Viewers and Critics Cringe at Sarah Palin / Katie Couric Interview
Friday September 26, 2008
It's never pleasant to see someone deeply in trouble. So the Palin/Couric sit-down earlier this week is best summed up by New York magazine's "Sarah Palin’s Latest Interview Is Making People Sad." Reporter Dan Amira shows his soft side:
Watching her has become like watching one of those hopeless singers trying out for American Idol....[A]s the talentless contestant soldiers on...it hits you that this person, despite their best efforts, doesn't even realize that they don't have what it takes. And that makes you kind of sad.He goes on to provide short excerpts of - and links to - commentary at the NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, TIME, Newsweek, New Republic, Salon, Beliefnet, and Slate - all of them acknowledging that Palin's performance was so off, it made viewers uncomfortable. The word used again and again was 'cringe.' To Amira's credit, he includes the conservative voices of individuals squarely on Palin's side. (Even they are sad.)
The opinion that resonated most with me was that of a conservative woman writing for the right-wing National Review:
Another earnest Republican observer, Kathleen Parker, thinks that Palin has been revealed as someone "Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League." Because Palin is a woman, "we are reluctant to say what is painfully true." But it is true: "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself." [Corner/National Review]Many state that McCain's own interview with Couric following Palin's - and the massive woes on Wall Street - have deflected attention away from what would have been a big media story any other week. That's good news for Palin, who either has to polish her interview skills, cram harder on the topics she's lacking knowledge in, or stay silent and stick to campaign appearances with no questions allowed.
Three others worth reading that Amira missed:
- James Fallows at Atlantic.com - "I genuinely feel sorry for Palin. This really is pathetic. Again it's not a mass/elite matter. Anyone who has been to high school immediately recognizes the terror of facing a pop quiz or an oral exam when you just have no idea what you're talking about."
- The opinion overseas at Telegraph.co.uk - "[E]ven conservative commentators are admitting that she is not ready for the White House, after her uncertain performance....Though she did not commit a one-line gaffe, many of her answers were rambling, vague and ill-informed, while she appeared nervous and like an actor struggling to remember her lines."
- The Vote Blog at the Christian Science Monitor - "The interview with Couric had GOP strategist Rob Stutzman telling The Vote yesterday that McCain needs to participate in tonight’s debate simply 'to bury the Palin CBS interview!'"
Photo © Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Related article: "Free Sarah Palin" - What Campbell Brown Calls 'Sexist' is Fairytale Chivalry
Comments
ATTENTION REPUBLICANS:
RE: SARAH PALIN
Obviously there has been a HUGE mistake…..
Palin’s Dribble, Weasel Wording, Mush-Mush, Asssss-Backwards speak Cleary demonstrates who carries the Down Syndrome trait in her family, because of this we (the democrats) will allow you to send her back to Wacky-silla without prejudice and select another candidate.
For this consideration the Republicans agree to sell Alaska to Russia (with Palin) and never mention the State of Alaska or her again.
The Democrats
As a Democrat, I personally think that she is a very nice lady who is unfortunately put in a situation that she is not ready for. I don’t think she is an idiot but she has no idea what she is talking about. It sort of like asking me to explain how the shuttle works after everyone has been saying that I know a lot about aeronautics because I have ridden a bike. She is clearly not ready to be Vice President. No wonder the McCain campaign has being shielding her away from questions. I blame McCain for putting her through this.
At what point does she cut her losses and run back to Alaska? I hope she gets eaten by a bear!
P.S. – LOVED The Democrats comment – brilliantly worded.
Loved that “Palin Bashing” LOVED “The Democrats” comment…especially since it is obvious that one failed high school English class, and the other fails in commen courtesy.
I wasn’t going to comment, but after reading the first comment, I can’t hold myself back.
First commenter: Please don’t speak on behalf of the Democrats, because you know what, firstly, your views are definitely not that of the “Democrats”, and secondly, it’s statements like that which would give any party a bad name. What an inhumane and insensitive thing to say! I really hope you can have the humility to look back on your comment and admit how thoughtless, hurtful and unnecessary they were.
Carole: Before writing that someone must have failed high school English, you should be sure you know how to spell every word in your post. It’s commen (common?) sense.
