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Palin answers all questions as if the questioner is Bob Barker and she is in the top ten: Make eye contact, use the interviewer's name, repeat the question, and then make an ass out of yourself....
Are you serious? "What newspapers do you read?" is a hostile question? In politics, that's as soft as it gets. And she flubbed it.
Maybe she suffered from a massive, and I do mean massive brain fart? After all, we all have them, some more than others.
Brain Fart: the numbness of the thought process. normally found in persons who smoke marijauna constantly.
You're citing a comedy skit about the Hillary/Obama debate to argue that Palin was facing hostile questions?
yea, no kidding! if anyone got the shaft in this election cycle, it's Hillary. A reporter could lob question as hard as a wad of paper at Palin and she'd still tell ya "ah yea, let me get back to ya on that" <wink wink>
Now that Sarah Palin's book is unofficially out and there appears to be some misconceptions concerning McCain's actions, I thought I'd dial in on this latest bruhaha over Sarah Palin. I feel I have some insight as I was professionally involved to some degree in the recent presidential campaign to elect McCain/Palin. I'll try to keep opinion separate from fact. Some things I know for sure as fact are the following.
The big undisclosed effort to anoint McCain and give him a fighting chance in 2008 was when McCain, in conjunction with Bush attempted to bring an immigration reform bill to the table in 2007. The RNC knew that republicans didn't stand a chance of winning without the Hispanic vote in key states where they could swing the electorate, due to Bush's popularity. The whole process backfired when the right wing of the republican party revolted over the issue. This ended up portraying the Republicans as against Hispanics in general and ultimately they kissed the Hispanic vote goodbye. The feeling among McCain aides was that we'd lost a leg of a three legged campaign stool. The other two legs were conservatives and moderate repubs/dems. McCain was ready to write off the conservatives as they had poor opinions of him from his campaign finance reform bills and his bipartisan connections which labeled him a maverick of the party. As we progressed with the campaign the conservative base rejected him more and more.
After high level meetings with the RNC he was basically ordered to abandon his moderate stance and go "right wing" with his message. McCain was adamant on selecting Joe Leiberman as his running mate and felt he had a good chance of winning with this ticket as he would bring in moderates and independents. RNC said no and they picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, overestimating the voting power of the republican base. Ultimately as we all know the republican base didn't turn out for the election and the Hispanics voted en mass for the democratic ticket.
It is true that McCain’s team prevented Sarah Palin and her staff from taking the stage on election night. I was there at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix that night on a professional basis. By election night there were so many confrontations between the two camps that had happened during the campaign that no one from either camp were talking to each other. Sarah and her crew swooped in late after it was obvious that the campaign was lost and tried to rush the stage. They were physically prevented from doing so by a line of McCain advisors. The Palin team turned and walked out of the ballroom in a loud huff, never to be seen again that evening. Nor were Palin and McCain ever seen together again.
Currently, John McCain has taken the position to stay "above the fray" concerning Palin for reasons I will address shortly. You will find no negative comments or assertions about Palin from John McCain.
Sarah Palin should not be taken lightly as she has very good, rock hard professionals handling her now. The RNC feels she has a certain appeal to a section of the republican base and the strategy is to use her as a unifier of that base. She is packaged as a political version of a Glen Beck, quoting phrases that get positive reactions from the people who already are followers of her. She is not out to convert, only to solidify the republican right wing base. Right now her job is to stay in the news and not become irrelevant. The book is a means to that end. The RNC and Palin will attempt to use the voting block she is establishing to influence the coming elections in 2010.
Personally, I don't think she has a shot at the election in 2012 but that's not the whole point. What she will have by 2012 is a large voting block, which is real power in politics. Whoever she endorses in the primaries will have a definite edge in the nomination process and she will become a real power broker in the future republican, political structure.
Don't sell Palin short. I personally don't agree with her politics, her message or her personal demeanor when dealing with subordinates, having experienced it first hand, but believe me, her and her handlers know what they are doing.
Never forget that politics is a nasty, dirty, ruthless, take no prisoners, affair. And then there is the ugly side of it. Sarah Palin fits that mold well.
Poor Hillary. I almost feel sorry for her. O has her doing such nothing stuff - making sure she gets nothing of substance to brag on when she runs for Prez again. I laugh when media tries to say what "good" buddies she and O are. Uh, yeah, right.
I'm halfway through Sarah's book, Going Rogue, and I found a part that especially expresses how I view her. Incidentally, Rush is right, it's a great policy book!
I have a few more quotes that I want to share after I locate them. I'm really enjoying this book! Incidentally, I'm not at the part about the campaign, which I believe starts around page 290, but thus far, I don't see any whining - just telling her story. I think those that haven't read the book, should do so before commenting. It's the intelligent thing to do.
The two sides of Sarah Palin:
Sarah Palin, the Executive:
Quote:
My feeling was that not only did PPT (Petroleum Profits Tax) need the absolute attention of the legislators, Alaskans needed to know the details weren't buried in the politics and lifestyle of a normal legislative session.
Throughout the summer, the revenue and natural resources team discussed the clearest way to put a value on our resources. We poured over options. One idea was to scrap PPT entirely and create a more transparent valuation system based on a formula that was clearly understandable and would increase public confidence. We needed to improve the state's audit function, enabling us to obtain forward-looking cost data from producers. We also felt it was critical to introduce economic information sharing between the departments of revenue and natural resources and the Alaska public, something that was sorely lacking under PPT.
After my astute team of experts put their heads together, we arrived at an entirely new way of calculating Alaska's share of revenue derived from resource development: a hybrid system that included a minimum tax on gross receipts for the North Slope's oil fields, plus part of a net profits tax to encourage new development and reinvestment in existing infrastructure via incentives we'd provide entrepreneurs keen on new exploration. It allowed for tax credits on future work, restricted captial expense deductions to scheduled maintenance, and implemented strong audit and information-sharing provisions. The new formula would incentivize the industry to produce more, while protecting the public.
Just Sarah - down to earth:
Quote:
If that kind of explanation makes your eyes cross, it's because we didn't yet have a catchy name for our proposal. Everything in government attracts an obligatory acronym, it seems, so we figured the one assigned to this plan might as well be memorable and positive. Political terms are meant to paint a picture. For example, liberals prefer the term "social justice" over "welfare" and why conservatives prefer "marriage protection" amendment over "gay marrigage ban".
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normally found in persons who smoke marijauna constantly.
