No Questions: Palin Won't Talk To Press

A John McCain campaign aide tells Jay Carney that she sees no reason why Sarah Palin should have to answer reporters' queries:

According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don't care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace -- in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough's show -- the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads.

Watch the exchange:

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter predicts how this strategy will play out:

I'd imagine that Palin will dodge press conferences in favor of interviews with people like Sean Hannity, Larry King and Ellen DeGeneres. Then, when the media complain that she is being kept away, the McCain campaign will cite the half dozen or so interviews she has granted as proof that the campaign press is just bellyaching. Brief press "avails" on the plane will be useless, unless reporters ask open-ended queries designed to elicit proof of real knowledge.

That should get Palin through the next three weeks. By the end of the month, the McCain camp can say she has to go to ground to prepare for the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate, where expectations will be so low for Palin that she will likely emerge intact. It will be up to the press and public to raise enough of a stink about this, that Palin is forced to submit to real interviews with real questions that show whether her real-life experience is any preparation for assuming high office. In that sense, the Palin nomination is as much of a test of us as it is of her.

And Marc Ambinder suggests they can get away with it:

What harm would befall the McCain campaign if Palin sat for one major television interivew with, say, a gentle but probing Diane Sawyer... and then an interview with her local paper in Alaska... and then gave no press avails and held no press conferences. The media would complain a lot. Would people care?

Comments

[larryMI]

This really doesn't surprise anybody does it. RNC picked her as window dressing and they know that she is too far right to get the independants. RNC is banking on the Hillary supporters to vote based on gender.........Not the women I know.

[rachelwebster]

Gwen Ifill is moderating the VP debate, so I have some hope it will be fair and not full of softball questions from the likes of Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson.

[mamamay]

This is ridiculous. We should be able to hear what Palin has to say, or she should be rejected as the choice for GOP VP. This is too unfair that folks decide what we will hear and what we won't. It is easier to just let her keep her voice to herself and JMcSame and we take our choice to the Voting booth in November. We do not have to have Palin shoved down anyone's list. We wake up and turn the tv to our own favorite channel and she will have to think about what we may be thinking. We certainly cant take anymore losses with the condition of this economy and we can't afford to get sick or have this globe to heat up any more than this summer, huh? But foremost, We need to bring our troops home. Everybody.. Please concentrate on these needs for America. We need to look toward help and concern for easing our pain asap not a 100 yrs from now...if We ever needed an Organizer, We sure do need him and Biden, NOW.

[Zubeck]

Of course she can't talk to the press. You'll see no interviews and no press conferences. How could it be otherwise? That would expose the whole cloth of their fabrication. Ironically, I think that the comparison of experience between Obama & Palin will be the repubs' demise down the road. And they were so counting on that experience thing to tide them over.
Thankfully, there's an easy way out. Palin needn't be disqualified by the press if she can't be qualified by the man who picked her. They can't both avoid the press without hemorrhaging that ubiquitously redundant exposure, so necessary in modern politics. She can preach to the choir all she wants, that won't turn the corner for them at the end of the day. I hope they spend a ton of money shipping her around to talk to voters they've already got.
Palin won't meet? Don't give her oxygen. And don't leave McCain room to squirm. He should be asked why he picked her and how she's qualified every single day from now to November. It would be more interesting than the canned tripe that is his platform.
I know that won't happen. I really hope the Dems can pull this off.
My backup plan is emigration.

[MOMFORCOUNTRYFIRST]

First, you heard the thunder. Next, you'll feel the lightening. Can't wait for the Palin/Biden debate. Biden better wear his asbestos suit. It's going to be good.

[larse2210]

I imagine that the media should be thrilled that ABC is getting any type of interview after the attacks, smears and lies that are spreading about her. Let her answer questions from the people at town hall discussions about the issues.

If you expect the media, any media at that, to give you unbiased, fair coverage, you are wrong and you shouldn't even be allowed to vote. Watch the videos and read the transcripts (unedited, if you can find them) on both candidates. Then make up your own mind. Everyone has an agenda and if you don't look for the answers yourself w/out relying on heavily biased sites, then you may as well turn in your voter registration for a Socialist identification card.

