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)
Mikael,
You were actually quite fair with the article, even through you don’t have a real grasp of what it means to stand up for the unbonr while understanding the plight of the woman. If there were a law against abortion and a woman managed to get one, she should not go to jail, the abortion doctor should. As for the “Morning After Pill”, it doesn’t prevent conception. Conception happens within a couple of hours of having sex. Truth be known, Katie Couric is a professional and she knows how to back a person into a corner. And if she doesn’t get the answer she wants, she rewords or misdirects until things go the way she planned. All the far left and far right interviewers do the same thing. That’s why Obama and Biden won’t go on Fox or sit down with George Stephanopolis. That’s politics.
Anyway, my challenge was for you to write a positive article about O & B without mentioning McCain, Bush, or the Republicans. I can’t seem to find any such article on any of the blogs I visit. Oh, thanks for calling me a respectable online adversary. I like that.
Comment by Earl — October 1, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
Sorry, I forgot to apologize for making you miss your bedtime. I’m sure that if you’re anything like me, you need your beauty sleep.
Comment by Earl — October 1, 2008 @ 4:42 pm
Earl,
I am actually against abortion in almost all cases, but feel that ultimately it will always be up to the woman who is pregnant. There is nothing anyone can do to manipulate her choices. The best way to prevent abortion is through wide open sex education and the truth about what an abortion does – ending a life separate from the mother, full access to birth control and creating a culture that respects and tends to the needs of single Moms so that they know they have options.
I looked it up while writing last night and it was my understanding that the “Morning After Pill” actually does prevent conception, it doesn’t end a life. Here is what I found:
http://www.morningafterpill.org/
After reading some more today, it seems that sometime contraception is achieved before a pregnancy and sometimes a fertilized egg is killed, so she and I and you are all a bit off the mark. I hope to learn more. Does this make sense to you?:
http://www.morningafterpill.org/how-does-it-work.html
Katie Couric handled Palin like a cupcake. She couldn’t have been more gentle, yet professional. Palin simply dodged any issue she didn’t want to talk about, didn’t understand or knew her answers wouldn’t play well. It was embarrassing.
I would have a difficult time writing a positive article about Obama and Biden. I prefer them to McCain/Palin by a long shot, but am still very disappointed with Obama’s corporate coziness and general lack of backbone when it comes to strong choices on critical issues.
Comment by Mikael — October 1, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
Oh, and…
I meant the compliment. There are so many abusive, ranting, nonsensical idealogues online pretending they can make sense out of national politics and I have gotten very short on patience with them.
It is refreshing to dialogue over simple differences of opinion like adults.
Comment by Mikael — October 1, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
This, from Robert Wexler:
~~~
Dear Mikael,
Finally, the cold hard truth is coming out: Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the Bush Justice Department fired people for blatantly partisan purposes – breaking the law and injecting politics into our justice system. (A system which can only function in a democracy when it is free from partisan corruption.)
It is sad that none of us are the least bit surprised. This week, Glenn Fine, the Inspector General, assigned to investigate the politicization of the Justice Department released a critically important 392 page report.
In it, he stated they found “significant evidence that political partisan considerations were an important factor in the removal of several of the U.S. attorneys.” Remember, this report comes from Bush’s own Justice Department investigation. Imagine the scathing report that would come from a fully nonpartisan source.
The report also stated Alberto Gonzales, his chief of staff Kyle Sampson, and his deputy Paul McNulty failed “to provide accurate and truthful statements about the removals and their role in the process.” This is a polite way to say that Gonzales and Sampson lied to investigators. This is unacceptable, and Gonzales, Sampson, and Rove should face criminal charges for this this behavior.
The report also stated that one of the US attorneys, David Iglesias, was removed “without any inquiry into his handling of the cases.”
The report is so damning of Alberto Gonzales, Rove, Miers, and others that the current Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, has appointed a Special Prosecutor to investigate and, if warranted, issue criminal charges.
Whether this is the beginning of real accountability remains to be seen, but it is my mission to try to make sure Congress does not abdicate its responsibility to do its own investigations.
~~~
Robert Wexler is an American hero.
Comment by Mikael — October 1, 2008 @ 6:50 pm