Real Winner of the Debate: Katie Couric

First, it should be noted what a great job Joe Biden did last night. I wanted him to attack a lot more and eviscerate Sarah Palin. He didn't go with my strategy and he wound up looking fantastic. If it was a surprise that Sarah Palin didn't lose the debate, it was an even bigger surprise to me that Joe Biden won it.

Not that I didn't think Biden had it in him or wouldn't be effective in a debate. It's just that he looked so overwhelmingly competent that it changed my mind about his strategy. He single-handedly accomplished the Obama-Biden campaign goal of setting the American voters' minds at ease. These guys are going to take us in the right direction. The country is safe in their hands.

In this sense, Sarah Palin's competence, or lack thereof, became irrelevant. She was shadow boxing with herself trying to stay on her feet as Biden was telling the American people why it was okay to vote for his ticket. She was in the wrong game.

But as an aside, it is instructive to see how she stayed on her feet. Here is a woman who through her other interviews clearly demonstrated that she has absolutely no grasp of the issues. That didn't magically change over night. No, what changed were the questions.

I hate to say this because Gwen Ifill seems like such a wonderful and competent woman. I want to root for her. But it has to be said. She was awful. In fact, one our viewers nicknamed her Gwen Awful. At the time, I thought that was way too harsh, but now reflecting back on it, she really didn't do the job.

Why? Because all she did was pose simple questions that were easily deflected with prepared talking points. That's not a debate; that's a boring, fairly useless, series of mini-speeches. If you don't probe beyond the initial non-answer, you are simply not doing your job. That's a disservice to the American people who came to find out if these people know what they're talking about and what their real plans for the country are.

Here is where Katie Couric comes into the picture. Her interviews with Sarah Palin were excellent for one simple reason - follow-ups. She did what, unfortunately, so little journalists do these days - she asked pertinent, revealing (yet polite) follow-up questions. This allowed us to see behind the veneer of Sarah Palin and realize it was backed up by absolutely nothing. Real journalism led to real facts we would not have otherwise seen.

Imagine if Couric had not done those interviews - or had not asked those tough follow-up questions - and all we had seen were Gwen Ifill's standard queries from Thursday night, we might never have known how very little Sarah Palin really knows. And that's relevant. It's important for the voters to understand how much or how little these candidates actually know. They are applying for the most important job in the world.

Of course, this shouldn't be directed at only one candidate. Every candidate should have to answer tough but fair follow-up questions in all of their interviews and all of the debates. Without it, all we have is an opportunity for a politician to drone on without ever being challenged on their position. Ifill did not find that balance on Thursday night. And thereby, inadvertently, showed us how good and how important Katie Couric's interviews with Sarah Palin really were.

So, if there was any clear cut winner from last night's debate, it was Katie Couric.

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Comments

[Lisette]

CENK , I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU.

TELL ME DOES ANYONE BESIDES ME THINK THAT THE
PALIN BABY SHOULD HAVE BEEN HOME IN BED,
OR SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SCHLEPPED AROUND
BY A LITTLE GIRL

[RobinSeattle]

You know Cenk, if Katie Couric was a real journalist, she would be doing stories about how SEC chairman Chris Cox was lax on the job like this one: http://www.ocweekly.com/2008-10-02/news/chris-cox-wall-street-SEC/

[PADDYWHACK]

"The cage is turning but the hamster died"-best description of SP's performance.
Couric is a journalist after all.

[georgiaeliot]

While I agree that Ms Couric did a great job in the interviews, I must stand up for Ms Ifill's performance as moderator. The best way to show who the candidates are in the limited format allowed is just to let them be themselves and allow the viewers to decide. Don't become part of the story. It reminded me of some of my best instructors in college - they would let the class bore drone on long enough to let the rest of us know the drone was a drone, offering the drone the respect of a hearing and not offering any help to make the drone sound better. We all got the message.

[MyAudacity]

I agree with you about Gwen Ifill, she was intimidated by the McCain camp and the fickleness of America; obviously afraid of being accused of being biased for Obama, she neglected to hold each candidates, particularly Palin's feet to the fire to make her at least address the questions asked.

African Americans really need to learn how to piss or get off the pot......it is time out for trying to be politically correct, and just be true. It's not about being black, that is irrevelant, and it's not about people seeing you as being black....that too is irrevelant....it's about talking about real issues, real plans which will affect all Americans.

When we continuously allow other people, then ourselves dictate and/or affect our actions based upon racial or any other perceptions, then we become ineffective.....no matter what.

Gwen was ineffective, and Palin grinned, winked, and shystered herself into evitability, because the lack of followup did not openly reveal her incapabilities. The smoke screen is still up, and the spin gin is still turning.

I sincerely hope people care more about America to not let this woman near the White House in any capacity

[plooger]

Very similar to what I said elsewhere, Cenk.

I heard some pundit on MSNBC or CNN say, last night, that "this is not the Sarah Palin we say in the Katie Couric interviews." But I immediately thought, "Yes it is! What was different was the person asking the questions."

It was obviously that Palin dodged the questions just as she had during the Couric interviews, but Ifill simply didn't ask the followup questions that Couric did.

[strandwolf]

A debate is not an interview. Your critique of Ifills would be applicable to Lehrer as well.

[plooger]

Excellent, unique insight, Cenk.

[not one of the sheep]

When you take two hours of interview and edit it to six minutes it is very easy to portray anyone anyway you wish. What was the intent? Since Palin has done well on every other interview but suddenly looks bad in Katie Couric's interview. An old saying comes into play, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Of course Katie is always objective on her interviews and editing, isn't she?

[cbeenthere]

not one of the sheep??
According to what I have read Palin has not received high marks for any other interviews she has "granted", so are you being any more objective? Do you really think that those who interview her should tiptoe around her? Should we not expect intelligent answers from Palin?

[OutragedMom]

She has only done well on Fox, where they lob her softballs and are clearly "in the tank" for Palin/McCain.

[strandwolf]

Sean Hannity is a walking talking billboard for the McCain Palin ticket. If you want to claim that she did well with the Hannitized interview you lose credibility.

[bascombe]

one important note - what was Ifill supposed to do after plain stated openly that she would disregard the questions?

[bascombe]

brilliant insight, Cenk!

[Stanley]

Agreed. Katie was the first real reporter we have seen in a very long while. She actually did her job. Bravo. Now why is that so hard for the rest of them?

[Ocracoker16]

I really agree that if it weren't for Couric who conducted a fair interview with Sarah that revealed gaping holes in her understanding of major political issues we might not have known how unqualified she was. The debate allowed her to deliver memorized remarks that didn't come close to addresssing the question. I think that Gwen should have pressed her more at times asking her to come back to the initial question. She should not have been allowed to jump topics to talk about her energy experience. Since she was allowed this freedom, she was able to avoid showing how superficial her understanding of the issues was. Couric very appropriately pressed her for more information by using follow up questions to dig a little deeper. She also asked questions that required her to show the depth of her understanding by asking her to apply her general knowledge to answer more complex questions.

K

[Ugonna]

great point, Cenk. I wasn't crazy about Katie before, but her follow-up questions are spot on lately! Including during the sit-down with both McCain and Palin together.

[takenote]

I am really grateful for the Couric interview. She won't let SP give BS answers. It's only journalists pf the Hannity and the Fox club genre who are enamored with her BS.

[faith]

Palin cheats. She does not answer the questions asked.