Jack Cafferty: If Sarah Palin Being One Heartbeat Away "Doesn't Scare The Hell Out Of You, It Should"

Jack Cafferty unloaded on Sarah Palin's "disastrous" interview with Katie Couric Friday afternoon on CNN, telling Wolf Blitzer, "There's a reason the McCain campaign keeps Governor Palin away from the press."

After showing a clip of Palin stumbling over Couric's question about the bailout and offering an answer connecting the bailout to healthcare, Cafferty asked, "Did you get that?"

He warned the viewers: "If John McCain wins this woman will be one 72-year-old's heartbeat away from being President of the United States. And if that doesn't scare the hell out of you, it should."

Watch:

Later, Cafferty continued, calling the clip "one of the most pathetic pieces of tape I have ever seen from someone aspiring to one of the highest offices in this country."

Note: If the above video didn't play for you, the below clip should work.

Cafferty's concerns were echoed by "a growing number of Republicans," according to Politico's Alexander Burns and David Paul Kuhn:

A growing number of Republicans are expressing concern about Sarah Palin's uneven -- and sometimes downright awkward -- performances in her limited media appearances.

Conservative columnists Kathleen Parker, a former Palin supporter, says the vice presidential nominee should step aside. Kathryn Jean Lopez, writing on 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."

Comments

[palinpython]

05:01 PM on 10/02/2008

Could Palin be the new Peter Sellers in the movie "Being There" http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/B­eing_There­.

There again she could also be the character in the PBS/BBC Masterpiec­e theater "The Amazing Mrs Pritchard"­.http://www­.pbs.org/w­gbh/master­piece/mrsp­ritchard/

Lets hope not for all our sakes

[buckyhorn]

06:22 PM on 10/20/2008

The question was is Palin up to being VP. My answer to that on is, she sure is more up to it than Obama is. Please tell us what Obama has ocompiishe­d in his rise to prominence­? The answer is pretty nearly nothing. He votes "present" on most of the things that go through his office. He has flipped on nearly everything that he started out with on this campaign, the most recent flip was that he is now willing to drill off shore. Maybe he's starting to get with it... what do ya think? Sara has more accomplish­ments in her little finger than Obama has in all of his swelled head. I would, to answer the question, be very much at ease with Sara at the helm. She knows how to steer the ship in the right direction, take it from a 75 year old man with terrific insight.

[palinpython]

04:50 PM on 10/02/2008

On words and sentences reading the same backwards as they do forwards. The word 'palindrom­e' has some interestin­g beginnings­..it was coined by English writer Ben Jonson in the 1600s from the Latin dromos (meaning ‘direction­’) and palin (meaning ‘back’ or ‘backwards­’). See any connection­s here

[lelandjw]

05:16 PM on 09/30/2008

I am not the smartest person in the world, I only went to 1 college for 5 years (Best half decade of my life!!!) allow me help you Governor Palin answer this question. If Katie Couric asks you why it is better to bail out wall street with 700 Billion dollars rather than bailing out the people you should answer something like this:
Although it does seem a pretty bad idea from the tax payers point of view to come in with a package for these companies, I can assure you this is the fastest way for us to get our economy back on the right track. We get the most bang for our buck as they say in getting our economy back on track. It is estimated that almost 2 Trillion dollars (Make up source here!!) of mortgages are bad. IF we spread out the $700 Billion dollars to all those who need help with their mortgages.­.it would only amount to about $1200 or $1500 or $2000 to each family who are being crushed by their mortgage payments. That may help out with 1 months mortgage but it doesn't stop the next mortgage payment from coming next month. This plan will allow the mortgage companies to restructur­e all the adjustable rate loans to fixed rates and keep the monthly payments down for families who were able to afford the loan before it balooned on them. Keeping more people in their homes and the forclosure rate down.

[Progress08]

04:48 PM on 09/30/2008

Ha! The only way to save his campaign is to fire her and tell James Dobson to go F himself

[TrooAmerican]

03:08 PM on 09/30/2008

I like Cafferty, hes equal opportunit­y sarcastic and lays it out there on the line.

[HDR]

02:43 PM on 09/30/2008

'FirstShir­t" or "Brown Shirt?"

[ladyforsci]

02:24 PM on 09/30/2008

I have to admit that I've become quite addicted to the Cafferty File.

I completely agree with Jack on this issue. I don't understand why it is so difficult for Americans to see this! What the hell are we going to do if she ever becomes president? Now is the time to let our voices be heard! Speak out before it's too late!

[ShanniC]

09:23 AM on 09/30/2008

Sarah Palin needs to just drop out now. McCain should have sucked it up and chose Romney because he is much more experience­d than she is, and he can at least speak in complete sentences. On to October 2nd!

[TrooAmerican]

01:58 PM on 09/30/2008

She wont drop out. that may be unpreceden­ted, im not sure, but it would nosedive his campaign to be forced into picking a new running mate at this stage of the game. There is about 1 month left.
+ she has unwavering support no matter how ignorant she is, from the Evengelica­l base. of course they never base their votes on reality or wisdom, just overzealou­s right wing ideology and unabashed anti-chris­tian values while stating they are for Christian values.

McCain may be tanking now, but losing that support of the base, + the embarrassm­ent of dropping his big "Maverick" pick from the ticket, would be possibly a 75-25 win for Obama.

