{"id":1074,"date":"2008-10-03T12:42:47","date_gmt":"2008-10-03T19:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1074"},"modified":"2008-10-03T12:42:47","modified_gmt":"2008-10-03T19:42:47","slug":"sarah-palin-beauty-queen-at-the-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1074","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Palin: Beauty Queen At The Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a brilliant smile and a confident swagger, Sarah Palin faced Joe Biden, and America, in the first and only vice presidential debate. But the face she presented was that of shallow Pollyanna with a woefully insufficient grasp of issues and facts.<\/p>\n

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Let’s set aside for the moment that she was flatly wrong when she said that there were fewer troops in Iraq than before the Surge. And never mind that she doesn’t know the name of the American commander in Afghanistan. Palin’s big problem was that she outright refused to answer the questions that were asked. Now, that is a venerable debate tactic and, when used skillfully, can be quite effective and undetectable. However, when Palin did it she clumsily announced that she was changing the subject, and then proceeded to deliver her memorized talking points.<\/p>\n

What might have been an enlightening exchange between the candidates was severely constrained by a format and a moderator that discouraged direct interaction. The question arises as to whether Gwen Ifill was cowed by allegations that she would be partial due to the upcoming publication of her book on race in American politics. We may never know if that’s the case, but we do know that Ifill was a virtual non-entity on the stage and failed to ask probing follow-ups of either candidate. That could explain why Palin expressed such satisfaction<\/a> with the event in her closing remarks:<\/p>\n

“I like being able to answer these tough questions without the filter, even, of the mainstream media kind of telling viewers what they’ve just heard. I’d rather be able to just speak to the American people like we just did.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First of all, she wasn’t asked any tough questions and I suspect that that is what she really liked. Secondly, the Mainstream Media to which she refers doesn’t apply filters to her interviews. The Gibson and Couric affairs simply allowed her to speak on her own, and any resultant embarrassment was of her own doing. Thirdly, her impression of speaking to the American people appears to rely heavily on the help she receives from her speech writers and a teleprompter.<\/p>\n

Her statement above is a thinly veiled declaration that she intends to have no further association with the media for which she is so dismissive. I predict that she will have maybe one more interview with a reputable national journalist (probably Brian Williams), then will scurry off to the more comforting embrace of comrades like Hannity and Limbaugh and the Washington Times. By November 4th, she will not have had a single open press conference for the entire election cycle.<\/p>\n

The fact that she relates so closely to Dick Cheney, whose warped and unconstitutional view of the Vice Presidency she shares, alarmingly foreshadows the sort of secretive cabal she seems even now to be shaping. The last thing this country needs is another administration that aspires to conceal itself and its actions at every turn and reside outside of public view in a secret undisclosed location.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a brilliant smile and a confident swagger, Sarah Palin faced Joe Biden, and America, in the first and only vice presidential debate. But the face she presented was that of shallow Pollyanna with a woefully insufficient grasp of issues and facts. Let’s set aside for the moment that she was flatly wrong when she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[152,1],"tags":[230,64,404,377,103,381],"class_list":["post-1074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election","category-general","tag-brian-williams","tag-dick-cheney","tag-gwen-ifill","tag-joe-biden","tag-john-mccain","tag-sarah-palin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-hk","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1070,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1070","url_meta":{"origin":1074,"position":0},"title":"Random Thoughts: McCain, Palin And Olbermann","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/27\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a few things that are running through my idle mind: On John McCain: In last night's debate, McCain suggested that folks check the website of Citizens Against Government Waste to confirm his allegations about Obama's congressional earmarks. What he didn't say is that CAGW is a McCain front group\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1073,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1073","url_meta":{"origin":1074,"position":1},"title":"Frantic Conservatives Trying To Ditch The Sarah Palin Debate","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/1\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's face it. They have a right to be scared. Conservative activists have seen Sarah Palin humiliate herself and her Party repeatedly. She can't name a single newspaper or magazine that she reads, or cite a Supreme Court decision other than Roe v. Wade, or give an example of McCain's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1075,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1075","url_meta":{"origin":1074,"position":2},"title":"Sarah Palin: Back In The Protective Arms Of Fox News","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/3\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"As I predicted, Sarah Palin followed up her debate performance with an interview in the safety of a friendly harbor - Fox News. Carl Cameron managed to get the exclusive post-debate sit-down with Palin, and he doesn't disappoint. Cameron started off by eliciting an admission from Palin that John McCain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1066,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1066","url_meta":{"origin":1074,"position":3},"title":"Free Sarah Palin From Rupert Murdoch!","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/25\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"While John McCain is consumed with personally resolving the nation's financial crisis, Sarah Palin is cavorting with the glamor set (elitist?) and the uber-conservative media barons who are propping up the Republican ticket: \"Sarah Palin schmoozed with controversial media tycoon Rupert Murdoch at a swanky charity gala here Wednesday night.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art\/Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Art\/Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1069,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1069","url_meta":{"origin":1074,"position":4},"title":"Cafferty To Blitzer: Don’t Make Excuses For Her (Sarah Palin)!","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/26\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This has to be enshrined as one of the premiere moments in television news. CNN's Jack Cafferty rolled tape of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric. Couric asked Palin about the expense of the White House's Wall Street bailout proposal. Palin gave a rambling and non-responsive answer. But what came\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3824,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=3824","url_meta":{"origin":1074,"position":5},"title":"Military Charity Event Featuring Sarah Palin Goes Bust","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/7\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Sarah Palin has spent most of the past two years trying to polish her credentials as a super-patriot and portray herself as a supporter of American ideals and, especially, soldiers and veterans. But her popularity (or lack thereof) outside of the Tea Party is increasingly a source of embarrassment. 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