Every News Outlet is Calling Out Palin

[torbird]

This morning, I have seen CNN, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and MSNBC all make an issue of Palin's early debate statement that she wouldn't answer Gwen Ifill's questions, but rather "talk to the American people." The media consensus seems to be that this was an outrageous statement that amounted to an admission that she could only remember a few talking points and had to stick to those. We saw, throughout the "debate," how terribly true that was.

Gwen Ifill essentially gave Palin 45 minutes (her half of the time) to make a stump speech, albeit one without content or context. Ifill, as many are also saying, was a poor excuse for a moderator. Imagine what would have happened if she had even once insisted, firmly, that the governor answer the question. Instead, Palin was allowed to speak at length about whatever she pleased.

It's not just that Palin's answers often trailed off, or were largely canned (and obviously so), or that she completely ran out of material 20 minutes before the end and became an even more bizarre figure, listing off every teacher she knows. Pundits and journalists are taking her to the woodshed this morning because she revealed a frightening, Bush-like arrogance and contempt for structure, precedent, audience, and the American public. She basically said, "I am here. I talk. You listen."

Oh, and when she was asked what her greatest failing was and she answered, a la Bush, "I don't have one"? Maybe she should have said something closer to the truth, like "I have complete contempt for this entire process. Now, watch me vamp for the camera!"

[1corona4u]

1. Exactly, bush like.

[Bubbha Jo]

2. More importantly, she was Cheney like....

She irrevocably tied herself to Cheney in American minds last night.

[Demit]

12. But Cheney without knowledge, intelligence, or experience—and WITH a dominionist worldview. Yikes.

[FatDave]

31. Worst of both worlds

Dumb as Bush, maybe even dumber. Easily a bigger, scarier fundie. All of Cheney's mean, sneering power hunger and vindictiveness, but none of his brains. Also shares a love of killing defenseless animals and calling it "hunting". I've got nothing against hunters, but what these sick fucks do is not hunting.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. bush-lite, perhaps?

[WCGreen]

7. She has more brains than Bush...

This woman did this on her own.

She didn't need the coaches to point her in this direction.

She is devious and very cocky.

She would make a great used car salesperson...

[Kolesar]

16. Yes she is a success

Give me an example of "devious".

please

[Virginia Dare]

19. Hiding her pregnancy so she could stay in contention for the V.P. slot..n/t

[Kolesar]

24. Or her daughter's pregnancy?

daughter/prop

[Virginia Dare]

25. That works too...n/t

[WCGreen]

26. That was going to be mine...

[Kolesar]

33. So, Sarah Palin had not told McCain that little Bristol had a baby in her tummy?

I lost track of the details. I never looked them up. I thought that Palin was a loser from the start.

[greyghost]

17. Spot on.

[Virginia Dare]

18. Possibly ,but more importantly, she has more ambition..

bush inherited his mantle, it was for all intents and purposes forced on him.

This woman went out and sought it, and appears to be capable of stopping at nothing to get what she wants.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. good!

:P

[WeDidIt]

5. I don't believe Ifil COULD insist

I beleive she was constrained under the terms of teh format.

[cjsmom44]

11. RE: Yup I agree

I think she could not intervene...and if she had she would have been labeled as bias....towards Obama....

[ieoeja]

28. She could have asked her what 2+2 was.

It would have really brought attention to the fact that Palin was ignoring the questions.

[Mike Daniels]

36. I'm not quite sure what Ifill could have done....

If Palin refused to answer a question what options did Ifill have beyond forcing a standoff which wouldn't have accomplished anything in the end.

By letting Palin do her end-run she allowed Palin to further solidify any impression of know-nothingness that people may have already had about her.

[Pluvious]

37. Ifill should have said...

"Both of you and your campaigns agreed to the format for this debate, which included
a promise to answer a series of questions put to each of you in turn.
If you refuse to stick to this format, you will be violating your agreement."

IMHO that's what a courageous and skilled moderator would have responded with.

[RagAss]

43. BINGO !

[onenote]

44. you have a copy of that agreement?

[opihimoimoi]

6. The Personification of the GOP....Nasty, Arrogant, Bull Shitter, Deviator, Scammer....

She could be a rising star in the GOPs Stable of Crappers and Fakers....

