes it on to a national ticket, when the overwhelming trend is for a male from Yale/Harvard to be there - is a fact well worth celebrating in its own right, and is progressive in its own not inconsequential way, perhaps more so than Bill Clinton’s might be. Each was picked up by an influential Senator - but with Clinton it was when he was a teenager, while Palin had to wait till she was 44.
that was painfully horrific to watch
Can I get a w00t-w00t for Alaska, Hawaii, the Panama Canal Zone and the second smallest state, Delaware?
Yup, both Presidential candidates were born outside the ‘Continental United States’.
Sarah Palin, forget anything else about her, is the first person on any national ticket from outside the l’ower 48′.
And of all things, Palin and Obama each spent some time living in Hawaii.
w00t-w00t.
Why is any of this relevant to the fact that she doesn’t seem to have a handle on any facts of relevance?
I never said it did, so you’ll have to answer that one all by yourself. Good luck, and good night.
Why is it relevant then, Mr. Murrow?
Manish (how I wish ultrabrown had an SM intern) - is it okay if you delete my comments above? There’s nothing wrong with them, but, jeez, it’s been ages since I left my old job. I have to get over my disgust at that experience. Things happen, sometimes it’s negative, and, you pick yourself up from it and move on. Sheesh. I’ve been doing so well lately, what with the positive thinking and enjoying my current job.
Again, who shall I vote for? I’m afraid it will be last minute for me……..
a roiling swirl of stupidity this one is
its clear that the global political honchos have already realized that Palin does not deserve to be taken seriously !!!
http://udayand.blogspot.com/2008/09/zardari-palin-singh-drome.html
What is disgusting to me is the “jokes” about incest in Palin family, done by Saturday Night Live. How can one than argue against liberal bias with a straight face with this kind of programming being put out by NBC? In the guise of “jokes” one can go as low as possible and get away.
I am no fan of Palin and her positions on pretty much all positions but I get really repulsed by the personal attacks on her and her family. I dont relate at any level with her family whatsoever but at the same time I hate it that she and her family is being attacked on everyday.
One more point is that the whole argument about “qualifications of Sarah Palin” appears bias from the get go. The basic qualifications for being president or the VP is that one has to be born in this country and has to be of certain age. She has both of these qualifications. So it is a moot point. Thats known as democracy if people have missed it. I dont know how wise it is for the republican party to chose her, but it is their right and she is qualified in every legal sense of the word.
Dude, that was a shot at Manhattan media, not the Palin family. That whole skit went after Manhattan parochialism.
Conflates minimum requirements with qualifications. By your logic, your next airplane pilot is ‘qualified’ if s/he fogs a mirror.
Nope I dont agree with your analogy. Pilots are not “elected” they are ’selected’. By contrast the VP, and the president are elected. And yes, it is a personality contest not a “job interview”. It is like Bill Clinton said on the Daily show and other appearances that “the reasons why people vote the way they do are complex”. Lot of Obama supporters are also supporting Obama because of emotional reasons. That is the reason why I think that your above analogy does not hold.
BTW, I saw the SNL skit and a) it was funny and b) they could have left out the incest par and it would have been just as funny.
Not gonna delete my previous comments, eh Manish :)
700 million - I have read up on Obama, why would you automatically suppose that I have not and why would you lecture me about Obama as if I know nothing about his record? You Obama supporters sure know how to bring around the undecideds, don’t you? Yes, I am right of center by inclination, but, I don’t feel much confidence with either candidate.
And, I’m in Chicagoland, okay? His tenure in the city and the state was average, all the Chicago Obama supporters I know are pretty honest about that and hope he appoints Clinton and not Chicago types if he gets in. He did nothing particularly useful for the city. He got a few grants for a few projects of mixed success as a community organizer and chaired a few organizations and that was about it. He in no way challenged the Daley machine, Daley machine corruption, or was transformative in his time here in the city and state. Illinois is a mess and he is of that political culture. He did not run against his local political culture as Palin has.
