Anderson Cooper: Sarah Palin Is "Very Ambitious, Very Capable... Capable Is A Broad Term"

Anderson Cooper visited Jay Leno Thursday night, where he talked about post-election life and paid Sarah Palin a backhanded compliment.

"I've seen more of Sarah Palin now than I saw while she was running," the CNN host told Leno. "It's up to the American people what's gonna happen to her. She's very ambitious, she's very capable, if she wants it there's a career there for her," he said.

When Leno pressed him on whether he actually thought Palin was "capable," Cooper backtracked: "She's capable of what she's done thus far. Capable is a broad term."

Cooper joked about CNN's hologram technology — "The thing I like about the hologram is, I believe some day I won't actually have to go in to work. I can just stay in my apartment, stay in my bed, and a hologram image of me can do the news" — and said that he cannot believe the election is actually over.

"I refuse to believe it's over," he said. "We've been doing this so long I cannot remember a time I wasn't covering this election."

He added, "On weekends, I still get members of the Best Political Team On Television, we get 'em over to my house and we sit around and we talk about polls that don't really exist."

Cooper also talked about his favorite guilty pleasure TV show, Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," and his favorite character, Nene.

Watch:

Comments

[WarriorLemming]

Anderson Copper Quote:
"She's capable of what she's done thus far. Capable is a broad term."


Whew, I thought Anderson was throwing his support behind Palin I'm glad he was asked about the "capable" remark.

[Roci]

It is interviews such as this one that outline the reason why I am so distrustful of the new generation of "Newspeople" being foisted upon us by the corporate media types that run these networks. AC never had much traction with me,now he has lost all of that, and then some. And the knotheads who run CNN wonder why I (and so many others) go to the BBC for news first.

I rest my case.

Roci

[starfire426]

What is it with semi-comatose men (and a fair amount of women) like Anderson who for some reason have been so blinded by sarah's "intellect" that they can't see the forest for the trees??? That woman's IQ level is hovering somewhere around her ankles and yet people seem to be mesmerized by that fact!!!!

[bwaynester]

who is he?

[cjgnew]

Poor man, he is regurgitating what his boss wants to hear in order for him to keep his job. With the economy tanking to the bottom, one has to read between the lines to really understand what he meant. I can empathize with your position, Anderson, but I won't be a fan of yours anytime soon. Hey, don't worry, I understand...you must stick with your base. We'll see how that turns out for you in the future. But judging by how the wind has been blowing lately, America might have decided to turn its sails once again toward integrity--and that doesn't forebode too well for your current gig.

Carlos Jean-Gilles
Saint Louis, MO

[LeeCalif]

Why did he demean the term, capable?? Then he tries to redefine it.

What a silly man.

[Heddie]

What kind of stupid word is capable?

[Banji81]

Anderson Cooper's pretty 'capable' too...

[LeeCalif]

Good job !

[gnosius]

Palin/Joe-the-Plumber in 2016!

[Audrey704]

Capable...of setting back woman 20 years....BINGO
Capable ...of butchering the english language....BINGO
Capable... of not knowing the basic tenets of the US Constitution...BINGO
Capable...of staring you in the eye and lying to your face...BINGO
Capable...of failing to parent her children adequately...BINGO
Capable...of misrepresenting the truth...BINGO

Yeah she is capable all right.

[trisha08]

I think Sara Palin is to the GOP as Sanjaya was to American Idol.

First of all, they are both losers. But, think how long Sanjaya was kept on American Idol. Even though he had no talent, there was a curiosity that American's had with him. I watched just to just to see his bad performances. It's the same attention that Palin draws. Plus, Sanjaya, like Sarah, really thought he had talent.

But, we have short attention spans. We grew tired of Sanjaya and we have grown tired of Palin.

[troika]

Great analogy!!! I don't know why the press is still going ga-ga over this woman. Wasn't she the one who blamed the MSM for her defeat in the elections? She was an utter failure even at the republican governors association. Even they did not have any good impressions on her. So, what does that say? She has her eyes set on the senate seat being vacated by the convicted felon Ted Stevens. Looks like that is also not in her favor, because the Anchorage Mayor is leading the convicted felon in the vote counts. She needs to stay back in Alaska and govern that state. She is not going to run in 2012 as there are others vying for that. As far I can see, she ain't going anywhere for the next decade.

[elcojonu]

The young, rich ( he's a Vanderbilt ) sage from the upper east side of New York said Sarah was capable, must be true.

[sunny555]

She is capable -- capable of ruining the Republican party. Many of us independent females, who can swing our vote based on the quality of the candidate, ran from her in droves. She does not represent me in the least, although I do admire her passion and ambition, and I congratulate her as a female candidate. Other than that, she is way, way too far right for me.

She is capable in the sense that she is just good enough to be dangerous. What's frightening to me is her lack of insightful, in-depth thought. This is something that she cannot be brought up to speed on, no matter how much she studies foreign affairs. She is simply not a deep thinker.

This is way I voted Obama, despite the fact that his positions are further to the left than I would have preferred. This is an impressive man, with impressive skills, and he has the respect of almost everybody -- unlike Palin, who does not.

[sunnyjane]

Capable? The word means: accomplished, competent, skilled, proficient, etc.

Sarah Palin is NONE of these. Picture this: Sarah Palin as President of the United States meeting with a foreign head of state. Translators are in attendance, doing their jobs for each of their respective executives. Can you imagine a translator attempting to put Sarah Palin's words into Russian? French? Spanish? etc?

What a joke! Talk about a skit for SNL!

ANYBODY who believes Sarah Palin is "capable" needs to listen to her...read her responses...and reevaluate their opinions.

[troika]

Anyone who believes Sarah Palin is CAPABLE needs their head to be examined.

[BlueEyes08]

She should begin by taking writing, reading and speech lessons in English language. The second project should be a crash course on How to Stop Lying in 5 Days.

[IAB]

This meme gets very tired, as well as being pure sexist cr-p.

[MarieNat]

As a woman, I find it sexist to suggest that every criticism of someone who is female is sexist. I think it's paternalistic, condescending, and patronizing to suggest that she shouldn't be subjected to the same degree of scrutiny of a similarly situated man. And let's face, it - if Sarah Palin were male, she would have long ago been laughed off the national stage.