SARAH ON ABC TONIGHT (VIDEOS)

Ms Underestimated ^ | 9/11/08 | Ms. Underestimated

[Dawnsblood]

Tonight, Sarah Palin sat down with Charlie Gibson for an interview, and ABC showed us Charlie’s first two segments. The first portion dealt with her readiness for leadership, and the second dealt with foreign policy. I’ll let you watch and be the judge, but I think Sarah’s ready for her closeup. Others in the blogosphere thought she didn’t do well, but seeing as Charlie had his questions prepared, Sarah did not have her answers prepared, and the fact that I do not believe these questions have ever been asked of an other V.P. candidate, I’m still pleased with her performance. And in that vein, I agree with her; what other V.P., former-governor, candidates have extensive experience in foreign relations? She’s been running a state, for God’s sake!

[Mr Rogers]

You (and Rush) are right! Interviews that can be edited can be butchered, as this one was. I saw the initial cut & what they broadcast, and noticed Charlie’s ‘That is an exact quote’ foolishness disappeared in the later edit. That, in turn, made a part of her response hard to follow.

She should insist, at a minimum, that the raw tape of any interview be posted on the web.

However, the main takeaway I got was that Charlie Gibson thinks only a Senator with 20+ years of experience is fit to be President...unless he is both the democrat and Messiah!

[diamond6]

You’re right, but she knew what she said, and she answered the question perfectly.

[Robert A Cook PE]

I think ole Charlie Rose (and the REAL DRIVERS - his producers and speech writers (er, question writers) ) were showing to THEIR buddies in the MSM that “See? See? See? WE at ABC are not going to be soft and nice to this lipstick mommy wanna-be who is disrupting OUR coronation of the Anointed One. WE are going to be tough. SEE HOW TOUGH WE ARE. Look at us, WE got the interview YOU wanted, WE are tough.”

[diamond6]

You’re right. The way she quoted Lincoln and referred to the Constitution was masterful!

How could he argue with that?

[DouglasKC]

She did good in the face of tough snarky questions that haven’t even been asked of Obama.

[Tymesup]

I wish Ms. Palin would learn how to pronounce “nuclear”.

Even after the edits, I thought she did fine.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

I believe Sarah Palin did a great job of answering Gibson’s pointed questions.

As I was watching Sarah answer the questions, I was thinking of how Barack Obama would answer the same questions.

Would Barack Obama have stuttered and stammered as he usually does?

Again this is another of example where the America public in their own minds will be comparing the capabilities of VP Candidate Palin to PRESIDENTIAL candidate Obama.

Again, Palin comes off as good and maybe even better than Obama.

Exactly where McCain wants the American public to be.

[DouglasKC]

When Gibson was hammering her about what does energy independence have to do with national security, Palin needed to say: “CONGRESSES INACTION AND DELIBERATE CLOSING DOWN OF THE U.S. DEVELOPING ITS OWN RESOURCES HAS ALLOWED AMERICA’S ENEMIES TO BLACKMAIL US. AND YES CHARLIE, THAT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH NATIONAL SECURITY!”

Palin did give a good answer to that question, but it was over Gibsons head. Her answer was that energy was the foundation of national security...and it is!! Wars are fought over who controls oil...energy. That's why Russia invaded Georgia, to gain a measure of control over a major pipeline. If the middle east were nothing but a big sandpile then nobody would care what was going on there.

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

Will we see any of these same questions with Biden, I wonder?

Is Gibson scheduled to follow Joe Biden around for two days and do numerous interviews with him?

[pvoce]

Is Gibson scheduled to follow Joe Biden around for two days and do numerous interviews with him? Nahhh.....He might accidentally pull out a hair plug;)

[FlyVet]

As I said in my post, his toughness toward Obama is a different subject. We need to stop expecting them to be "fair", it's not going to happen.

The idea is to show up and be smarter, tougher, more confident, more well-informed. That's how to beat them.

I think she did a nice job.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

I want to see how Obama would have answered Gibson’s questions.

[Senator Goldwater]

The longer the liberal media keeps up the “inexperience” drumbeat, the worse it’ll be for Obama.

[reasonisfaith]

Okay I watched it.

Madam Cuda, you blew him away. Gibson, you have nothing.

[Colorado Doug]

You will have to put up with the prerequisite advertisement.

You mean the one from CITGO? I don't think Chavez got his money's worth out of Charlie

[Colorado Doug]

It seemed to me he was pressing to get the answers he wanted. The answers that would make the best sound bites for tomorrow. It was like he was trying to corner her into making a mistake.

That is exactly what he was trying to do. I wanted to reach through the screen and smack him.

[supercat]

I don't think any candidate would/could/should answer that with a simple yes or no.

I wonder how it would play if, when pressed 'is that a yes or no' after answering a question, she replied somewhat to the effect of "I think the viewers can figure it out".

[Brown Deer]

Governor, let me start by asking you a question that I asked John McCain about you, and it is really the central question. Can you look the country in the eye and say "I have the experience and I have the ability to be not just vice president, but perhaps president of the United States of America?"

Senator Obama, can you look the country in the eye and say "I have the experience and I have the ability to be president of the United States of America?"

And you didn't say to yourself, "Am I experienced enough? Am I ready? Do I know enough about international affairs? Do I -- will I feel comfortable enough on the national stage to do this?"

Senator Obama, are you experienced enough? Are you ready? Do you know anything about international affairs?

But this is not just reforming a government. This is also running a government on the huge international stage in a very dangerous world. When I asked John McCain about your national security credentials, he cited the fact that you have commanded the Alaskan National Guard and that Alaska is close to Russia. Are those sufficient credentials?

Senator Obama, it seems that Governor Palin has explained that she has sufficient credentials, but really you are the one that is running for the office of President, not Governor Palin. Just exactly, what are your credentials?

Have you ever met a foreign head of state?

Mr. Gibson, can you tell me how many of our 43 presidents have met a foreign head of state before they were in office? Sorry Charlie, some of them never even met a foreign head of state after they were in office...

[supercat]

However, they did show her video, so it didn’t matter.

From what I've read, the video itself actually starts mid-sentence. I hope Palin and McCain publicize a source for the complete sentence on YouTube.

[supercat]

I wish Ms. Palin would learn how to pronounce “nuclear”.

Enough educated people go with that pronunciation that I would not consider it a sign of stupidity any more than would many other other regional variations in speech (e.g. joo-lur-ee). I see no need for pedantry with regard to that word.