The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Picking Up the Pieces

10.6.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 6 of 6)

I agree with Mr. Freire that Sarah did well in Thursday night's debate. I was talking with a Barack Obama supporter the next day -- call her "Sally" -- and she gave a negative evaluation of Sarah's debate performance. I said that Joe Biden made numerous mistakes during the debate, and "Sally" claimed she could not vote for Sarah Palin because Sarah was too inexperienced. I then asked why she would support Obama, who has virtually no executive experience. Sally started talking about Obama's judgment, and I pointed out this was sexism, attacking the woman, who has had eight years of executive experience, while giving the inexperienced male a free pass. Instead of responding to that, Sally started talking about Bush, and I asked her what Bush had to do with Obama's lack of experience or his supposed good judgment.

Sally kept insisting Obama had good judgment so I asked what judgments he had ever made. She couldn't point to any examples. I brought up the fact that his first really big decision was his choice for a vice presidential candidate, and I said he blew it. The right decision would have been to choose Hillary Clinton, who would have unified the party and attracted undecided women to the ticket, but Obama chose Biden, who brings nothing to the ticket.

In fact, that's the reason Joe Biden can make so many mistakes and nobody cares. He brings nothing to the ticket. If he flubs it, it doesn't damage the ticket. It's all Obama on the Democrat side. It's different with Sarah Palin. She brings a lot of excitement to the Republican ticket, and a poor performance on her part would have damaged it. Not a few of us had jitters before the debate.

Finally, Sally admitted she supports Obama because of his policy positions. I said why she didn't say that in the first place. I don't have a problem with people who support candidates based on their positions. They may be wrong, but at least it's a rational view on how to decide which candidate to support. Merely supporting someone for their style, or looks, or charisma is how stupid people decide.

In fact, one of my pet peeves is Frank Luntz and his undecided voters. The fact is undecided voters are the stupidest people in America. If you can't tell the difference between Obama and McCain at this point, there's not much hope for you. And Frank is actually surveying these stupid people to see what they think, as if they ever think. No, they decide on the basis of style, looks, charisma, or for superficial reasons. That's why they're stupid. And yet it's these people the candidates have to appeal to in order to win an election. Disgusting.

My conclusion about the debate is that if McCain loses this election, it won't be over for Sarah. When the next Republican primaries are held four years from now, Sarah will be the top player in the field. While she did a lot for the Republican ticket Thursday night, she also did a lot for herself.
-- Vern Crisler
Gilbert, Arizona

I read with interest Peter Freire's article entitled "The Barracuda Bites Back." I am a conservative Democrat and a voter whom I believe McCain wanted on his side of the voting ledger this election cycle. Unfortunately, McCain and Palin are not getting it done for me. First, Gwen Ifill would have moderated the debate fairly regardless of her upcoming book, as had already been determined by the McCain campaign back in July. Palin's clearing of the bar that had already been set up for her on the bottom floor in the underground parking garage had nothing to do with Gwen Ifill holding back. Second, I find it offensive that somehow you believe Joe Biden felt he could not attack a woman. If any woman running for political office can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Did anyone object to McCain's condescending and contemptuous attitude toward Obama on Sep 26th. No, because they were perceived as equal sparring partners on the stage. The same obviously cannot be said for Palin and Biden, as for some reason Palin, the delicate flower, had to be handled with kid gloves. Finally, by Peter Freire's assessment, Katie Couric was the main problem in Palin's CBS interview and not Palin. Freire somehow believes Palin should be interviewed by journalists who will let Palin off the hook on matters of national security, foreign policy, the economy and Supreme Court decisions, and ask more questions about the car pools for hockey practice and how expensive milk is at Pick'nSave. Perhaps Palin will find such a journalist at her local middle school after she returns to Alaska on November 5th.
-- Theresa Seem
Glendale, Wisconsin

J. Peter Freire replies:
Don't know if McCain knew about the book beforehand, but it was very smart of them to have her moderate even after finding out about it. It ensured that she couldn't do very much "gotcha." I would recommend watching the Newshour interview with Obama, conducted by Ifill, available here.

In a later "Reporter's Notebook" feature (exclusive to their online edition), Ifill seems willing to replace "changing a position," with "evolving" it. I don't want to say she's biased, but at the least, she's susceptible to political doublespeak -- always a worrisome sign. (To be clear: I've enjoyed Ifill's reporting for years. I was just disappointed in this instance, and then in the case of her perceived flap).

As for Palin being a woman, I agree that it's an unfortunate public perception issue. But Biden clearly held back. I can't help but think part of that is because Palin's a woman. I think if he had tried to hammer her, though, it's clear she would have been ready and capable of fighting back. I think it's unfortunate we didn't get to see it, though.

As for your last point, it's not letting someone off the hook. I actually think that candidates of both parties would be better off if the reporters interviewing them showed some knowledge of their experience prior. I can't recall the interview where some intrepid reporter, for example, got into the nitty-gritty of Obama's Chicago political career. And if Obama makes some pledge on some political issue, it's only a pledge. In other words, show me the facts, don't show me some potential for ability.

While I think you and I obviously disagree about Palin's qualifications, I hope you can see more clearly precisely what I was picking out as a strange phenomenon in these interviews. Tim Russert was actually pretty good at this sort of thing, though sometimes he would lapse as well.

(For today's other Reader Mail, click here.)

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