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I was more impressed with Sarah Palin in this interview than any I had seen previously, which isn’t saying that much, but I wanted to give her a chance because I was asked nicely by a respectable online adversary from my blog.

Thank you, Earl.

I can see how her frankness and her readiness to engage in conversation can be endearing and attractive. I was pulled in a little… until the inevitable flurry of ‘cringe moments’ that has even some conservatives calling for her to remove herself from the McCain ticket.



I was surprised to hear her say she considered herself a feminist – her absolute, under-all-circumstances anti-abortion stance notwithstanding. She maintains that tenet based upon the morality she holds as an evangelical christian, as contradictory as it may seem to most feminists.

It is an underlying hypocrisy for her to claim, as she did in this interview, that nobody who gets an abortion should ever wind up in jail when she would like to see Roe v. Wade reversed, thus making participating in abortion a federal crime.

She also didn’t seem to understand, despite Couric’s gentle prodding, that the “Morning After Pill” is a contraceptive device that prevents conception from taking place. Her opposition to it seemed based upon an uninformed perception of how it works.*

[*See comments below for further discussion on the difference between contraception and abortion and where the “Morning After Pill” fits into that debate.]

Palin wasn’t swayed by the fact that offshore drilling and tapping into ANWAR will have a negligible affect on our overall oil supply in the long run and not at all for up to ten years. She claimed to adhere to an “all of the above” energy policy yet clung to her rally cry that “Drill, Baby, Drill” constituted an acceptable national energy policy.

Her acceptance of the scientific facts that global warming exists and human activity is a contributing factor and that evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle in our schools came as a relief. But then she played down the fact that human activities were a major culprit in global warming and claimed that we needed to focus on dealing with the symptoms of global warming without worrying about the reasons for it.

If human activity is a cause, then human activity must be adjusted to redirect the course of climate change. This is something that she either doesn’t understand, or is in denial about due perhaps to a dedication to oil and gas industry supporters.

The following exchange was especially priceless, and appears to reveal Palin’s personal history to be one devoid of investment over time in reading and researching the major challenges our nation and the world are grappling with as we have entered the 21st century. This apparent lack of intellectual curiosity or dedication to knowledge throw light on the reasons for Palin’s very thin grasp of major national and international issues – a lifetime shortcoming that a few short weeks of desperate cramming by the McCain campaign could not possibly have brought her up to speed on:

Couric: “And when it comes to establishing your World View, I was curious… what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were ‘tapped’ for this to stay informed and to understand the world?”

Palin: “I read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media…”

Couric: “Like what ones specifically, I’m curious that you…?”

Palin: “Um… all of ’em.. any of ’em that, um, have been in front of me over all these years, ummm… I have a vast…”

Couric: “Can you name a few?”

Palin: “…I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country where it’s kinda suggested… It seems like… ‘Wow… how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington DC may be thinking and doing when you live up there in Alaska.’ Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America!”

If Governor Palin had answered the question and at some point mentioned The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, L.A. Times, The National Review, The Conservative, The Nation, even The Drudge Report for gosh sakes, I would sense a track record of at least attempting to stay informed over the years.

Am I being too cynical when I think perhaps Field & Stream, Redbook, Good Housekeeping , Reader’s Digest, the Kabela’s Catalogue and a daily bible verse may not be the best preparation for the nation’s second highest office?

Do I want her to be a ‘heartbeat away’ from the Presidency. Uh… no. Not a chance. And the more national exposure she gets, the more America is coming to the same conclusion.

Nice lady.

Not a qualified candidate.

(Source)