My Biggest Mistake Was Not Explaining How Russia's Proximity To Alaska Made Me A Foreign Policy Guru, Again

I have to be reading this wrong:

GIZZI: What was the biggest mistake made in the ’08 campaign?

PALIN: The biggest mistake made was that I could have called more shots on this: the opportunities that were not seized to speak to more Americans via media. I was not allowed to do very many interviews, and the interviews that I did were not necessarily those I would have chosen. But I was so thankful to have the opportunity to run with John McCain that I was not going to argue with the strategy decisions that some of his people were making regarding the media contacts?

But if I would have been in charge, I would have wanted to speak to more reporters because that’s how you get your message out to the electorate.

Umm, there's a highlight reel around here somewhere that might contradict the gentlelady from Alaska on this one...

I mean, maybe as a journalism major and former TV anchor she wanted to resurrect the careers of more reporters than just Katie Couric, maybe that was her point...

I love this answer too, showing that she was DYING to appoint someone (herself?) into the US Senate:

GIZZI: You made it clear in our interviews earlier this year that you were not close to fellow Republicans Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young from your state, both of whom you said had a different vision of Alaska’s dealings with the federal government than you did. Were you pleased with the election of Democrat Mark Begich who defeated Stevens and with the re-election of Rep. Young?

PALIN: I met yesterday with Sen.-elect Begich to see that we are on the same page as we move forward as he starts his new job representing Alaska.

I thought that Sen. Stevens was going to be re-elected, and it was so close, and that if he were to step aside because he was convicted [on corruption charges], then I would get to appoint a Republican. So I was kind of surprised at the outcome there.

...I was kind of surprised that I wasn't able to play queenmaker there...

Meanwhile, the group still supporting Palin seems to be a lovely bunch.

Comedy Duo

Palin & Couric today:

COURIC: What do you think is the best and worst thing that Dick Cheney has done as Vice President?

PALIN: Worst thing I guess that would have been the duck hunting accident--where you know, that was an accident. And I think that was made into a caricature of him. And that was kind of unfortunate. So the best thing though, he's shown support, along with George W. Bush, of our troops. And I've been there when George Bush has spoken to families of those who have suffered greatly, those who are serving in the military. I've been there when President Bush has embraced those families and expressed the concern and the sympathy speaking for all of America in those times. And for Dick Cheney to have supported that effort of George Bush's, I respect that.

And...

COURIC: What previous Vice President impresses you the most and why?

PALIN: Oh my goodness. It would have to be --Vice President--just a candidate, and that would have to have been Geraldine Ferraro, of course. That's an easy one for me because she's--she's the one who first shattered part of that glass ceiling anyway in American politics. So it would be she as a candidate.

COURIC: What about as an actual Vice President if you had to name one?

PALIN: My goodness. I think those who have gone on to the Presidency--George Bush Sr, having --kind of learned the ropes in his position as VP and then moving on up.

CBS needs to stop airing the news, and just give America a half hour of Katie Couric asking Palin questions every night. You ride a hit out as far as it can go.

Not Only Ignorant, But Destructive

It's not just that Sarah Palin can't name another Supreme Court case besides Roe v. Wade - wait, OK, it is that. But there's something more here, something that will offend the intelligence of more than merely all rational Americans. She believes in the Constitutional right to privacy.

Couric Why, in your view, is Roe v. Wade a bad decision?

Sarah Palin: I think it should be a states' issue not a federal government-mandated, mandating yes or no on such an important issue. I'm, in that sense, a federalist, where I believe that states should have more say in the laws of their lands and individual areas. Now, foundationally, also, though, it's no secret that I'm pro-life that I believe in a culture of life is very important for this country. Personally that's what I would like to see, um, further embraced by America.

Couric: Do you think there's an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution?

Palin: I do. Yeah, I do.

Couric: The cornerstone of Roe v. Wade.

Palin: I do. And I believe that individual states can best handle what the people within the different constituencies in the 50 states would like to see their will ushered in an issue like that.

I don't know if she believes in the right to privacy or if she believes in the words "right" and "privacy" and saw them together and took a stab at it. But this is a major, MAJOR no-no for the fundies and the wingnuts. She undermined the entire intellectual argument against Roe without even recognizing it. Taking her logic (if it can be called that), if there's a Constitutional right to privacy then there's a right to keep medical decisions confidential, not a state's right but a fundamental Constitutional right.

This is about 35 years' worth of arguments crashing down right now. If any backlash could cost her the nomination it would be over this. This reaches into Harriet Miers territory.

On a couple other notes:

1) Given that Palin is now personally responsible for saving Katie Couric's job, is there any kickback scheme in the offing?

2) Given that the gobbledy-gook answers that randomly generate at InterviewPalin.com are actually starting to be less surreal than what comes out of her mouth, have we reached a subject that is invulnerable to parody?

3) Do we really know whether or not Sarah Palin is Sacha Baron Cohen's greatest role?

Is This Thing Real?

Really, this is headed into elaborate prank territory.

COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this — to stay informed and to understand the world?

PALIN: I’ve read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media —

COURIC: But what ones specifically? I’m curious.

PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.

COURIC: Can you name any of them?

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news.

She can't name a newspaper?

You know, there was a time when us liberals would cower and think "she's just being a know-nothing to please Middle America and the base" but come on. The name of a newspaper? Not to mention that it's perceived to be a slightly more serious time than back in 2000, when "Jesus changed muh heart" Bush could get away with not being into the book-learning.

Do we really know whether or not Palin is actually Sacha Baron Cohen's role of a lifetime?

Earth To Palin: Stop Going On CBS

It's just not going very well:

Gov. Palin at Monday’s event in Columbus, OH: I do look forward to Thursday night and debating Senator Joe Biden. We are going to talk about those new ideas, new energy for America. I’m looking forward to meet him too. I’ve never met him before. But, I’ve been hearing about his senate speeches since I was in like 2nd grade.

