The American Spectator

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Picking Up the Pieces

10.6.08 @ 12:01AM

MEDIA AND HOCKEY MOM SQUARE OFF
Re: J. Peter Freire's The Barracuda Bites Back:

"I'll have a hard time buying the line that Palin's a disaster until someone qualified enough to interview her does so."

Good thing for you she won't give us that chance.
-- Cliff Smith

Great article on media techniques for advancing their own agenda through their interviews.

Your case for establishing a sound approach was clearly demonstrated in Carl Cameron's interview with Gov. Palin on Friday following the debate. I believe he accomplished exactly what you were suggesting. It would be interesting for you to compare the two and determine which had the more informative content.
-- Francis Shill

I love and respect Sarah Palin, and hope that when John McCain goes down to defeat she can be salvaged for future campaigns. She mopped the floor with Senator Biden last night. If anyone was on "talking points," it was Senator Biden with his tired Washington rhetoric, phony smile (doesn't he look like Charlie Tuna when he smiles?), and demonstrably false "facts."

That being said, Sarah (and all the pundits) missed Joe's most breathtaking debate gaffe. You may recall that at one point in the debate, Senator Biden pointed out that Senator Obama had also been concerned about sub-prime mortgages and the situation at Fannie and Freddie, so concerned that he expressed those concerns to the Secretary of the Treasury! What? A senator of the United States didn't warn the people, and work with his colleagues in the Senate to try to solve the problem. No, he had a chat with the principal. This was when Senator McCain was warning the people and was sponsoring a bill to rein in Fannie and Freddie. Sarah should have pointed out the differences, noted that in her neck of the woods people say you should lead or help or get out of the way, and ask who was the leader and who was the talker.
-- Stephen Zierak
Kansas City, Missouri

The article by J. Peter Freire, "The Barracuda Bites Back," claiming that Gov. Palin was the winner of the debate flies in the face of every poll, including that conducted by Fox News Network, that shows that Sen. Biden won by a decisive majority. Oddly, much of the vapid discussion that filled cable news on the day following the debate was about the discrepancy between the take on the debate between "inside the beltway" journalists and other assorted talking heads and the rest of the American people. Considering that the "inside the beltway" gang has come up with such terms as "lunch bucket democrats" it is hardly a shock that Freire et al are totally clueless about the performance of Gov. Palin in the debate.

Gov. Palin's behavior during the debate only reinforces the notion that she is unprepared to serve as the Vice President. Her refusal to answer questions, her use of what were clearly memorized talking points, and what has been described as her cocktail waitress winking at the camera are not what anyone would expect of a potential leader of the free world. Can anyone imagine Margaret Thatcher or even Hillary Clinton winking at a camera. In addition, Gov. Palin's use of folksy language and the ongoing droppin' of the terminal "g" is a total sham. Review any of the debate videos of Gov. Palin in the Alaskan gubernatorial debates, and you will notice a total lack of folksiness and the consistent use of proper pronunciation. We saw similar at-will use of folksiness in then candidate George W. Bush.

Wake up, smell the fraud, and quit pretending that Gov. Palin is anything more than fully unqualified. Would the situation be different if a candidate of such limited abilities were Obama's running mate?
-- David Smith
Scottsdale, Arizona

Liberal media say Palin is vague but what about Obama? Obama isn't only vague but evasive. What can be more vague than 'Change,' 'Yes We Can' (do what?), or 'Hope' -- or 'the audacity of hope?' What is so audacious about procrastination? Real audacity is about taking action based on strong action. But, the liberal media tag Palin with vagueness while Obama's much greater vagueness has been elevated by the liberal media as sacred wisdom. It's really nothing but New Age politics, a blend of Hollywood Kitsch, MTV, socialist agit-prop, and flaky spiritualism.

Obama doesn't want us to know about what he really did as a young man and as a career mandarin politician. He doesn't want us to know about his ties to radical preachers and intellectuals. He doesn't want us to pry into his dealings with Tony Rezko and other such crooks. He just wants us to see his image as projected on the silver screen -- or TV screen as the case may be -- with the aid of the liberal media.

We know that the unscripted Obama stammers a lot and mutters a lot of uhs and ahs. But, notice that news programs edited all that out and showed only his good moments. Worse, the interviewers allowed him to answer the same question over and over until he was satisfied. It was like allowing an actor to do multiple re-takes on a movie set. And, Stephanopoulos even corrected Obama when he said his religion is Islam. But, people like Gibson and Couric not only asked snotty and condescending questions to Palin, but obviously chose the worst moments of the interview to string together. When they approached Obama, they assumed he was the smartest man in the world, the most honest man in the world, and the most able candidate in the world. So, they didn't feel a need to OUT the real Obama. They simply assumed he's The One, and fawned over him. But, Gibson and Couric approached Palin as though she's a dummy, a nitwit, and stupid child. So, the premise of their questions were condescending, elitist, and snooty. Their attitude was, 'she's not one of us(urban sophisticates).' This is rather funny when the majority of TV journalists have been chosen for their looks than for their actual intelligence or talent. Take Couric for instance. Gee, do you think her looks had something to do with her getting that gig? And, she sucks at it, by the way.

Now, there's nothing wrong with asking tough questions to Palin, but why only her? The media have been acting just like Oprah. Remember that Oprah pushed for Obama but refuses to invite Palin on her program -- though she has no problem inviting Rap thugs and vain Hollywood celebrities on her show. The only solution to this is two-fold. More conservatives must go into journalism, or conservatives must come together and set up more conservative mainstream news sources.
-- Polly Ticks

When I saw Sarah Palin look into the TV camera, flash her cosmetic eyelashes, and say so sincerely, "change is coming, and John McCain is the leader of that reform," I could almost believe her. Except I wasn't born yesterday. I've seen McCain fight to remove government regulation and oversight for 26 years, which has dumped us in the financial firestorm that is now melting our economy.

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Transportation, Foreign Policy, Education, Health Care, John McCain, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Economics, Business, Religion, Islam, Hollywood, Constitution, Law, Supreme Court, Iraq, NATO, Socialism, Alaska, Oil