Palin's interview with Katie Couric

[motivez]

I'm sure some of you have seen the disaster that was the interview.

I'd like one person who's supporting McCain to come in here and explain to me what this means:

COURIC: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: 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. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And 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, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

I agree with Fareed Zakaria that it's nothing more than gibberish.

There's no coherent point made and she doesn't even respond to the question. I liken this response to a would-be-chef believing against all odds that if they toss 5 or 6 ingredients in the air at one time, when they land they'll form a fabulous pie.

I mean, she tossed several points on several different issues into a sentence and none of it made sense.

And those of you who are supporting McCain would feel comfortable with this lady making any decisions of any consequence for our country? Really?

Here's Fareed Zakaria's latest op-ed:

Will someone please put Sarah Palin out of her agony? Is it too much to ask that she come to realize that she wants, in that wonderful phrase in American politics, "to spend more time with her family"? Having stayed in purdah for weeks, she finally agreed to a third interview. CBS's Katie Couric questioned her in her trademark sympathetic style. It didn't help. When asked how living in the state closest to Russia gave her foreign-policy experience, Palin responded thus:

"It's very important 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's just right over the border. 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. They are right next to—to our state."

There is, of course, the sheer absurdity of the premise. Two weeks ago I flew to Tokyo, crossing over the North Pole. Does that make me an expert on Santa Claus? (Thanks, Jon Stewart.) But even beyond that, read the rest of her response. "It is from Alaska that we send out those …" What does this mean? This is not an isolated example. Palin has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. ("We mustn't blink.") But if forced off those rehearsed lines, what she has to say is often, quite frankly, gibberish.

Couric asked her a smart question about the proposed $700 billion bailout of the American financial sector. It was designed to see if Palin understood that the problem in this crisis is that credit and liquidity in the financial system has dried up, and that that's why, in the estimation of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, the government needs to step in to buy up Wall Street's most toxic liabilities. Here's the entire exchange:

COURIC: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: 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. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And 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, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

This is nonsense—a vapid emptying out of every catchphrase about economics that came into her head. Some commentators, like CNN's Campbell Brown, have argued that it's sexist to keep Sarah Palin under wraps, as if she were a delicate flower who might wilt under the bright lights of the modern media. But the more Palin talks, the more we see that it may not be sexism but common sense that's causing the McCain campaign to treat her like a time bomb.

Can we now admit the obvious? Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start. The next administration is going to face a set of challenges unlike any in recent memory. There is an ongoing military operation in Iraq that still costs $10 billion a month, a war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan that is not going well and is not easily fixed. Iran, Russia and Venezuela present tough strategic challenges.

Domestically, the bailout and reform of the financial industry will take years and hundreds of billions of dollars. Health-care costs, unless curtailed, will bankrupt the federal government. Social Security, immigration, collapsing infrastructure and education are all going to get much worse if they are not handled soon.

And the American government is stretched to the limit. Between the Bush tax cuts, homeland-security needs, Iraq, Afghanistan and the bailout, the budget is looking bleak. Plus, within a few years, the retirement of the baby boomers begins with its massive and rising costs (in the trillions).

Obviously these are very serious challenges and constraints. In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible. McCain says that he always puts country first. In this important case, it is simply not true.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/161204

[HughRuss]

Uh oh, *SNL* did it again

Hulu - Saturday Night Live: Couric / Palin Open

[Phantom]

The answer was complete garbage, I'll agree.

But she was on the hot seat answering questions. If I were to comb through some of McCain's or Obama's answers to debate questions, I could write the same article, just with the names changed...

The only thing this answer conclusively shows is that she is not as smooth with the artful dodge as the other candidates are. It's not reasonable to take a sound bite and conclude that sound bite is the complete expression of the speaker's knowledge of a subject. Fareed knows this, and he carefully scripted his article to hide this otherwise obvious flaw in his "thought process."

[motivez]

Originally Posted by Phantom

The answer was complete garbage, I'll agree.

But she was on the hot seat answering questions. If I were to comb through some of McCain's or Obama's answers to debate questions, I could write the same article, just with the names changed...

