Proving Sarah Palin

**UPDATE: Guess I was wrong...it's ABC. Maybe it'll be a real interview after all. (Or not, judging by Charles Gibson's performance during the primary debate.)**

**UPDATE 2: Read this and smile.**

With Sarah Palin breathing new life into an otherwise listless presidential campaign, John McCain has been, pathetically, more than willing to trade roles and let his running mate effectively campaign at the top of the ticket. The approach is simple: leverage the church-going hockey mom's celebrity status to maximize media exposure while minimizing the scrutiny that usually comes with it. The opportunity to keep this approach up will not last forever; pretty soon Palin will have to face the music. When that moment comes, the McCain campaign will carefully ensure that the tune is of their selection, the orchestra is fully vetted, and the conductor is a registered Republican.

Here's my prediction for how this plays out:

Palin is going to keep up her ruse of 'speaking directly to the American people' for as long as possible. The McCain campaign will revel in the headlines and the photo ops while explaining that Palin is merely showing America that she doesn't need to play by the liberal media's elitist rules. This precarious tactic has a shelf life -- my guess is about two to three weeks, maybe less. Eventually, her novelty will wear off a tad, voters (prompted by pundits and journalists) will start showing signs of apprehension that she really hasn't shown any policy expertise or ability to think on her feet, and reporters will get sick of being treated like paparazzi and will just stop covering her.

At that moment, Palin will do an exclusive, in-depth interview with FOX News. She'll probably let Chris Wallace do the questioning, just to keep up the appearance that she's being bold. FOX and the McCain campaign will hype the hell out of the interview as some sort of historic event. Meanwhile, the McCain campaign will broker an agreement in advance with FOX about all the questions they can't ask her. Wallace, or whoever does the interview, will mostly stick to the script, which means asking her about her personal life (the more sympathetic family ordeal-related questions the better) and about her meteoric rise from PTA activist to VP nominee. But he'll also throw in a couple of hardballs, the outlines of which she will have been given advance notice. One of those hardballs will be on foreign policy - something like "Barack Obama and Senator McCain now agree that the surge was an astounding success, not least because of the groundswell of support for the U.S. in Anbar Province. But with the Maliki government arresting former militants of the Awakening, how will a McCain-Palin administration continue to capitalize on this astonishing turnaround in Iraq?" Palin, who will have spent a good deal of time getting briefed in advance on how to pretend to speak with authority about Iraq and the Middle East, will give a passably acceptable response, throwing in a bunch of expert-sounding referents like "Diyala Province," "Muqtada Al-Sadr" and "Green Zone." She'll talk about Iran's influence in Syria through its proxy Hezbollah, and point out how important it is to make Cindy McCain the face of America in troubled regions of the world like Rwanda and Georgia. She'll show just enough of an appearance of command of the subject for the GOP to marvel at her performance, and for the McCain campaign and its surrogates to plant a week's worth of "I told you so" headlines. They'll argue that Palin has 'proven' her readiness to lead once and for all, silencing the doubts of the elitist haters in the media and the Democratic Party. Her triumph will be hailed as yet another history-making crack in the glass ceiling brought to you by this extraordinary small town hockey mom who's Just Like You. Then she'll promptly stick to a strict routine until Election Day of granting interviews only to representatives of magazines sold in supermarket checkout aisles.

And that will be the best case the GOP will be able to offer from now until November of Sarah Palin's readiness to lead on Day One.

Comments

[toochie50]

you need to look at the electoral map on real clear politics:
OBAMA: 273
Mc - 265 (no toss ups)

OBAMA: 217
MC - 174
toss up 147 (about half of those are OBAMA'S )

fivethirtyeight.com
OBAMA: 303.9
Mc:234.1
(best website for most accurate predictions - read the home page on how it's done)

Electoral-vote.com
OBAMA: 303
Mc: 235

the electoral vote is all that matters - remember repugs!

[johnthomascook]

She is smart and clever,,, but a C player, The bushites wrote her speach.

With McCain having cancer and it could get worse quickly, She would be persident. Her view of the middle east will be a killer.

But this is not a front and center story. Most people in the country do not know this.

Yes, McCain could easily be dead i a year if his cancer takes off.

[toochie50]

you need to look at the electoral map on real clear politics:
OBAMA: 273
Mc - 265 (no toss ups)

fivethirtyeight.com
OBAMA: 303.9
Mc:234.1
(best website for most accurate predictions - read the home page on how it's done)

ELECTORAL VOTES IS ALL THAT MATTERS FOLKS! REMEMBER!

[Katlen]

Sorry to keep flogging this... but why is there no record of Trig Palin's birth at the hospital he was supposedly born at?
http://www.matsuregional.com/nursery/show_day.php?month=04&year=2008&day=18

Families should be kept out of the debate, but fraud and lies should not.

[ssb752]

The only real problem with this is that it works great. The vast majority of citizens around these here parts only vote Phear & Phases. Their vote is a One Trick Pony, be it abortion, racism or war. Crap.

[mal0980]

Mr. Woodhouse your so right, I agree exactly how this will play out, so McCain and Palin will say "See we told she is qualified and ready to lead" and the American people will buy into this like the sheep they are.

