Posted on 09/29/2008 8:59:37 AM PDT by Publius804
The Media Strategy and Palin's Underperformance [Byron York]
A few more thoughts on Palin's underperformance so far in media interviews. Yes, I think the McCain team has pursued a bad strategy for her, relying mostly on the broadcast networks, with an incomprehensible leaning toward the last-place network, CBS. But there is also the problem of Palin's underperformance.
I say underperformance because I'm working on a piece for the magazine about Palin's governing style in Alaska. Guess what? She does what governors do. In her time in office, she has been deeply involved in not just the gas pipeline and other energy issues but the entire range of state government matters. There is education, health and social services, public safety, transportation, ethics — the whole spectrum. Palin has been more engaged in some issues than in others, but she has had a pretty wide experience in her relatively short time in office (read, for example, her 2008 State of the State address) and is conversant in all of them.
So why has she done so badly in her two broadcast interviews? One reason is her failure to draw on her own experience. For example, when ABC's Charles Gibson brought up cost controls for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, she appeared to know little about the issue. Yet everyone knows, to take one example, that governors have been complaining long and loud about the burdens imposed on states by the federal government's reimbursement policies on Medicaid. Palin has had to deal with that in Alaska — I talked with her budget director about it yesterday. And yet Palin said nothing about her own experience. The same was true for education and a bunch of other issues.
(Excerpt) Read more at corner.nationalreview.com ...
He’s right. She needs to speak from experience more, because it’s experience the other candidates don’t have.
I have a very strange feeling that Tina Fey was not the only one acting, and that Gov. Palin has engaged in some as well, come Thursday with what will probably the largest tv audience watching a Debate, she will be brilliant.
Palin should be turned loose, allowed to be who she is. That is her weapon against a hostile enemy.
Unlike those interviews, the debates are LIVE and the networks won’t be able to edit her actual responses (at least not during the debates themselves). It’s been proven that during those interviews, Gibson and Couric treated her VERY differently then they did Democrat candidates.
This is likely to cause her to look halting and uncertain.
Way, way too much is being staked on that one debate. If she is anything less than spectacular it will be a disaster. She should have been giving five interviews a day all over the place since the day of her nomination. Staking everything on one performance is a terrible idea.
"Protecting" her has been a one of the biggest errors in judgement the McCain campaign has made to date
I strongly disagree.
She has performed well— even in the Couric interview.
I am amazed how many conservatives I talk to who have not seen the interview but concede that she did not do well.
The National Review is throwing her under the bus because she is not beltway conservative.
Tough luck NR.
Biden is worse than a moron but there is constant talk of why Governor Palin does not do better.
She has done better rhetorically than all three other agents combined. No one else has electrified the public like she has.
The requirement that we all have to hold the standard political assumptions of the media or we are politically worthless is absurd.
She won’t be able to pull a GWB on self deprecating humor because of sexism.
People need to stand up for the is woman.
This is the right and the left agreeing to bash and erase pro life Christian conservatism from the Republican party. That absolutely is the agenda among both groups.
If Palin would take her daughter to abortion clinic like she’s ‘supposed to’ she would be an instant Media hero to everyone on the old right and new left.
This is really ticking me off.
This morning Fox News said McCain wasn’t happy with the way she was being handled so he’s send two of his media advisors to straighten things out.
That is the simple sound bite that McCain/Palin should have thrown at the fauxconservatives and others who have been critical of her performance.
I believe Biden with his 35 years of experience wil be the one likely to look halting and unexperienced, I have watched the debates she had in running for Mayor and Governor, this was even more intimidating since she really at that time lacked political experience, there are those that are blessed with certain attributes, I believe hers is to rise and surpass expectations.
That’s good news. Actually, that’s probably why she’s in Arizona, rather than St. Louis. “Handlers” seem to screw things up more than they help in many cases. They themselves have an agenda that’s not always in line with the candidates.
You are absolutely missing the point. In those debates, she was answering for HERSELF. She was able to draw on the fundamentals of conservatism if she got stuck-—that’s always a winner. But she isn’t doing that now. She has to speak for “Mr. Reform” and answer questions the way McCain would. This is not going to be good. In a one-on-one with Biden if she could be herself, she’d annihilate him. But that isn’t the case.
Those handlers are Bushies, imported from the WH, who are well-versed in the art of "Cringe Before Your Attacker".
McCain would do well to fire ANYONE connected with the Bush WH (and by extension, the Clinton Holdouts) if - and I say, IF - he wins.
Because I am no longer sure he even wants to win.
I agree. Some of the right are falling for the DBM spin. I really like Sarah and expect a lot out of her. Add Michelle Bachman, I have liked what I have seen of her.
I suspect she is thinking, "What would John do?" because McCain's answer would be the right (conservative) answer. Aside from her pro-life views, conservative is not what she is. Whatever pro-free market/low tax answer she gives, the press can nail her on: "You say that now, but you didn't do that as governor." Or, "You didn't say that in the past." That's why I think she's being so cautious in her answers.
For example, earmarks. She was big on earmarks until McCain taught her a lesson. A windfall profits tax on oil companies - AK has a similar tax on oil companies, and she raised it, sending rebate checks to all residents. McCain is the one who opposes a windfall profits tax. School vouchers - she opposes them, while McCain supports school choice.
Maybe she can pull it off and hit a homerun in the debate. Right now, I'm very disappointed with my own party for buying into this illusion without looking closer. In comparison, McCain is the conservative on this ticket.
I will talk to you after the debate.
All one needs to know the media lies and sucks while Palin leads.
. . . if you haven’t committed suicide :)
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