Hiding in Plain Sight Why is Sarah Palin granting so few interviews? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/20/AR2008092001763.html JOHN McCAIN selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate 23 days ago. Since then, Ms. Palin has not held a single news conference with the national media. She has answered only a handful of questions from voters and reporters. She sat down for a lengthy discussion with one nonpartisan interviewer, ABC's Charles Gibson, and granted another interview to conservative Sean Hannity of Fox News, as well as a sit-down with People magazine and some interviews with Alaska media. Where Dick Cheney made the rounds of five news shows the weekend after he was tapped by George W. Bush, Ms. Palin has not turned up on a single Sunday program. Mr. McCain's selection of an inexperienced and relatively unknown figure was unsettling, and the campaign's decision to keep her sequestered from serious interchanges with reporters and voters serves only to deepen the unease. Mr. McCain is entitled to choose the person he thinks would be best for the job. He is not entitled to keep the public from being able to make an informed assessment of that judgment. Ms. Palin's speech-making skills are impressive, but the more she repeats the same stump speech lines, the queasier we get. Nor have her answers to the gentle questioning she has encountered provided any confidence that Ms. Palin has a grasp of the issues. "Retreat is defeat in Iraq," as she told Mr. Hannity, is a slogan, not a vision for how to proceed. On Russia, Ms. Palin said, "What we have got to commit to also, especially when we talk to Russia -- no Cold War. We have got to know that our mind-set needs to be opportunity for pressure and diplomacy and sanctions if need be as we keep our eye on a country like Russia." What sanctions does Ms. Palin have in mind? Her answers on issues of domestic policy were hardly more reassuring. Asked what was behind the financial meltdown, Ms. Palin cited "the corruption on Wall Street," with no explanation of what corruption she was referring to. Asked whether the government had made the right call in bailing out Fannie Mae and AIG, Ms. Palin floundered: "Well, you know, first, Fannie and Freddie, different because quasi-government agencies there where government had to step in because the adverse impacts all across our nation, especially with homeowners, is just too impacting. We had to step in there. I do not like the idea, though, of taxpayers being used to bail out these corporations. Today, with AIG, important call there, though, because of the construction bonds and the insurance carrier duties of AIG. But, first and foremost, taxpayers cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution to the problems on Wall Street." Meanwhile, Mr. McCain, who once referred to the media as his base, has himself become inaccessible. He promised to hold weekly news conferences as president but has not held a news conference as a candidate in more than a month. A candidate who stiffs the media on the campaign trail isn't likely to perform better once in office. Is she such a freaking nincompoop that the McCain team is sequestering her from the Free Press?
so, i clicked on your link, and did a quick search for "noncompoop", and failed to find that term in the Post's editorial. i assume this is your own contribution? if so, please edit your posts so the difference is apparent, or provide a link to the term you cite. TIA.
What the hell do you expect. She has a BA in "Communications-Journalism" from the prestigious University of Idaho, a 3rd tier university. She has no economics, finance, or accounting background, and probably couldn't even score a 500 on a GMAT.
I agree with the writer. The fact that you have a VP candidate that you have to hide/shelter speaks volumes on that candidate. I don't see how anyone can deny this. I hope the voters don't fall for the okie doke....but you never know.
i really did not know that. has this country really come to this point? ive been waiting a long 3 years to change my sig on this site. i hope i dont have to make one about her in november now.
What does Cheney have to do with this? But seriously, it doesn't bother you that she won't deal with the press? Even the conservative press? Two interviews is enough for you, to vet someone who is about 40% likely to become POTUS if McCain is elected? All policies and qualifications aside, whoever gets my vote is going to be someone a lot more open than the last gang.
If they thought Bush was bad. She is probably the most unprepared candidate for VP ever! The fact that 72 year-old McCain will be 76 by the time his 4-year tenure is over makes it even worse!
hey 72 is the new 30. his mom is like 1000 years old anyway. but if i was at all inclined to vote for mccain before he chose palin, i now withdraw that inclination
Are you factoring in a win in 2012, because that didn't work out so well for Mr. Gore. I haven't seen any credible expert say that McCain has a 40% chance of dying in 4 yrs. Other then Dadakota and Matt Damon. His campaign is not a project of the make-a-wish foundation. I threw his numbers, as I know them, into one of those online calculators and came out with a life expectancy of 87 yrs. Of course it could be less. And he is flying solo since his copilot has never been on a plane before. (But that's what the back room boys are for. You know...the ones who controlled GWB's strings ). But...yeah...they're hiding her. She's basically being treated as a campaign ad -- to be brought out when it's to their advantage. Quick 30 second sound bites. It's been relatively successful so far...but that won't last. You simply cannot cram the knowledge and insight that she needs in the timeframe that she needs to do it. I know. I tried in college.
It's sad when most people who post on a basketball message board are more intelligent and better educated than the GOP VP nominee.
The fact that she is popular with her party is even sadder - here's a woman who couldn't get a job via interview or her own merits....she was head of the PTA for god'sake. I mean, the freaking PTA to president of the USA? What are people thinking???? I feel ashamed.