Palin is a disaster. Can’t wait for the debate! And I thought the Titanic ended badly.
RJ: Go take a Valum and wait in the car…….
You are as up tight as McSame was on tonights debate! Relax it ain’t that serious….
The Democrats
Would the gentlemen of the press feel quite so sad if it were a man making such a mess out of his candidacy? I doubt it. Let’s just say what this is: A ruthlessly ambitious person whose excessive ambition has proven the Peter Principle in spades.
I think she did terrific. Not to impressed with Katie though. I’ve never seen Couric’s show before and I was not impressed by her interview skills or her choice of questions. Why is she asking Sarah for specific examples from McCain’s voting record and disregarding the most important one related to this crisis? The entire Economic Crisis was caused by Fannie and Freddie so his bill to curb them was paramount. We do not need more regulation, this crisis was completely caused by the housing bubble which McCain tried to stop once in 2005 and again in 2007. Also Couric tried to sandbag Palin on the Kissinger question, but Henry Kissinger just put out a statement indicating that both Obama and Katie Couric have misquoted him. Again the media is left with egg on it’s face, and owes Palin another apology.
I think Sarah will be the first female President in 4-8 years. John McCain is the drag on this ticket for most Republicans I know. Most people I know wish they could vote for Palin and not McCain. I think she is great. Finally a real woman running for office. This is a normal human being, not a ridiculous cartoon character like Hillary Clinton.
By the way I thought Palin did much better than Joe Biden’s interview with Katie Couric. Can you imagine if Governor Palin had claimed that President Roosevelt went on TV in 1929 to speak to the American people? Can you imagine if Governor Palin said that her campaign’s ad was “terrible” and that she wouldn’t have approved of it?
Why can’t Democrats be honest and admit that Joe Biden completely failed his interview with Katie Couric and that he embarrassed himself? How come the Obama campaign had to put out a statement spinning Joe Biden’s interview if he did such a great job? Why do Democrats hate this woman so much? If Governor Palin had done anything wrong in this interview it would be getting played nonstop on TV. The fact that Biden’s embarrassing gaffes have gotten much more attention tells the whole story.
Why does Joe Biden get a free pass from you people? He said paying higher taxes was “patriotic,” got scolded by his running mate for supporting the AIG bailout, messed up and said that Obama did not support clean coal energy, asked a paralyzed senator to “stand up,” claimed that Al Qaida downed his helicopter in Afghanistan when it was really downed by a snow storm, condemned his own campaign’s ad as “terrible,” and seems to think that there was TV back in 1929. And that was just the last 2 weeks. Can you imagine if Govenor Palin did even one of these things? It would be the end of her. So why the double standard?
Anthony: You’re joking on your position on the Palin interview right? Your arguments against Biden are fine, but are you that blinded by your support of the GOP that you are not able to see the interview for what it was?
ATTENTION ANTHONY:
Thank you for your service in the war. We understand that the Republican war has left you “Mentally Disabled”,” Lacking sound Judgment” and unable to make rationale decisions.
We (The Democrats) are here to help….
Let us Clear a few things up for you:
1)No matter how many old war stories McSame tells you….He is not your GRANDPA
2)Yes Joey B. gets a PASS!
3)Henry Kissinger changed his answer tonight to fit McSame’s response . Look at the orig video tape.
4) The story is not about Joey B. ……..It is about Silly-Simpleton-Sarah Palin-in-Ass.
The Democrats
P.S.- Mcsame said he’s sending your meds right over Via-Slick-Talk Express ………Good Luck With That!
I agree 100% with Anthony here on the complete double standard. Just wondering here to “the democrat” why does Joey B. get a pass?
Joe Biden is a walking gaff machine and nothing really ever gets said about it to the level that Palin gets in the media.
Maybe a reporter needs to ask Obama about a vote on Bidens record 20 years ago and see what type of answer you get from Obama. BUT that question never gets asked to a democrat the “gotcha” types.
If Palin is as big as a baffoon as the people on this site claim her to be then the race wouldn’t be this close.
What I love more than anything is reading, watching and seeing liberal democrat arrogance on parade. You guys underestimated Reagan and Bush 2 and the results were back to back election wins.