[au]

Chatting with my mother this morning, I realized Palin may have a demographic problem no one ever imagined. As a moderate conservative Catholic and retired widow, my mom is exactly who this V.P. choice was supposed to woo. However, she and her like-minded friends are appalled by one aspect of Palin's resume and are now voting for Obama. "She shoots dogs from a plane and she hates animals" is the slightly incorrect sentiment that has these ladies charged up.

It occurred to me that animal shelters and pet rescue groups are manned by just these 'little old ladies'. More important than concepts like abortion and gay rights which are philosophical matters, abuse to animals is something many of them come into contact with on a regular basis.

I have no idea how representative my mom and her gang are of other retired women, but Obama is making huge in roads in St. Augustine, Florida...

AU

[atila]

I think is time to leave this woman aside...USA-Gallup polls tomorrow morning are giving Mccain 10 points...she is the distraction and we are taking the bait...we need to volunteer,donate and talk to everyone we can to be sure that we're not going to have four more years of the same or worst than bush eight years...we are losing precious time and if we are worry about our kids future,we have just two months to give them back the American promise...

[independent12]

If she doesn't agree to a quality interview and doesn't "need"
the media; the media should call her bluff and not cover
any mcCain events or interviews. Then we will see
how fast her tune changes. I only wish the media
had the guts.

[Evinsmom]

You forgot one tidbit, somewhere between Muqtada Al-Sadr" and "Green Zone, she'll slip in how her son Trig has just been deployed to Iraq.

I'm sure the way ABC even landed this "exclusive" interview was allowing prescreened questions so she can be well versed ahead of time.

This all seems like a bad dream and I can't wake up. Just when you think it can't get any worse.....

[mmogu77]

A freelance journalist named Charley James at the LA Progressive web site reports that he tracked down a waitress in Alaska who overheard Palin tell her tablemates "SO SAMBO BEAT THE BITCH" while discussing Obama's victory over Clinton in Democratic Primary.
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%E2%80%9Cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%E2%80%9D/
James discusses his journalistic methods in tracking down the waitress at:
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/06/sarah-palin-and-me/
It's hard to evaluate James' credibility as a journalist--whether he really found this waitress and whether her story is true--but the mainstream media should be following up on this and determining if there's any validity to this story or other stories about allegedly racist remarks by Palin.

[LTinCali]

Before finding this on LA Progressive, I did a search of Palin Sambo Bitch and came across several sites that published this story.

[missbelladog]

Second link in mmogu77's comment on the first page in turn has a link to a 63-page "vetting report"
that the journalist maintains was

http://mudflats.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/palin-2006-vetting.pdf

It is an extensive bibliography of press coverage of Palin's activities, mainly her days as mayor.
I hope also this is covered by mainstream media.

[luckynewman13]

Off Topic but Gallup has McCain leading 48-45. This is the first time in what seems like months that McCain has broken the 45 point barrier. I don't like putting too much stock into National polls but this means exactly what we have all been scoffing at the last week: Americans are buying this bs and no amount of fact or nuance is going to bring this country out of its self-imposed ignorance. It's time to get dirty. I didn't want this. But this country will always want blood and platitudes as opposed to reason. Progressives have to be scared and diligent, the culture wars are still alive and well and now they have a new warrior: Sarah Palin, unqualified, untested, and dangerous.

[Jimmyboyo]

it is the daily tracker

That is vastly different from a regular poll

take a deep breath

[Ladyteguesian]

I have the book list that Palin wanted taken off the shelves but I'm gonna have to do it in bits and pieces

[Ladyteguesian]

I have the book list

> A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
> A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine LʼEngle
> Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
> As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
> Blubber by Judy Blume
> Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
> Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
> Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
> Carrie by Stephen King
> Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
> Christine by Stephen King
> Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
> Cujo by Stephen King
> Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
> Daddyʼs Roommate by Michael Willhoite
> Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
> Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
> Decameron by Boccaccio
> East of Eden by John Steinbeck

[abby4ever]

It's a hoax.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2075911/posts

[OpusIsUnderTheBed]

Dear Leighton,

Yup, yup. Looks like she'll do Charlie Gibson first. He'll lob nothing but snowballs and allow her to present what she wants. Result...nothing gained, nothing revealed.

But, I'm sure you're right. How could they not want to put her on Fox? She'll look good. She'll know the "script" and the prepped answers. Gosh, just like McCain and Pastor Rick's secret ninja, isolation booth, Elvis ain't in the building yet, questions.

[Ozarks]

It will be Gibson, not worth watching

[qwr]

No, you weren't wrong. FOX, Charlie Gibson...same thing.

[SaltySaltillo]

Agree. Sad day.

[Jezreel]

Agreed. You were not wrong. One only has to watch Gibson's performance during the April 27, 2008 Clinton/Obama debate to see which side of the political fense Charlie Gibson's sitting on.

[PumaAnn]

Guess you were wrong. :)

[greejambri]

AnninCA, say what? Don't tell me you're on the Palin bandwagon!!! That figures. Looks like those sour grapes make for clouded judgment.

[SaltySaltillo]

Puma Ann - I don't care how bitter you are about the Dems, or how enamored you have become of McCain. If you don't see Palin as fundamentally dangerous, you are in lalaland. What religion are you? What do you really believe? How much do you really know about Palin's religious background? I am a devoted lifelong Catholic and every day, the more I learn about her core ideas, beliefs, and values, the more scared I become. Wake up already.