Reading the newspapers in my neighborhood coffee shop this morning, I overheard a group of older men discussing Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin: One said, with a note of pride, "Gibson tried every way he could to trip her up, and he couldn't do it. She's smart." Others chimed in with chuckles and nods, and their talk turned to the number of Democratic women who are crossing over.
True, she has a certain kind of smartness -- but to my ears it was a combination of memorized script and glibness. She's apparently a quick study, and she has smart handlers who are quickly reframing all the things she's being criticized for. One example that, I'm afraid, will be effective is what she said about abortion. She emphasized that her views are "my personal belief," and then she sort of, almost, maybe, gave a hint that implied that she might not insist on those views when it comes to public policy.
Sounds like they've borrowed a page from Joe Biden, who gave a wonderful and thoughtful answer on that subject on TV last Sunday morning. As a Catholic, he said, he accepts his church's teaching that abortion is wrong. But, he hastened to add, this is based on his faith. And in a pluralistic society, he would never try to impose his faith-based beliefs on others who have a different view of things that are based on their faith. And with Biden this came across as something he had thought through, not just a script he had been handed; and, most importantly, he sounded even more passionate about protecting the freedom to differ than he did about his personal opposition to abortion.
Palin's handlers are smart enough to downplay her extremism on issues like this, at least enough to mollify those who want to vote Republican and are looking for confirmation that she wouldn't be as extreme as she seemed at first.
As much as there was to criticize about Palin (and I personally thought her performance was plucky but pathetic when you consider the stakes) -- still, she did better with Charlie Gibson than McCain did in his "interview" with the women on The View. She seems more and more like their best bet to win the election. She draws the crowds, not he; she creates the excitement, not he. And, in the end, I do believe she's a lot smarter than he is, even if she is woefully uninformed and unprepared. McCain is now riding her coat tails.
When the senior suburban men join the working moms and the religious right wing -- we're in trouble, folks.
Ralph
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4 comments:
What's pathetic about the comments you overheard is this admiration for someone dissembling. There was an acknowledgment there that she wasn't being straightforward, and that was seen as somehow 'better' than Gibson trying to get her to answer honestly.
What kind of country have we become?
As for Biden -I guess it doesn't pay to make yourself accessible to the press. He meets, talks openly and informally every day with them, and nothing he does or says gets reported. Then the media complains about him being invisible. Palin won't talk to anyone, and it's non-stop Sarah TV, 24/7.
What's pathetic about the comments you overheard is this admiration for someone dissembling. There was an acknowledgment there that she wasn't being straightforward, and that was seen as somehow 'better' than Gibson trying to get her to answer honestly.
What kind of country have we become?
As for Biden -I guess it doesn't pay to make yourself accessible to the press. He meets, talks openly and informally every day with them, and nothing he does or says gets reported. Then the media complains about him being invisible. Palin won't talk to anyone, and it's non-stop Sarah TV, 24/7.
The difficult part for me in experiences like the example you give is the smug laughter. It's like not letting Charlie Gibson "trip you up" is the whole point of the interview. There's nothing funny about Sarah Palin successfully spinning her fundamentalist beliefs so as to fend off being pinned down on things we know she believes - things that are the reason she's been chosen. It's not humorous that she is in the dark about world affairs or the business of our government. Yet the shared laugh is always a part of these discussions. It's like the point is to "get away with lying" to the misguided liberal press rather than to evaluate her fitness for office. Where's the fun in that?
I recently read the result of a poll in which Obama was shown to be in the lead for all age demographics but the 30 - 44 year olds. They postulated that this group grew up with Reagan as president, and they can't tell the difference between entertainment and serious discourse.
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