You all go too far with Palin - her experience as governor is about the same for a VP as a four year Senator is for President. You also make another mistake in your partisan zeal to undo her - you basically underscore the notion that the US must be governed by a credentialed elite and no one outside that credentialed elite dare to try and take on Washington. This is a mistake. It will bounce back to hurt both the right and the left, and, basically, the country if we create a situation where only those who come from certain backgrounds should be considered for office.
Hey MD, no need to get defensive!
I am really interested in hearing about how Sarah Palin fought the establishment. Is it when she headed up Ted Stevens’ 527 group? Is it in how she has insisted on replacing anybody who even dares to faintly question any of her ideas or opinions? Is it in being embroiled in an abuse of power scandal within 18 months of getting a state level office? Is it in religiously polarizing a small town and bringing vicious right wing politics while campaigning for mayor?
And I don’t think Obama is transformative, or any such thing. But if you are raising Sarah Palin’s election to governorship against an established party candidate, it is comparable to Obama’s running against Alice Palmer, the favorite of the machine, for his first state senate campaign in 1997.
And for what it is worth, my problem with Sarah Palin is not that she is inexperienced, it is that she does not seem to have any interest or ability to grapple with any national level issues, a lacuna that is showing up every time the McCain campaign lifts her purdah. She is a petty provincial politician, and if this is the kind of person the Republican party wants to idolize and tout as their messiah, well, goodbye to them. Personally, I think discussions about experience are jejune, and it is much more important to decide if the candidates have ability. It is an age-old campaign trick to claim that senators do not have executive experience, governors do not have foreign policy experience, and well, if somebody has done both, that they’ve been in politics too long. These claims are crutches to assist a lack of desire to think seriously about issues and ability.
Honestly, I really don’t care about how you vote for. And I am not interested in responding to your defensiveness, either.
I am just bored of seeing the standard “Obama hasn’t done squat” line thrown around (not just by you). Don’t vote for Obama if you are afraid that he’ll raise taxes for the 250k+ crowd, or that he will increase corporate taxes, or because you dont like his health care plan, if you are so inclined. But really, that record stuff is about as original and true as that Muslim thing.
Political predictions are a dangerous business, but I am willing to bet good money that the Obama administration will be in the Clinton mold. Except that it will likely be much more effective both because Obama is far more disciplined and not self-destructive like Clinton was, and because Obama is not likely to be hindered by an uncooperative House and Senate. Basically, the same advantages that Bush had, without Bush’s staggering combination of ignorance and wrongheadedness. The big issue that will confront Obama in his first term is the gigantic financial mess - in terms of deficit, decreasing dollar, the spend on the Iraq war, and the massive recession, I am sorry, downturn, of the economy, which will mean a lot of time spent just playing defense.
If moose were an important voting faction, McCain would have picked Kucinich as his running mate.
Uh, 700 billion, sorry if I came across as defensive, but, I think you should care who I vote for because I really am undecided at this point, and, that’s helpful for your guy, because if I go third party that’s gonna hurt McCain who needs as many votes from people like me and I’m not sold on him yet.
You do know Sarah ran against the Republican establishment, right, and, even if she didn’t, how does that negate my point about Obama? I find it interesting that not even his supporters can point to even one substantive acheivement during his time in Chicago. Does that mean he won’t be a good Prez? No, but, it doesn’t make him anything special at this point.
And Biden and Obama voted for that bridge, so, if it’s such a big deal, why aren’t you as upset with the good Senators ‘who did nothing about the financial mess we’re in even though we are both in the Senate’? Sorry, none of these options is appealing, for me, personally. Too bad all the third party candidates seem like cranks and kooks. Oh, what to do? Anyone else have any good ideas?
Sorry if I seemed defensive.
Done…
thanks, dude! You’re the best!
This woman wants to be vp of the USA!