[ctcer53]

"Watch the videos and read the transcripts (unedited, if you can find them) on both candidates. Then make up your own mind. Everyone has an agenda and if you don't look for the answers yourself w/out relying on heavily biased sites, then you may as well turn in your voter registration for a Socialist identification card."

larse2210, this is exactly the point. If Palin refuses to talk to the press, there will be no (or less) videos and transcripts to watch and read. Yes, everyone has an agenda, including the candidates, and the people will have a much better chance to distinguish between a candidate's agenda and true self if we can see him/her outside of scripted speeches and get a sense of how he/she answers difficult, on-the-spot, unrehearsed questions.

[T Pol]

Everyone,

This is a call to action. As much as we enjoy this blog site, those of you who see this as an affront to our country and our system need to spend as much time as you can away from here where you will be preaching to the choir.

Go to your neighbors and ask for their vote for the Obama/Biden ticket to change from the devastated economy and foreign relations we have. Urge disgusted independents to get out and vote the ticket, to NOT stay home.

Don't do this for Obama/Biden -- do this for US, for your children, for the country. Each vote DOES matter.

Make a difference. I don't want this election to be about Sarah Palin. But to the extent it is, fight it. McCain's campaign manager said this is about image, not issues. Palin can't handle real press time without handlers and "deference." How is she going to handle foreign relations? Oh, with that "team" she mentioned surrounds her.

Just say "no" to figureheads. Say "No how. No way. No McCain/Palin." But say "no" in a way that makes it stick.

T_Pol

[Its A MUST]

I am ABSOLUTELY speechless. Speechless. And I agree with T_Pol whole-heartedly. Not to get personal and such in politics, but come on this one's ridiculous! So Im doing my part. Im posting a comment (this never usually happens, but this time is a must!), and I'm hoping that this particular issue encourages people, more people, to stand up for what is politically just. And Im not playing it from left side-right side bit, I mean it GENERALLY-speaking. I actually wanted to hear her key points and intentions regarding certain our very important issues. I haven't paid any attention to her personal life, or that of her daughters and the rest of her family, but if you give me nothing else, or anything else that counts, then she'll just become the person WHO I can't take seriously realistically because mum's the word.
...oh and who has a daughter who she said she is proud of for choosing the keep the baby, but then says she's totally against abortion...sorry, but she leaves me nothing else. Bad move.

[vincfoster]

Sarah and her handlers are clueless! She is just a shill for Bush's agenda. Bush policies in drag!

http://therejoinder.wordpress.com

[whimsal]

Sarah Palin a God fearing woman of faith. What say you?

[justkeepswimming]

I say somewhere a bridge is missing its troll.

[DivergentMary]

Nope. I say that she is a hypocrite who is using God-talk to further her self-centered ambitions.

[notbuyit]

Sarah needs to show the American People she has what it takes and can be spontaneous with her answers to all those issue's that confront us currently. Economics and our positions on world government like South Korea.

[postman606]

Last week, Presidential nominee John McCain troted out Miss Alaska in her evening wear. The crowd went wild. He then installed her in the sound-proof booth and proceeded to forget the interview stage of the competition.

[hoodie4u]

it's bush and his "invitation only" town hall meetings all over. ooohh, and guess what, the very same campaign operatives are in charge again. remember, republicans like to win elections, governing is a secondary rather trite chore.

[corsair1917]

Wha Sarah Palin seems to forget is that THIS IS JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER JOB INTERVIEW!!!
YOU HAVE TO PROVE TO YOU ARE UP TO SNUFF!

Sitting in Alaska and coming out only to repeat what someone else has written for her, does NOT show us that she has the skills. If she is the Barracuda that she CLAIMS to be, what's she so scared about. They might buy what she selling up there in Alaska, but those of us down here in the other 48 states DEMAND that she is held to task.

[irie womyn]

We in Alaska know better than to buy anything she is selling. You don't want her anywhere near the White House!

[freedog]

Except that she is doing and interview this week, as usual, you're wrong AGAIN.. Damn those Republicans, they are always a half a step ahead...shoot.

[Chixsngr]

Tell you what, McCain. I think you picked Sarah Palin based on faulty intelligence.

If the press had done its job, we wouldn't have gone to Iraq. DO YOUR JOB NOW media. McCain, get out of the way.

[foolchild0]

this Republican victim trip is ridiculous.