[MindMatter]

34. While we're at it, let's make sure people know what "maverick" means.

a dick
Unstable mentally
Unpredictable
Whimsical
Not capable of steady leadership

[LynneSin]

8. That teacher thing was so bizarre....

Joe's wife teaches but vote for me because I know even MORE teachers and now I'm going to recite them all.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. One article described her as "arrogant" to tell the American people "I'm not going to answer your

questions"... basically saying "no debate".

[RichGirl]

10. Exactly!

Here is my rehearsed and memorized statement about the debate:
Think of all the bad actresses you know, soap operas, B movies, Lifetime movies, Tori Spelling, etc....EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM COULD HAVE DONE WHAT SARAH PALIN DID LAST NIGHT. They could have spent weeks memorizing answers written by other people. When asked a question that they didn't have an answer for, they simply fill in with a canned answer or lines from speeches. Tori could play the part, but if ET stuck a microphone in her face and asked her a real question, she would sound just like Palin with Couric.

Palin's performance grades:

As potential POTUS - F
As an actress - C (But she shows promise...the Lifetime Network should snap her up!)

[Demit]

13. I think the only role she could play, like so many bad actors, is herself.

[nebenaube]

14. Well, every time a woman has winked at me like that...

I got laid! But, I sense the need to reject this one. Some things are incurable ya know!

[Virginia Dare]

21. She still thinks she's a contestant in a beauty pageant...n/t

[djg21]

15. my guess is . . .

that Ifill's Obama book flap constrained her somewhat. Had the McBush campaign not made an issue, Ifill perhaps could had objected to Palin's answers an non-responsive. However, Ifill could not risk appearing biased, and if she cornered Palin, she would have been castigated by McBush campaign as a left-wing operative and bully, and Palin would have gotten the sympathy vote from the Joe Six-pack crowd.

I think Joe himself could have done it respectfully and gotten the point across. After one of Palin's diatribes, he could have said to Ifill: "Gwen, I'd like to yield some of my time to Governor Palin so she can respond to the question that was actually posed."

[AllentownJake]

20. Actually her shot at the media

was what did her in. You can play the refs. You can't say the ref beats his wife and not expect them to start calling fouls on you.

[Raschel]

30. I love that she slammed the media

She really has no idea what she's playing with.

[AllentownJake]

35. This isn't Channel 2 in Alaska

She doesn't understand...at all.

[Bluenorthwest]

22. Ifill was awful

She did not even seem to be listening. Why take a job if you don't intend to do the work?

[blossomstar]

23. She is Dick with lipstick

[No Elephants]

40. You mean, you can put lipstick on a Dick, but it's still a Dick?

[bullwinkle428]

27. "I just wanna talk with the American people, without the filter of the MSM" equals

"Let me regurgitate all my of tired old right-wing talking points, and don't even think about asking me those pesky questions!"

[Schulzz]

29. The CNN ticker factchecks are also quite devastating for Palin.

The only thing they checked and Palin was right about is that Obaman is voting with Dems almost every time. 5-6 factchecks of her statements say she was misleading :popcorn:

[Mad_Dem_X]

32. The moment she said "I won't answer your questions,"

I knew it was over for her. That we were going to hear nothing but rehearsed answers and bits of nauseating "folksiness."

[yardwork]

38. Why was Palin allowed to bring notes to the debate?

[rvablue]

42. Yeah, why was she allowed? Wasn't allowed in the past.

Please read my post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7304264

There is a lot of factual/historical info in it.

[FlyingSquirrel]

39. In defense of Gwen Ifill

first off she was attacked before the debate and probably didn't want to look like she was taking sides against Palin. Secondly if she HAD pressed Palin and she started looking like her previous interviews, she'd just be gaining some sympathy. People have already seen her interviews, it's not necessary to embarrass her in the debate. Finally, I think Gwen decided to just give her some rope and let her hang herself - and I think it worked because people DO realize she did not answer the questions and just worked off of talking points. And when she DID answer direct questions ("Is that true?") she just said a quick "No" and moved on, which showed anyone with brains that she didn't really know. And that's backfiring now because the McCain campaign has to respond to her mischaracterization of their position.

[No Elephants]

41. I agree with some of what you say, but getting attacked before the debate is not an excuse for any-

thing, if we are talking about an adult journalist. Just the opposite. However, I do agree that Gwen was letting Sarah's arrogance and vapidity speak for themselves.

[TheKentuckian]

45. Palin should have been at least called on refusing to reconize the format

It should be perfectly clear the rules and structure were watered down for he benefit and she still wasn't up to the task and had the nerve to be cocky about it.