Where Should the Bar Be Set for Sarah Palin?
Recently, I wrote tongue-in-cheek that because Republican leadership has been exalting the Greatness of Sarah Palin, they'd set the bar incredibly high for her upcoming debate.
Joking aside, after her scary-ghastly interview with Katie Couric last week, even Republicans understand the scope of that failure, witness their refusing to make her available to simply praise John McCain's debate performance. Amid the frightened reaction and volatile fallout, it's become necessary to take a more realistic view of her debate with Joe Biden. It is important to see the actual threshold she must reach.
And so -- where is the bar for Sarah Palin on Thursday?
Democratic leadership is trying to place it high, contending that she's an excellent debater, a "leviathan of forensics," in their words, as shown by her 2006 gubernatorial debate.
Let's be honest -- this isn't true. This is gamesmanship. I've watched the Alaska debate.
And let's be clear the other way: the challenge isn't whether Sarah Palin can debate -- she can, sort of, in a way. Her challenge is whether she can debate topics she's never had to deal with before. And then explain why Joe Biden is wrong, about everything
So, then, where is the bar for Sarah Palin?
Common wisdom would be that she only has to beat expectations. The problem is, that's no longer true. The reason isn't because Republicans raised the bar so high for her (though they did) -- it's that she lowered it so far for herself. Consider: three days after her awkward interview with Charles Gibson, her approval dropped 12 points. Her scary-ghastly interview with Katie Couric then opened the nation's eyes to the threat she poses to America if elected. A Research 2000 poll taken after that interview not only showed her favorable-to-unfavorable rating the lowest of all candidates, but she dropped to minus 10 points! Even in Alaska, her popularity plummeted a stunning 14 points. John McCain may still like to say how popular she is, but his words only keep serving to show how out-of-touch John McCain is.
As a result of her alarming interviews, doing better than expectations is no longer the bar for Sarah Palin. That ship has long passed. If she uses English in her sentences, she has a good chance of exceeding expectations.
At this point, the bar is that Sarah Palin must prove to a concerned American public that she is qualified to be a heartbeat from the presidency. Most especially under a 72-year old candidate with serious health issues.
Sarah Palin must convince the American public that she can actually lead the nation. Not simply do better than expectations. At this point, there are primitive life forms that could do better than her expectations. She must convince Americans that she won't destroy America.
This is no simple task beyond even the obvious barriers. The first hurdle is that America is in the midst of its biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, and people are especially desperate for serious leadership. The greater difficulty, however, is that after eight years of George Bush, Americans now understand what happens when you give the presidency to someone just because you'd like to have a beer with them, and are demanding substance, unwilling to risk the nation again.
That's where the bar is.
Sarah Palin has to convince Americans that she can handle Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, North Korea, a crushing economic crisis, the $482 billion national debt, health care, education, the environment, nuclear proliferation, the housing crisis, global warming, immigration, abortion, the FBI, Armed Forces, CIA, and every single aspect of national security.
That's where the bar is.
Forget even her childish insistence that she is experienced because she can see Russia. Giving her the benefit of the doubt for her deeper explanation that she really knows all about foreign affairs by reading books -- she has to tell us what books those are. Americans will want to hear what books she has actually read about Pakistan, Iraq, China, Russia, Iran, Latin America, and Venezuela that have made her an accomplished expert. As she claims.
That's where the bar is.
After fearfully avoiding the danger of all major press interviewers, merely wanting to ask her opinion...she has to convince Americans that she can face down the leaders of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.
That's where the bar is.
And she set is herself.
It is a bar that focuses on John McCain. Because he chose her. He put America at risk. It was his craven act that put America Last.
The bar isn't to beat low expectations. The bar isn't to show that Sarah Palin can stand for 90 minutes while continuing to breathe. The bar is for Sarah Palin to convince Americans, who have seen her flounder and are at this point terrified of the consequences, that she can actually be President of the United States.
That's where the bar is.
Beating expectations? This isn't about beating expectations. You might not expect a mynah bird to be able to sing "Yankee Doodle," but if it exceeded your expectations, you still wouldn't bankroll it with your life savings star in "Das Rheingold" at the Metropolitan Opera.
This isn't a game show. If you beat expectations, you're safe and invited back next week. You have to prove to Americans, who are now wary, that you can be the Leader of the Free World.
That's where the bar is.