The only thing this answer conclusively shows is that she is not as smooth with the artful dodge as the other candidates are. It's not reasonable to take a sound bite and conclude that sound bite is the complete expression of the speaker's knowledge of a subject. Fareed knows this, and he carefully scripted his article to hide this otherwise obvious flaw in his "thought process."

Sorry, but I'm calling on this..

While it's true politicians are able to artfully dodge questions, their responses are coherent sentences and make actual sense and tend to be at least tangentially related to the question asked.

They may be vague, but they make sense.

She doesn't. And this isn't the only time it's happened with her, she has no fucking clue what she's talking about and it shows very well here, but has shown itself elsewhere as well.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by motivez

Sorry, but I'm calling :bsflag on this..

While it's true politicians are able to artfully dodge questions, their responses are coherent sentences and make actual sense and tend to be at least tangentially related to the question asked.

They may be vague, but they make sense.

She doesn't. And this isn't the only time it's happened with her, she has no fucking clue what she's talking about and it shows very well here, but has shown itself elsewhere as well.

Politicians ignore questions and answer however they choose all the time. The difference is that other politicians are able to sell their answers better. Palin isn't able to sell her BS. At least you can tell when she's lying or doesn't know what she's talking about. However, she isn't running to be governor of Alaska here, she wants to be the VP for a guy who could very well die in office. She needs to learn her shit, and fast. She's literally painful to listen to when she's talking about international/national affairs. Her mannerisms and poor sentence structure makes me want to cringe. Not too many politicians do that to me..

Hillary does when she speaks in southern states.

Barney Frank makes me want to throw something at the TV when he goes into his two year old tantrums ignoring people while making wierd Ahhh or Nooo noises before speaking over them.

etc...

It's sad, but Palin is on my list of politicians who literally annoy me. I try to be fair with her, keep an open mind and give her the benefit of the doubt, but she's just so annoying.

[Swift]

I basically get what she's saying, but she said it really badly.

Basically that the bailout is going to help other sectors of our economy that need it. I think that's not what the tax-payers dollars are for.

[motivez]

What was she saying then? Explain it to me

The bailout has to be all about health care and job creation? Seriously?

[Swift]

Originally Posted by motivez

What was she saying then? Explain it to me

The bailout has to be all about health care and job creation? Seriously?

Keep in mind that I'm not defending what she said at this point. Just explaining what I think she meant.

The public right now is being sold a bill of goods that the long term profits from this buyout will go back to tax payers. So, she was describing the various aspects of the economy that would be effected by those profits.

Yeah, we all know that money is going to be used to greatly expand the size of government, again. But the line of the day is, "Tax-payes can make a profit" so that's what they are sticking with.

Again, dumb. Is there not one person in Washington that will level with the American people?

[motivez]

What does this bill have to do with health care?

Aside from the fact that people may lose their jobs and health care if the market crashes, which isn't anywhere near what she was trying to suggest..

[BradF]

At this point it's becoming increasingly difficult to find even a Republican that can somehow defend this dreadful interview. In fact, it's so blindingly obvious that many conservatives are now admitting the obvious, that Palin is seriously lacking in foreign policy knowledge, not to mention many national issues:

While some journalists say privately they are censoring their comments about Palin to avoid looking like they're piling on, pundits on the right are jumping ship. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough says Palin "just seems out of her league." National Review Editor Rich Lowry called her performance "dreadful." Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher described the interview as a "train wreck." Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker urged Palin to quit the race, saying: "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself."

The funny thing is watching the blind partisans, like Nancy Pfotenhauer and Bill O'Reilly, call these interview questions "gotcha" questions. Really? REALLY? Do they expect a person running for the VP of a 72 year old man to have all softball interviews like the one Sean Hannity gave her? These people leave me speechless. Any fair-minded individual can see the obvious.

[David Octavius]

It was a terrible interview - I fear for my country if she becomes VP. But Biden better be careful, if he is precieved as attacking her he risks losing critical votes to McCain and we all know Biden doesn't mince words.

