. . . The Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla.
When all is said and sunk, not sure whether one finds oneself laughing at or with the dino-caster. Have a peek-see for yourself, though; then, erm, do you call that class or opportunistically crass? Just nosey . . .
Hi Judith,
ReplyDeleteWe know that Sarah Palin came into national politics the top US governor in approval rating across the US. We could then ask, wouldn't it be great if we could have a vice president be one with one of the highest approval ratings ever, possibly becoming a president with one of the highest approval ratings ever. So, McCain did not shoot low and miss. We can Monday morning quarterback and say that maybe he would have done better with another Republican, Romney, who essentially authored the health care policy that Obama first put forward, or Huckabee, whomever, but that's a debate that includes Obama being beaten. We know that Palin's being added brought life to the McCain campaign that was not here previously.
What brought all this negativity to the still-today-very popular Sarah Palin? Well, first of all, Palin. But I want to ask the more specific question, that if she is such a terrific governor--which is hard to argue other than by being partisan, which would not be valid for the sake of this argument--besides being a Republican, say, what did she not do very well in the campaign? Well, she had a hard time answering questions in such a way that she would not be attacked. It was that specific rhetoric that she performed poorly. In the dog fight thus set up, Katie Couric became the pit bull with lip stick, which opened the door for Tina Fey, and a media craze followed making an SNL routine big news.
On listening to Palin, I did not get the impression that she did not have solid ideas, but that, given that her instructions, or at least her goals, were to integrate broad economics into answers to specific questions, she looked like a prize fighter who can't swim, completely unpracticed and out of her element. She may or may not give as good a speech as Obama, but she sure cannot spin a media question into its broader categories like he can.
The McCain campaign knew this from the get-go, and kept her from interviews for some time. And I wonder how much was that she never had to deal with the likes of Cavetts (now) and Courics--but also how much Palin felt the need to answer for the McCain camp, versus running her own show. Should we have expected Couric not to go for the Gotcha journalism given this opportunity for headlines? In a perfect world, she wouldn't, but in the real world of journalism, Couric tasted blood.
Palin then surprised people by debating very well against Biden. One interpretation of this could be that she felt she could speak for herself, another that the experienced Biden set a tone that Palin could follow, or maybe she was simply better able to practice the type of rhetoric needed for a debate format, more Ben Franklin type thinking.
It'll be interesting to see if she runs for the US Senate, or even without that, runs for president herself in 2012. It might them be that we will see the pit bull with lipstick, uncaged.
Yours,
Rus
In the interest of equal time, let's not forget Joltin' Joe Biden's reference to "a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S." Of course, Joe is renowned for putting his foot in his mouth. Let's not forget this beauty: “... you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.” Diminutive Dick should look into this.
ReplyDeleteI would also add that it is typical of a has-been like Cavett to blather about it in so timely a fashion.
ReplyDeleteWell, in the interests of posterity, let's not forget Fats Domino, I think it was, who said, Yeah, there are a lot of people out there with a BA, MA, and a PhD. What they don't have is a J-O-B.
ReplyDeleteIt's curious to me Cavett took the time to make a fool of himself this way; what's in it for him he hasn't already achieved? Doubt he needs the money; doubt he needs this as a springboard for a comeback; but, mostly, don't see where he really adds anything to the discourse surrounding Sarahrah :) and, I do think she's going to surprise a lot of Americans (NTM the world) in years to come; the way in which she does that, of course, depends upon her. I don't know; but, I do know some "jokes" (includng Leonard Cohen after Death Of A Ladies Man with Phil Spector, overcame the obstacles and achieved what they'd set out to achieve in the beginning. You can't keep a good man (or woman or pitbull) down :).
Right on, Fats!
ReplyDelete"a fool of himself" Please - Cavett is brilliant, as always. Palin? God help us all...time to go back to Alaska and wait for Fox to put together her talk show...
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