Palin speaks to ABC News

[bascule]

Sarah Palin broke her press silence, and was interviewed by ABC News:

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5778018

 

I'm reading through the transcript now...

[Pangloss]

I'll bet...

[bascule]

Heh, sorry, forgot to respond.

 

I think it's funny she thinks she has insight into Russia because "you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska." And uhh, it's clear she has no clue what the Bush Doctrine is, and didn't seem to do a very good job of tiptoeing around that fact.

 

I wish I could find a full length video... the transcripts are all partial.

 

Here's a fact check of it... she claimed that many VP candidates had never met a foreign head of state, which is untrue for at least the past 30 years:

 

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/fact-check-pali.html

[iNow]

She also totally backpeddled about the Iraq being a mission from god comments from her summer speech. Trying to move the goal posts and pretend she said something else, all the while saying the name Abraham Lincoln as many times as possible in the short span of time.

 

 

Btw, bascule (two parts):

 

[Pangloss]

I think it's funny she thinks she has insight into Russia because "you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska."

 

That one's pretty ridiculous, I agree.

[iNow]

There should be additional Nightline clips available soon, and also after tomorrow morning when an additional segment airs on Good Morning America.

 

 

 

Now, you could tell she got hung up when the question strayed into things which she'd obviously not practiced. I wonder how well she would do in the white house when she has not been previously prepped by experts and media consultants for a full week before something happens on the planet requiring immediate action.

 

 

 

EDIT: Here's the Nightline segment:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2phSE7BGH8

Edited September 12, 2008 by iNow
multiple post merged

[waitforufo]

She also totally backpeddled about the Iraq being a mission from god comments from her summer speech. Trying to move the goal posts and pretend she said something else, all the while saying the name Abraham Lincoln as many times as possible in the short span of time.

 

Gosh, I wonder if anyone else interpreted her summer speech comments in the way she presented them last night? Also, talking to her own congregation, after being introduced by her own pastor seems a little off the conventional political circuit. In light of Obama's problems with Wright however, I guess it is fair game.

 

- Western Wall, Barack Obama

Edited September 12, 2008 by swansont
Added image for perspective; swansont — fix quote tag

[john5746]

Heh, sorry, forgot to respond.

 

I think it's funny she thinks she has insight into Russia because "you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska."

 

Well, she can't any other state in America from Alaska, so I guess she has no insight in that regard. I wonder how many states she has even traveled through?

 

 

Below is an opinion from a local mom.

 

http://www.andrys.com/palin-kilkenny.html

[Pangloss]

Actually after watching the interview I don't think she suggested that that one simple fact gave her particular insight into Russia, I think she was just making a comment about something she thought was interesting. The McCain camp does seem to be playing up that insight angle, but I don't think she was doing so in that interview.

[iNow]

You're correct. She did not play that up in the interview, but did reference it. When that reference is coupled with the talking points from the McCain campaign and accompanying news organizations since the day she was announced as McCains pick for VP, however, she still fails badly on the international knowledge/experience issue since she can't seem to offer up anything other than that Alaska is near Russia response.

 

If nothing else, if this were a 2^nd grade quiz on maps, she'd get a gold star!

[bascule]

Actually after watching the interview I don't think she suggested that that one simple fact gave her particular insight into Russia, I think she was just making a comment about something she thought was interesting. The McCain camp does seem to be playing up that insight angle, but I don't think she was doing so in that interview.

 

Well, the full quote in context is:

 

GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?

 

PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.

 

I think the best that can be said is that the answer is a non-sequitur which is completely irrelevant to the question asked.

[bombus]

Try this for size about Palin:

 

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20746.htm

[Pangloss]

If nothing else, if this were a 2^nd grade quiz on maps, she'd get a gold star!

 

Rofl. For what it's worth, that's more or less the level I'm coming to view her participation in this election as well.

 

It's unfortunate, actually. Given a few years to mature her positions and open her mind a bit, she might have become an interesting candidate for president. I like the idea of a governor-and-mother-of-five running for that office -- the level-headedness, the natural resistance to pressure, the necessity of fair play -- it's hard not to see value for the country in that kind of perspective. With experience and intelligence and worldly knowledge that could be a really powerful combination.

 

 

I think the best that can be said is that the answer is a non-sequitur which is completely irrelevant to the question asked.

 

Unfortunately there was a lot of that in the interview. The whole thing played out like a hard-right soccer mom used to badgering her liberal friends with logical fallacies but who's been prepped to dodge questions instead.

 

---

line[/hr]

Interesting article in the Washington Post today by Charles Krauthammer, who created the term "Bush Doctrine".

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091202457.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

 

If I were in any public foreign policy debate today, and my adversary were to raise the Bush doctrine, both I and the audience would assume -- unless my interlocutor annotated the reference otherwise -- that he was speaking about the grandly proclaimed (and widely attacked) freedom agenda of the Bush administration.

 

Not the Gibson doctrine of preemption.

 

Not the "with us or against us" no-neutrality-is-permitted policy of the immediate post-9/11 days.

 

Not the unilateralism that characterized the pre-9/11 first year of the Bush administration.

 

Yes, Sarah Palin didn't know what it is. But neither does Charlie Gibson. And at least she didn't pretend to know

Edited September 12, 2008 by Pangloss
multiple post merged

[iNow]

Yeah. Charlie is not running for higher office, though.