Katie Couric: You made a funny comment, you’ve said you have been listening to Joe Biden’s speeches since you were in second grade.

Gov. Palin: It’s been since like ‘72, yah.

Katie Couric: You have a 72-year-old running mate, is that kind of a risky thing to say, insinuating that Joe Biden’s been around awhile?

Gov. Palin: Oh no, it’s nothing negative at all. He’s got a lot of experience and just stating the fact there, that we’ve been hearing his speeches for all these years. So he’s got a tremendous amount of experience and, you know, I’m the new energy, the new face, the new ideas and he’s got the experience based on many many years in the Senate and voters are gonna have a choice there of what it is that they want in these next four years.

That's Governor Palin, arguing for Barack Obama's election.

The expectations are so low for Thursday night that as long as she doesn't gnaw at the podium and speak in tongues it'll be seen as a success, but I'm actually not sure she can get over that.

Incidentally, on Thursday night after the debate, I'll be on The Mike Malloy Show, anchored by guest host Brad Friedman of BradBlog, from 7:30-9:00pm (Nationally Syndicated via NovaM Radio, Sirius Ch. 146, XM Ch. 167, Call-In#: 800-989-1480). I think Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel) will be joining us too, so it should be fun.

Going Over Like A Led Palin

I think John McCain suspended his campaign (sort of) to deflect attention away from the jaw-gaping performance by his running mate with Katie Couric. We already know that he ran in for a damage control interview with Couric last night in the middle of Letterman. That was the right move. I mean this is stunning:

COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? … Instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: Ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up the economy– Oh, it’s got to be about job creation too. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions.

And this:

COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada [...]

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We-- we do-- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space 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.

As Couric said yesterday, in the understatement of the year, “She’s not always responsive when she’s asked questions.” Yes, in the way a hen is not responsive.

(ZOMG, you just called Sarah Palin a hen!)

I'm with Greenwald, she's either deeply ignorant and incurious or she's so buttoned up by the McCain campaign that she can only speak gibberish. I'm inclined toward the latter, actually. McCain's team is desperate to keep her stage-managed to such a ridiculous degree that Campbell Brown is calling it sexist.



Nobody can sound credible in that environment when you're always looking over your shoulder.

Of course, the McCain campaign has good reason to restrict access to Palin. Because her views, if offered to the public, would be extremely damaging. She has extreme Christianist viewpoints including book-banning. Her pastor is a nutcase who believes in witchcraft and who made this comment about Jews right in front of her:

The second area whereby God wants us, wants to penetrate in our society is in the economic area. The Bible says that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It's high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity running the economics of our nations. That's what we are waiting for. That's part and parcel of transformation. If you look at the -- you know -- if you look at the Israelites, that's how they work. And that's how they are, even today.

Yeah, I think you would want to hide the candidate of holy war. Plus there's the unseemly influence of Todd Palin, her unelected de facto chief of staff. And the vindictiveness of their obstruction in the Troopergate case, which now might include witness tampering.

“Until McCain campaign staffers flew to Alaska to stop this investigation, the Governor and her staff agreed to comply with what we all know is a bi-partisan investigation. After Aug. 29 the campaign started working to block this investigation, and witnesses began joining that effort by ignoring their subpoenas and risking jail time. Something obviously changed the minds of these witnesses after Aug. 29th,” said Rep., Les Gara (D-Anchorage), a State Representative and Former Alaska Assistant Attorney General.

Alaska’s witness tampering statutes prohibit any person from “inducing” a witness to fail to comply with a subpoena. Almost daily, McCain staffers have called press conferences and made efforts to stonewall the legislative investigation. Prior to Aug. 29 no witness had stated they’d refuse to comply with the investigation, and the Governor in fact promised she and her staff would comply.

Karl Rove was asked if Sarah Palin would make a good President. He said "I don't know." And the McCain campaign wants to keep it that way.

...see also this Rolling Stone article on the myths versus the facts in Sarah Palin's image.

Good. God.

I don't know what to say.



Transcript with full context.

COURIC: You've said, quote, "John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business." Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

PALIN: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie--that, that's paramount. That's more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

COURIC: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

PALIN: He's also known as the maverick though. Taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about--the need to reform government.

COURIC: I'm just going to ask you one more time, not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation?

PALIN: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

I think the wrong candidate decided to suspend their campaign. No wonder they're trying to spike the VP debate.

IZ JUS A STOOPID BLOGGER

CBS News boldly defines their role in 21st century journalism.



Apparently a C&L reader got a similar response with the same signature tag line: "imagine all your info came from a blog."

Based on the ratings, I imagine all CBS' viewers came from one Nielsen household.

That's not entirely fair, the nightly news is still outdrawing Internet news sites, but I fail to understand how these traditional news organizations can still insult their most loyal and news-hungry consumers and expect to get away with it. Probably because they are unused to such trivialities as accountability and answering to the great unwashed. CBS got out of the news business when they hired Katie Couric; now they want to demean their viewers for noticing.

Zombie Lies

You can't kill them if they're already dead. Does CBS News live in that much of a bubble that they could repeat the "Obama was in a madrassah" lie without regard for the fact that the whole thing was debunked months ago?

Let me note that this was not on the CBS Evening News but Katie Couric's "video blog," which in a way is even worse, that they think they can get away with the nasty rumors if they don't let them on the air but put them on their website where the smear merchants can link to them and give their stupidity the patina of legitimacy.

I haven't watched more than 10 minutes of Katie Couric since she took over the news, and it appears to me that she's completely out of her element, unable to distinguish fact from fiction, and a symbol of the decline of the modern media.