[DosEquis]

Originally Posted by David Octavius

It was a terrible interview - I fear for my country if she becomes VP. But Biden better be careful, if he is precieved as attacking her he risks losing critical votes to McCain and we all know Biden doesn't mince words.

I think he should attack her within reason. Just because she has a vagina doesn't make her off limits. I am not sure how many would switch their vote because Biden was "mean" to her. As long as he has a valid point to bust her out, he should do it.

[Donkey®]

I just have a bad feeling that she'll do well enough in the debate for the Republicans to forget all about how she is in real life.

[DosEquis]

Originally Posted by Donkey®

I just have a bad feeling that she'll do well enough in the debate for the Republicans to forget all about how she is in real life.

She is down in Arizona right now "studying" and if there is anything that requires her to actually think off script she will be screwed.

[Donkey®]

So this came up the other day...

Originally Posted by article

By Howard Kurtz
John McCain accused the media of "gotcha journalism" in response to a question about whether his running mate had contradicted him on his policy toward Pakistan.

Over the weekend, Sarah Palin told a voter in a restaurant that the U.S. should launch cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into Pakistan to "stop the terrorists from coming any further in." That appeared to contradict McCain's criticism of Barack Obama for talking about such potential tactics in public.

In a joint interview with CBS's Katie Couric Monday, McCain defended Palin and at one point intercepted a question intended for her. Here's how the exchange went:

COURIC: Is that something you shouldn't say out loud, Sen. McCain?

McCAIN: Of course not. But, look, I understand this day and age "gotcha" journalism. Is that a pizza place? In a conversation with someone who you didn't hear ... the question very well, you don't know the context of the conversation. Grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don't announce that you're going to attack another country.

COURIC: Are you sorry you said it ...

McCAIN: ...And the fact ...

COURIC: Governor?

McCAIN: Wait a minute. Before you say, "is she sorry she said it," this was a "gotcha" sound bite that, look ...

COURIC: It wasn't a "gotcha." She was talking to a voter.

McCAIN: No, she was in a conversation with a group of people and talking back and forth.

A "gotcha" question? Whatever happened to this?

Originally Posted by article

A dare Palin may come to regret
by Mosheh Oinounou

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Asked Wednesday to reassure voters about her readiness to handle foreign policy in the White House, Gov. Sarah Palin offered up a dare.

“I’ll be ready. I have that confidence. I have that readiness and if you want specifics with specific policy or countries go ahead you can ask you can play stump the candidate if you want to,” Palin told more than 3,500 supporters at her first public town hall tonight in Western Michigan.

These people are retarded.

[motivez]

I guess if you're talking to a voter about your position it's not really your position?

There's supposedly several other parts to the interview that CBS hadn't released as of a few days ago.. anyone know if those are out yet?

[Scrum]

Originally Posted by motivez

I guess if you're talking to a voter about your position it's not really your position?

Biden made a slip about clean coal the other day and the McCain campaign ran out and made 2 ads using it.

YouTube - Clean Coal Virginia

YouTube - Clean Coal Ohio

I guess they think they should be off limits, but the other side is free games.

Originally Posted by motivez

There's supposedly several other parts to the interview that CBS hadn't released as of a few days ago.. anyone know if those are out yet?

I hear she couldn't name a supreme court case other than roe v. wade.

[IminWonderland]

Originally Posted by DosEquis

She is down in Arizona right now "studying" and if there is anything that requires her to actually think off script she will be screwed.

I wonder is she crammed for tests in college....

[Swift]

Funny how nobody has mentioned that Obama stayed in Flordia "prepping" for last Fridays debate while the bailout was being debated. If he's so educated and smart why does he need to prep? Oh, I know, because studying and preparing for an oral examination is what a smart person does!

[DosEquis]

Originally Posted by Swift-Bass

Funny how nobody has mentioned that Obama stayed in Flordia "prepping" for last Fridays debate while the bailout was being debated. If he's so educated and smart why does he need to prep? Oh, I know, because studying and preparing for an oral examination is what a smart person does!

I bet iminwonderland doesn't study before any oral