[waitforufo]

The LA time also took Charlie to task.

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-palin12-2008sep12,0,5803961.story

 

I found the following particularly interesting.

 

In the sit-down with Gibson, she faced questions about statements on the Iraq war that she made at an Assembly of God church that she sometimes attends in her hometown, Wasilla, of which she is a former mayor.

 

A video shows Palin asking a group to pray that the nation's leaders were sending troops to Iraq "on a task that is from God."

 

Gibson, however, mischaracterized her as simply asserting that the nation's leaders were sending troops to Iraq on a task from God.

 

"Are we fighting a holy war?" he asked.

 

After Palin disputed his characterization, she paraphrased Abraham Lincoln, saying she meant, "Let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God's side."

 

Gibson went on to take a second part of her comments out of context. Palin had asked the group to pray "that there is a plan, and that plan is God's plan."

 

But Gibson dropped her reference to praying -- and instead quoted Palin as saying the war was God's plan. He asked if she believed the country was sending her son on a task from God.

 

"I don't know if the task is from God, Charlie," she responded, adding that she was proud of Track for "serving something greater than himself."

[big314mp]

I overheard this bit when my mom was watching the interview. Something along the lines of Gibson asking, "What sort of relevant foreign policy experience do you have?" And Palin answered, "Well...let me tell you what I DO have experience with-" and she went on about the national guard, being a governor, etc.

 

I literally lol'd at it.

[iNow]

It's telling that so many people are trying to distract us about Palins performance by trying to stir up muck about Gibson and get us to focus on that instead. Whatever.

[ParanoiA]

I didn't have a problem with Charlie's performance at all. He was calm and tenacious. I just wish he'd do that with every one of them. I'd like to see him keep asking Barack if he ever questioned the hubris in assuming he was adequate for the presidency.

 

But in this interview Sarah asked for a lot of it. She acted like a dumb blonde about the Bush doctrine. That bugged me. "I think what Bush tried to do...." - that wasn't the question bambi.

 

She also would never answer yes or no. I can think of one question where that was perhaps justified, due to the potential liability to the country - but even then she should have just answered that it would be inappropriate for her to answer that question, similar to the Hillary response to specifics about Iran relations. So she repeats herself, with a little added venom. I'm not sure if she was trying to defy Charlie or if she was the manchurian candidate.

 

I do appreciate essay answers to questions, especially on subject matter that's inherently dynamic, but it's aggrivating when she won't go on record. On the one hand, that suggests a repulsion to absolutism, which I've always thought turns out a more thoughtful human being, but it also suggests a flexible approach to principles which would seem antithetical for a job executing our constitution.

 

She's going to have to do better than that if she hopes to hold her own with Biden.

Edited September 13, 2008 by ParanoiA

[iNow]

I didn't have a problem with Charlie's performance at all. He was calm and tenacious. I just wish he'd do that with every one of them. I'd like to see him keep asking Barack if he ever questioned the hubris in assuming he was adequate for the presidency.

The closest thing I can see to this scenario is when Obama went on O'Reilly last week, and I personally think he did quite well, and was very stateman-esque. I'm not sure if you caught that, but can probably find it on YouTube (it was split into four parts).

 

 

EDIT: I actually think that interview showed his diplomatic abilities much much more than just statesmanship. He managed to keep the conversation positive and made progress where many who came before him have failed.

 

 

But in this interview Sarah asked for a lot of it. She acted like a dumb blonde about the Bush doctrine. That bugged me. "I think what Bush tried to do...." - that wasn't the question bambi.

 

This isn't the highest quality, but considering your comments above I get the feeling that you might just enjoy this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnrWJJ97sF4

 

 

Edited September 13, 2008 by iNow

[john5746]

I just watched her answer on the Bush Doctrine and I thought she did a good job. You should never shy away from asking an interviewer to clarify what they are asking. You also have to say that we have the right to invade to protect our country, otherwise you will not be elected.

[bascule]

FactCheck.org declares Palin "Energetically Wrong":

 

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/energetically_wrong.html

 

"Palin says Alaska supplies 20 percent of U.S. energy"... yeah, wrong. This after McCain says she "probably" knows more about energy than anyone else in the US...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7Nu7Kjk_0Q

 

Rather egregious lies being bandied about here.

[john5746]

Looks like McCain and Palin were tutored together.

[waitforufo]

She also totally backpeddled about the Iraq being a mission from god comments from her summer speech. Trying to move the goal posts and pretend she said something else, all the while saying the name Abraham Lincoln as many times as possible in the short span of time.

 

Backpeddled…

 

Well it's not like she travelled half way around the world to visit the "holy land", while there worship her god at a magical stack of stones, and then try to exploit the magic by writing her wishes on a piece of paper that she inserted between the cracks of those stones. The only thing that would have made such a scenario worse would have been her asking to be made god's holy crusader on earth.

 

Now that would have really been bad.

 

I mean, who could vote for a religious nut job like that?

 

"… and make me the instrument of your will" - Western Wall, Barack Obama

 

[iNow]

When exactly did Obama back peddle and try to spin the fact that he did that?

[Mr Skeptic]

waitforufo, that is about as generic a prayer as one can get. Even a janitor can be an "instrument of god's will" (in the capacity of a janitor). Perhaps you need a dictionary to learn what a "nutjob" is?