Underestimating Palin will be your down fall. Just because 1 interview didn’t go her way for the most part its just 1 interview..so what! That does not measure someone’s ability if that were true Biden wouldn’t be in office. If you watched her state governor debates she has a grasp of the issues and whipped up on some real seasoned politicans. McCain was down and out and came back.
Being over confident leads to mistakes. Biden better remember that in his debate. He tends to be that way by nature.
ATTENTION RYAN:
Joey B. gets a pass because ……
He is like the colorful uncle on your mothers side who lives in Calf and only comes to town twice a year and wants the kids to think he is the greatest…..
As he recounts his adventures around the world he enhances them with a little zest. ….just to keep your attention…He knows the truth and means no harm…..
Joey B. has true foreign policy experience and not some “I can see Alaska from my window”,,,,,BS
Silly-Simpleton-Sarah ,,,,On the other hand acts like she’s speaking to Kindergarten Kids and uses
mystical snake hand motions and finger licking to tell her delusion stories……and she even
convinces herself, so much that she repeats them until she believes them! She should be on
“Who Smarter Than a Fifth Grader”
example:
Silly-Simpleton-Sarah said: United States has achieved “victory” in Iraq.
…..And that’s how the double standard policy works…Any Questions? Or would you like me to translate that into Sarah speak?
hand finger wants the kids the greatest
convinces herself, so much she to think he is repeats motions should and that licking to tell her delusion them until she believes stories……and she even them! She mystical snake be on
“Who a Fifth Smarter Than Grader”
Fighting for a party at this point is like fighting over private beach rights in the middle of a hurricane. Everyone of us needs to raise the bar and look at this election with real eyes.
The question today, isn’t who is most qualified, the question is who would you want to be sitting in a fox hole with, because that’s where we are right now with both our safety & security and our economic crisis.
When you are in the habit of speaking honestly, not being polished may be your achilles heal, a trait reporters should find refreshing and admire (oh my gosh, the truth) more than manipulate.
If we want honesty, integrity and strength why do we settle (any party) for a polished political education and philosophy, that buys inconsistency and moments of bad judgement.
There is no time for philosophy, this is a free for all, and we better elect warriors who are agile enough to dance between the raindrops – who cares if they don’t meet reporters standards.
Lastly, any press is good press they say…Katie Couric is a reporter, if she was a warrior she wouldn’t be a reporter, and we give her too much credit. Further, and sadly, I used to respect her intellect, but she sacrificed that when she began using her skills to manipulate.
I find credibility in both Presidential Candidates, but Sarah Palin would be a complete disaster for this country.
What kind of message are we sending? Whether your Republican or Democrat, you must admit that this women lacks the political acumen and charisma to represent this beloved country.
I am not criticizing her ability as a woman at all, she is just not ready to lead nor follow…..
Kathleen Parker’s artilces do not belong on the pages of
National Review. With her anti-Palin article, I
believe she should be on staff at Dailykos.
When Parker runs a city and a state … and,
successfully fight’s corruption … and gets a
9 billion dollar energy project for her state,
maybe then her credibility, and opinion would be worth something.
Instead, she is merely a critic, who from the sidelines,
has betrayed the readership of Nationalreview.
i think mcshame[i like that]should be ashamed of himself for choosing her and she should be ashamed for accepting.where does she get the cahunas?
I think Sarah Palin did really good. She obviously a Washington outsider, not much of a talker but more of a worker as we obviously see her popularity in Alaska in the work she has done to improve her state of Alaska and the people’s lives. We have to consider her work records in Alaska and compare to the thin record of the top of ticket of the democratic presidential party nominee who has no record of accomplishment except raise people’s taxes. The liberal partisans are always looking for something to criticize Palin but you can criticize all you want but the bottom line is the record on her works in a Alaska speaks volume of her accomplishment in regards to reform and change whereas the democratic presidential candidate don’t have a record for anything but his being the #1 liberal tax and spend senator in the senate. So before you liberal people criticize Sarah Palin look first to your democtratic presidential nominee because he is all talk and no record to show it. We don’t need an on the job trainee president in the White House especially in this day and time.
