25 Sep, 2008
Posted by: Dave In: Current Affairs |Film |Political
This interview of Sarah Palin by Katie Couric is almost too painful to watch. I can only imagine Palin during the vice presidential debates with Joe Biden. It will be like Godzilla stepping on Bambi.
-Dave
1 | someguy
September 25th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Ha! She’s so articulate and well-versed that it makes the Boy-Man King sound like Michael Douglas in “The American President”:
2 | Scott
September 26th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Anyone has to admit that this is a pretty goofy position regarding her foreign policy experience (or lack thereof), since she didn’t actually have anything to do with dealing with anyone representing a foreign power. It’s like saying that you can play guitar on a world class level because you were Eric Clapton’s butler for four years and were physically close to him a lot.
“I’ve never negotiated with the Russians, but I *did* stay at a Holiday Inn last night.”
I have my reservations on both sides of the presidential election, and while I think Sarah Palin presents herself well, I don’t think she’s proven that she’d be ready to be president if something happened to McCain.
3 | TDH
September 26th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Scott, I am genuinely confused in what way Palin “presents herself well.” I suggest the following as evidence she does NOT present herself well.
She does not know what the Bush Doctrine is, which frankly a politician should, especially a serious VP candidate, offered seeing Russia from her house as foreign policy credentials, does not believe global warming is caused in any way by humans (no serious scientists left take that view), supported the “bridge to nowhere” until the last second and now rails against earmarks (almost no state gets as many as Alaska), supports abstinence only sex-ed programs despite failures of that approach pretty close to home (imagine if a democratic candidate had this in his/her family – I’m sure the Christian right would be just as supportive as they are of Palin), is against abortion even in the case of incest or rape (extremist in the view of the vast majority of Americans), etc etc etc, You can find each of these things in publicly available information, so it is not one-sided. The woman is unqualified and presents herself to me as vastly under-intelligent. There is no spark of any intellectual curiosity, only a disturbing sense of her rightness.
Obama is not exactly God’s gift, but putting that woman an old, sick heartbeat away from the presidency is madness.
4 | Scott
September 28th, 2008 at 12:58 am
You’re completely missing my point. I didn’t say word one regarding whether or not she had her facts straight or if I agreed with her in any way, shape or form.
I think the same of Obama, in that I think he’s about as wrong as he can be on some issues. However, he also speaks well enough to leave people with the impression that he knows what he’s talking about.
There are many people in the higher levels of the corporate world and politics who have the ability to speak with an air of authority and conviction, and convince many people to support them solely based on that. However, the actual content when these people speak is either empty or obviously logically flawed. Most people aren’t discerning enough to see the difference between someone who actually knows what they’re talking about and someone with a confident presentation and no clue, and in fact will often just follow the guy (or gal) who most *appears* to know what they’re doing. They’re either not smart enough or don’t care enough to sort out the difference.
I think you’re allowing your dislike of the candidate to cause you to read something into what I said that was not there. I don’t like her or agree with her either, but whether you agree with her or not, she is an effective speaker.
7 | TDH
Scott, actually we view things differently. It’s not so much like/dislike or my interpreting that you like (or dislike) Palin. You said “she presents herself well.” That means to me the general impression and the content. We seem to agree to some point on the content or lack thereof. However, I do not agree on the pure presentation issue. So we are closer in opinion, just defining presentation differently. As an example, George Bush appeared confident and certain when he said “bring it on” regarding foreign policy. To me, he did not in that moment present himself well.
I guess additionally I can’t separate presentation from the internal logic and credibility of content. I don’t mean whether I agree or not, but whether the political speaker actually has a logical basis and philosophy behind remarks. By this standard there are speakers from both parties who present well, whether I like the content or not.
A good example comes to mind. McCain presents himself well as a maverick who thinks independently, despite the evidence of the last 12-18 months that this is not the case at all. Obama presents change well by *speaking* consistently about change, though the details of his policies and actual actions make you wonder.
8 | Dave
Palin strikes me as a cheerleader turned soccer mom. The thought of her being one heartbeat away from the presidency scares the shit out of me.
Joe Biden’s not perfect by any stretch, but seems much more qualified to be a VP.
9 | Scott
TDH, I think we’ve successfully agreed to disagree based on differing definitions.
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