Only weeks before becoming the Republican nominee for vice president, Sarah Palin said she didn't even know what the vice president did every day. What she has to do is convince Americans that she not only knows what the vice president does, but that she understands what the President of the United States does.
And that she can do it.
That's where the bar is.
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When I took the SAT´s there were lots of questions I got wrong. Now I know it was just the testmakers using ¨Gotcha questions¨ on me. Damn, I knew all along it wasn´t my lack of knowledge, it was their darn ¨gotcha questions!¨
"The test was too hard!" "They used trick questions"
aahh..the sad lament of the not-quite-
How is your failure someone else's doing? What happened to so-called Republican standard of self-determination?
Lastly, it the test is so unfair, how come other people are able to not just pass, but excel?
Sorry, the stakes in the VP game are too high to cry "unfair" when asked a question you can't answer.
The bar for this so-called "debate" -- her ONLY debate -- has been set incredibly low, lower than ever for a vice-presidential candidate. It is a mere question-and-answer show, with no dialogue permitted between the candidates. Palin has been drilling, prepping and rehearsing with the experts for days -- of course she will deliver a great performance, but it will be only a performance.
Is that how this nation chooses its leaders?
When this election is said and done, Palin wil not be re-elected Governor, and will be lucky to get her old job back in Wasilla That's about where the bar will be met.
Where I come from, the bar is free, as in all drinks are payed for. Sarah Palin expects the bar to be free so no one will be in any condition to think straight and will just like the sight of her.
Sarah Palin is a puppet with an implant to dictate her responses, check for moments of hesitation as she tries to understand the dictation, because some the words might not be familiar to her. She will be short on specifics, long on fundamental emoting. Any American voting for McCain-Palin should be prepared to see Nancy Pelosi as President because Sarah Palin will be rendered incapable due to stress in the event of her accession to the oval office.
She is going to give an adequate performance with a few memorized zingers against Obama and Biden. The MSM will say "Palin is back!" even if she's not very good, and they will score this as a win for her. Her ratings will shoot back up.
Our only hope is if Gwen Iffil refuses to let her dodge all of the questions.
I'm scared.
The best thing she could do is plead the 5th.
I wish someone would read her, her rights to REMAIN SILENT
Her candidacy is a national security issue. No questions regarding foreign relationships, global and domestic economy, science and technology, and anything else that could shape the policy of the most powerful office in the world should be considered off-limits.
I'm a 26-year old woman and I frankly find all this "where should the bar be set?" talk highly offensive. The bar should be set according to the office she is running for, not her gender.
Was there ever such talk when Dan Quayle was running for VP?
The fix is already in on that. Not only is the debate scripted (Mccains camp insisted on it), but anything short of her crying on stage will be spun by all of the MSM (the same people framing her as incompetent), as a victory for her. I bet ya.
If her previous performances are any indication, you can set the bar down on the floor and Sarah Palin won't reach it.
If the thought of the McCain/Palin ticket wasn't so frightening, I'd feel sorry for her. Her ignorance has lead to a high degree of arrogance, but underneath it all, I think she thinks being vice president would be similar to being Lt Governor in Alaska -- you don't have to do much but have fun.
Sarah has been accustomed to smiling and shaking her pom poms and having everything going her way. And the sad part is, many of my fellow Alaskans voted for her. After last weekend's anti-Sarah rally, I don't think people are looking forward to the possibility of her return.
The bottom line -- if the bar isn't set low enough she will either complain about the elite media, rampant sexism, "gotcha" journalism or an unfair moderator. Whatever happens, she and McCain will lay the blame somewhere.
The bar should be set where it would be set for any other candidate. High.
If she fails to reach it, that's too bad. This isn't softball, it's the fate of the nation.
Agree with many here, the standard has to be the same for both candidates in keeping with the importance of the office they both aspire to. I sincerely hope the moderator asks good, pertinent questions that require thought, intelligence, knowlege, understanding of the issue being addressed, and that both candidates are required to explain their positions.
Lets vote her in...we need to blame someone for all of our problems..
I've heard pundits on TV say the bar has been set low for Palin, but I'm with you if your running for VP you must show your qualified for the job. Palin's interviews shows that she lacks experience and the knowledge to hold the office. McCain where he made his mistake was keeping her in a bubble, sure she would have made some gaffs but she would have learned from them and gained experience. Palin takes the center stage Thursday and the last few weeks she has been fed so much information, I see her making some major gaffs.
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