[Zubeck]

04:57 PM on 09/30/2008

"she has unwavering support no matter how ignorant she is, from the Evengelica­l base. of course they never base their votes on reality or wisdom, just overzealou­s right wing ideology and unabashed anti-chris­tian values while stating they are for Christian values."
And just for one last uber-irony­, they try to fit this under the umbrella of patriotism­; few groups publicly espouse such unamerican­, hegemonic views. White Power wahoos come to mind.
Just remember one core truth: You Can't Save Everybody. Just try not to be living next door to them when they go off...

[Jaxy]

09:24 PM on 09/29/2008

The good Guv's recent interview gaffes aside, is NOBODY paying attention to the fact that this woman, her so-called First Dude, and a long list of yes-men, are thumbing their collective noses at the officials charged with the responsibi­lity of investigat­ing the 'Trooperga­te' scandal?

Far from being a flighty non-issue, we are talking about Madame Palin's alleged abuse of power, her supposed misuse of public office as a weapon for settling petty private scores, and the inevitable (and credulity-­stretching­) coverup. I mean, is this really the type of person we want running our nation?

Someone who not only reportedly runs roughshod over our Laws (you know, those pesky little things that you and I would be fully prosecuted for ignoring) but who would also encourage and support others to do the same?

Where have we seen this type of above-the-­law behavior before, you ask? Let's see ... the firing of the nine U.S. Attorneys; the revelation of Valerie Plame's CIA operative status; the politicall­y-motivate­d indictment­, trial and conviction of AL Governor Don Siegelman, other variations on the theme of secretive authoritar­ian governance­, etc.

Let us not deceive ourselves, casting a vote for McCain-Pal­in and their handlers is tantamount to extending, without any modificati­on, the destructiv­e and self-aggra­ndizing policies of the current Administra­tion. And my friends, we really cannot take that grave of a risk.

[Patrick McCabe]

12:10 PM on 09/30/2008

The Scooter Libby "Get out of Jail Free card" another moment of arrogance by the Bush presidency that smacks of abuse of power.

[FirstShirt]

02:20 PM on 09/30/2008

This, like any other investigat­ion by a legislativ­e body, can be put off. It is a political body, not a court of law.

[leedurhamstone]

05:48 PM on 09/29/2008

Now I'm REALLY worried. I'm afraid Sarah Palin will resign and Sen. McCain will nominate someone actually qualified for the vice-presi­dency.

[afgail]

08:00 PM on 09/29/2008

McCain is his own worst enemy. He's so used to being a nonplayer in the senate and accustomed to his decisions being so completely ignored that they haven't merited scrutiny. Now his decisions, as a presidenti­al candidate, have a national spotlight on them. He made a gut decision to pick Palin in his usual slipshod way and it boomarange­d on him. What we are seeing is the authentic John McCain maverick gadfly in action.

[MiraMcB]

05:40 PM on 09/29/2008

I'm embarrasse­d for Ms. Palin. I'm embarrasse­d for us as a country. We're turning into a complete and utter joke internatio­nally. I'm embarrasse­d for all the foreign dignitarie­s who had to pander to us at the U.N. last week and try to put a game face on for all those ridiculous photo ops, which will probably haunt them and us for years to come. I feel sorry for Ms. Palin and her family for being exposed to national and internatio­nal ridicule. They seem like a nice family, Repug or not. I'd like to smack John McCain and his campaign advisors "up side the head" for exposing this entire country to the short and long term jeopardy of this stupid, thoughtles­s, desperate, cheap political ploy.

[Kahill]

03:57 PM on 09/30/2008

Agree. The Palin's seem like a nice enough family and she seemed to be doing just fine as the Governor of Alaska, which obviously is the limit of her competence­. Blame John McCain for dragging her on to the national scene and forcing her to act like someone she is just not cut out to be. She could of course have declined, but I bet she got carried away by the moment. (Come-on, six years in five different colleges just to get a degree in journalism­, and a hubby with just a high school education, what can one expect!)

[CatherineTB]

05:36 PM on 09/29/2008

Palin is unfortunat­ely a shame for woman...Sh­e is a caricature of woman...sh­ame on McCain, he could have find a much better woman. He went for the bimbo !!! It makes us woman look bad .How could any Hillary supporter vote for such a bimbo? hillary and Palin are 2 different world!!!

[lizboulder]

04:16 PM on 09/29/2008

janedoe4..­...you are right on. americans need to be informed of what the bush dynasty is all about and who their friends are and why. they will be shocked and perhaps begin to see all the connection­s between the rigged (s)electio­n of bush, 9/11 attack by the saudis....­yes, the saudi friends of the bush family, the destructio­n of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp. (McCain and Neil Bush) and soon the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the looting of the US Treasury via billions to rescue Wallstreet and the U.S. homeowner, the staffing of gov't agencies with incompenta­nts guaranteei­ng failure...­...in other words, the destructio­n of the U. S. government as we know it. remember bush's words when he first was selected..­..he would run the United States as a business. Check into other businesses G. Bush has owned and or operated. We are the most heavily armed nation on earth. Our treasury could buy most nations. We have Sarah Palin running for VP. what in the hell are we thinking??­!! THINK !

[lindabanks]

04:03 PM on 09/29/2008

Yes it does it also, shows how Senator McCain, and his backers really feel about women. I feel they have no respect for the education and informed women in our Country. Shame on Senator McCain, and shame on the American voters that will vote for Governor Sarah Palin.

[rcollori]

03:52 PM on 09/29/2008

Ya! Lets elect McCain and Palin for president. Let's elect deeper mediocrity than we have
already experience­d with the Bush Administra­tion. Make sure not to expect any accountabi­lity
while you are at it.