Palin's ABC interview
I got to see the ABC exclusive interview with Alaska Governor and Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. Two things:
1. Charlie Gibson pressed really hard to get Palin to admit that she isn't qualified to be VP, let alone President. She didn't. She stood firm and said she didn't hesitate to accept McCain's offer.
2. I don't think I've EVER seen such a choppy editing job. Over and over again the audio was removed from the video while they made a transition to the next sound bite. Clearly, she hadn't completed her thought but ABC had heard enough and thought we had too. I'd really like to see a fuller copy of the interview so I can judge for myself what gatekeeping ABC cut out.
3 comments:
This may just be my effete, liberal side showing, but, when it comes to the question of "Am I really ready to become the leader of the free world in a time of crisis?", I want there to be some hesitation. Hesitation, in those circumstances, equals time for rational thought and realism.
After all, that's not a question along the lines of "We've just been attacked, what do we do?" It isn't a question that calls for a split-second answer. It isn't even a question that anyone, anyone could legitimately claim to know the best response to.
It's a decision that could end up affecting every individual across the world. And she, a new governor sitting up in Alaska, didn't hesitate? That seems to me to be either 1) political bluster or 2) deeply troubling.
So if no one could legitimately claim to know the best response to the question---why did Gibson even ask????
Because, if she wouldn't admit to hesitation and confirm that she doesn't believe herself to be ready (and validate the assumption by the left), he wanted to paint her response as hubristic instead of confident. Hubris being bad her her and confident being bad for Obama.
Uhm, because it was a question she had to answer to herself and because it gives us citizens some telling information about her? The second John McCain offered her the position of VP, after all, it became a very concrete consideration - "Am I really ready to become the leader of the free world in a time of crisis?"
Personally, I think how someone processes that question says something about him or her, at least when it goes beyond the hypothetical level. So, I'd say that Gibson asking her about her qualifications and about how she made the decision is an example of good journalism.
The assumption that Charlie Gibson, who the McCain campaign personally picked out to do her first interview, was actively trying to smear the woman is, I'm sorry, paranoid at best.
She could have very well said something to the effect of, "Charlie, any time that you're presented with such a huge responsibility, you have to seriously ask yourself whether you're ready. Anyone would. So, no, I didn't just immediately conclude that I was so great that I could handle it. I sat down and thought about it. I talked to my family. And, in the end, I decided that I was strong enough to give my all for this country."
She wouldn't have seemed hubristic if she hadn't given a hubristic answer, and, on the flip side, she wouldn't have seemed timorous and unprepared if she wasn't. She was the one giving the answers; not Gibson.
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