Just wish we could leave out “Democrat”, “Republican”,”Conservative”,”Liberal”,”woman”,mother of 5″,”hero” and all those cliched verses out of the discussions and center on the issues! We need to concentrate on the issues and the truth!!! Be informed and use your common sense!(although, I know that there are a lot that do not possess this attribute)! Check the facts before you make blank statements about either party or candidate!!!!
This election is critical to the future of our country and our children!
Choose wisely and don’t believe all the spins! Educate and explore the facts (not just views of others!)
Let’s pray for the guidance and wisdom that we all need!!!
The Democrats comment indicating she has the gene, or lack thereof, that caused her son’s Down syndrome is beyond appalling. Call her unprepared or even unqualified, but the affliction card? You and whomever agrees with your comments indicate an ignorance even more challenging than my being a parent of a Down syndrome child; prejudice.
ATTENTION ALL:
Nervous? Wash Outsider? not much of a talker?
What are you guys kidding me? This woman can’t even put a sentence together in a casual conversation! He is what she said yesterday…
“Thank you for being here for rooting on John McCain tonight in the debate even, you guys, thank you. Yeah.”
Huh rooting on?
“And for that I thank you for being on the team,” she concluded. “And hopefully we can bring more people from this area on that team, you guys, truly.
That team? who’s team ? Obama?
Geezze what a messs!
“I’m just going to ask you one more time – not to belabor the point.” A.) Belabor: argue or elaborate (a subject) in excessive detail: belabor the obvious. B.) Point: an argument or idea put forward by a person in discussion: he made the point that economic regulation involves controls on pricing. Was Katie Couric arguing a point, or was she asking a question? Beyond the two most recent examples of John McCain’s record, was Katie eliciting information in excessive detail, or just butchering syntax? Ms. Couric did ask for a laundry list, and Ms. Palin offered to oblige. What’s the proper response? You’re right Katie, John is an obvious fake and I’m totally clueless. D’oh! Sorry for wasting your time, but I thought you’d ask me to recite the Bush Doctrine while standing on my head. It’s moose season. Come-on up to the cabin; you can see the Kremlin from the rooftop. I’ve got two wonderful new moose hats, one for both you and Charlie Gibson: http://theseedsof9-11.com
Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians? –Katie Couric
You folks apparently don’t understand Palinese, a form of Penguin English.
Katie Couric, who do you thiunk you are? You were so condescending with Sarah Palin, espcially when you asked why she had not obtained her passport before. Most people don’t have time, money or reason to travel all over the world.
The three members of my family who are Ph.D. clinical psychologists believe that those who not only dislike but seem to despise Palin have several concerns. One, she didn’t graduate from a university of which they approve. Another, she doesn’t live the lifestyle of which they approve. The MAIN one, however, is the fear that she will inflict her beliefs on other women, and that, if she were to become president, she would nominate a supreme court judge who would vote to overturn Rowe V Wade. Rest assured the president can only NOMINATE one….Democrats can block his or her nomination.
The human emotion, revenge, will win out this time (i.e. the revenge democrats fester because Bush got in office instead of Gore.)
Amazingly, my family members and I have had the pleasure of seeing every presidential candidate for whom we have voted, WIN. (We vote for the person, not the party.) However, this time, since most of the media have been on Obama’s side throughout this campaign, it is almost certain this will not hold true this time, and our guy will lose. Hatred and revenge are just way too strong.
Sarah agreed to be the VP-to be but didn’t have a clue what the VP did. Well it would appear that a VP needs to know about world affairs – shouldn’t she maybe have got some worldly experience before saying Yes.
Is it so condescending for Katie Couric to ask whether she ever visited a foreign country since she is running for VP? The rest of us who don’t have a passport aren’t.
John
I don’t hear many people say that they hate Sara Palin but many say she is not ready to be VP. From what I have seen I would have to agree with them. Her answers to direct (unscripted)questions are quite frequently incomprehendsible. At times she sounds like a student who has stayed up all night studying for a test and freaks out during the exam.The result is that she blurts out any phrase that she kinda remembers that is remotely related to the question. Which is probably close to reality because I’m sure that she has been force fed a ton of answers to a ton of potential questions during the last couple of weeks of isolation from the media.
The Republicans appear to be the experts on hatred. The amount of animosity directed towards Obama during the GOP convention was somewhat sickening paticulary Mr. Guiliani.
