Conservatives Begin Questioning Palin’s Heft
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by Associated Press
Sunday, September 28, 2008
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/28/conservatives-begin-questioning-palins-heft/
A growing number of Republicans are expressing concern about Sarah
Palin’s uneven - and sometimes downright awkward - performances in her
limited media appearances.
Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker, a former Palin supporter, says
the vice presidential nominee should step aside. Kathryn Jean Lopez,
writing for the conservative National Review, says “that’s not a crazy
suggestion” and that “something’s gotta change.”
Tony Fabrizio, a GOP strategist, says Palin’s recent CBS appearance
isn’t disqualifying but is certainly alarming. “You can’t continue to
have interviews like that and not take on water.”
“I have not been blown away by the interviews from her, but at the
same time, I haven’t come away from them thinking she doesn’t know s-
t,” said Chris Lacivita, a GOP strategist. “But she ain’t Dick Cheney,
nor Joe Biden and definitely not Hillary Clinton.”
There is no doubt that Palin retains a tremendous amount of support
among rank-and-file Republicans. She draws huge crowds, continues to
raise a lot of money for the McCain campaign, and state parties report
she has sparked an uptick in the number of volunteers.
Asked about Palin’s performance in the CBS interview, a McCain
official briefing reporters on condition of anonymity said: “She did
fine. She’s a tremendous asset and a fantastic candidate.”
But there is also no doubt many Republican insiders are worried she
could blow next week’s debate, based on her unexpectedly weak and
unsteady media appearances, and hurt the Republican ticket if she
does.
What follows is a viewer’s guide to some of Palin’s toughest moments
on camera so far.
Speaking this week with CBS’s Katie Couric, Palin seemed caught off-
guard by a very predictable question about the status of McCain
adviser Rick Davis’ relationship with mortgage lender Freddie Mac.
Davis was accused by several news outlets of retaining ties - and
profiting from - the companies despite his denials.
Where a more experienced politician might have been able to brush off
Couric’s follow-up question, Palin seemed genuinely stumped, repeating
the same answer twice and resorting to boilerplate language about the
“undue influence of lobbyists.”
These missteps could be attributed to inadequate preparation and don’t
necessarily reflect more deeply on Palin’s ability to perform as vice
president. But when reporters have tried to probe Palin’s thinking on
subjects such as foreign policy, she’s been similarly opaque.
In an interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson, Palin gave a muddled answer
to a question about her opinion of the Bush Doctrine.
And given the chance to describe her foreign policy credentials more
fully, Palin recited familiar talking points, telling Gibson that her
experience with energy policy was sufficient preparation for dealing
with national security issues.
In the same interview, Palin let Gibson lead her into saying it might
be necessary to wage war on Russia - a suggestion that most candidates
would have avoided making explicitly and that signaled her discomfort
in discussing global affairs.
Then, asked this week by Couric to discuss her knowledge of foreign
relations - in particular, her assertion that Alaska’s proximity to
Russia gave her international experience - Palin tripped herself up
explaining her interactions with Alaska’s neighbor to the west.
Watch CBS Videos Online
On the economy, too, Palin has avoided taking clear stances. In a
largely friendly interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity, Palin
spoke in tangled generalities in response to a question about a
possible Wall Street bailout - and even preempted her campaign by
coming out against it.
On Thursday, Palin finally took questions from her traveling press -
but shut things down quickly after Politico’s Kenneth P. Vogel asked
her whether she would support Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who has been
indicted for corruption, and Rep. Don Young, who is under federal
investigation, for reelection.
Unlike her other interviews, at least this time Palin had the option
to walk away.
joshstrike
It reached the top 10 in Google's news listing, but by then the link
had gone dead; Fox News removed all traces of it from their website.
Hey Murdoch! You can try to silence what your own rank and file are
saying about her, but how you gonna hide the fact that she's a
freakin' moron?
cbmtrx
Yep, I noticed that this story suddenly disappeared from foxnews.com--
amazing, huh!?
han...@gmail.com
Yep, Fox is trying to hide this story...what losers
killer...@gmail.com
I had to post a link to this site on Truthdig.com, so if others wanted
to check up on this and actually see the article they could. Im
laughing my ass off at Fox right now.
Im glad I wasn't the only one to catch Fox trying to cover up thier
mistake asap.
joshstrike
this article for the first few hours with a more "official looking"
page saying "You've requested an America's Election HQ page that
cannot be found."
Can't be found? Hey, Rupert, it's right here. Seriously, you must be
going daft in your old age, you're misplacing everything. When was the
last time anyone saw your journalistic integrity, for example?
It's just great to catch the hypocrites at work sometimes.
SSole...@gmail.com
didn't work. Oh well, I wish I could've caught it, but here's a
captured screenshot of the broken page.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3252/2896856914_f5e0d6baa8_o.jpg
nicenips
Thursday, before her scheduled "debate" with Joe Biden. The Mc"Cane"
campaign people have persuaded her to step down under a pretense of
wanting "to spend more time with her family," especially daughter
Bristol's son Trig, who's really Daffi's grandson!
Such a joyful family!
So moral, so religious, so God-fearing, so vengeful, so dissembling,
so dishonest, so mendacious.