I wouldn’t so proud to announce that you and your block voting family of psychologists voted for Dubya. I guess that the pschology of fear worked on you and yours.
I can answer the question why the democrats hate Sarah Palin so much. She is everything that Senator Obama has claimed to be, yet is not. Feel free to compare her record as Govenor, to Senator Obama’s record. Most times the past is an excellent indicator of the future. You have a woman that not only fought against corruption, but she fought against it in her own party; compared to a man that would prefer to vote “present” instead of taking a side on most of the issues. Senator Obama is disgrace to African Americans and to the American people in general, unfortunately I agree that revenge is going to be a factor in this election.
Hold it, Hold it.
Lets stop this insanity right now.
The nation is at risk of losing its economic power and with it, our standing in the world and ability to influence.
Party politics begone.
We need smarts to fix this. Smarts that I dont
see in either camp quite frankly but I do know this.
Sarah Palin is not someone who should be given
any type of political power. She is dumb. Has
no clue about the world and already is a figure of fun in foreign press. John McCain took a brave risk but this choice undermines him and adds fodder to critics of his judgement.
Whoever is elected, must have the skill and the temerity to take us forward on all policy fronts with dexterity and wisdom.
So its simple, she is a dumb ass, McCain needs to drop her or sink his campaign.
This is logic, not politic, and logic will prevail
The rest of the world is watching this interview and laughing at her, at us! This has got to be one of the lowest, most embarrassing points in American politics.
Brilliant troll, Elizabeth! It was a troll, right?
I think I learned back in my high school civics class that the constitution does not allow individual states to enter into treaties and agreements with foreign countries.
Why does anyone expect a governor to have foreign policy experience? Why even ask her about it?
Especially after Obama’s gaffe about Jerusalem being Israel’s “undivided” capital. This is the kind of thing that starts wars, not whether Russia is visible from Alaskan islands.
Civis class…What is that??? Sorry but this generation no longer has Civics class. Kind of explains the mass majority’s ignorance when it comes to politics doesn’t it?
If you want to see a more realistic interview, check out the Hannity/Colmes interview from about a week ago.
This is a classic example of a fool asking questions, to which there is no good answer.
Ask BO these same questions and you get a mouth full of rambling words, making no sense to anyone.
BUT, Katie or the liberal media will not ask BO the gut wrenching questions. He only gets questions about his”DREAMS”.
Disgusting!!!
ATTENTION LOUIE:
YES THE AFFLICTION CARD……
SILLY_SIMPLETON_SARAH Cleary carries the Down’s syndrome trait.
The Facts:
Down’s syndrome increases as older women have children, with its frequency rising sharply in the children of women more than 35 years old.
Palin=44 yrs old
Down’s syndrome is characterized by an extra copy of chromosome 21, one of 23 chromosomes that occur in pairs in the adult cells of normal individuals. People with Down’s syndrome have three copies of chromosome 21.
Palin = chromosome 21 and one of 23 chromosomes
In conclusion Palin is the clear RETARD…
Any Questions?
Um yeah to rocky ray!:
y in the hell would we want to watch the hannity and colmbs interview that dumb ***** had. Hannity is one sided! of course she is going to do good on that show. Im so sick of u ppl that think she is so great, blah blah fucking blah! she is dumb and you know it. Frankly the questions that she had were not all that hard. She should know her running mates track record! I mean common shes only campaining with him! Someone plz explain to me how she is great!!!!!
she uses sound~bytes!
geeze what is wrong with u ppl!
especialy Roky Ray!
Reality check folks…
I am a freethinking liberal democrat, and guess what, I live in Alaska. Please don’t condemn a whole state full of well educated folks who choose not to live around hate-mongers like yourselves. I agree Palin is out of her league, but throwing out more hate and negativity into the world isn’t helping. Just show up and VOTE!!!
Democrat…prove that Henry Kissinger changed his answer to fit McCain’s response. Please provide a link or source. Secondly, Biden is amazingly ignorant for someone whose been in Washington for over 30 years. I mean seriously…Watching FDR….during the Stock Market Crash….on TV? It is like me saying I remember watching Babe Ruth’s 714th HR on the NBC Game of the Week with Tony Kubec and Joe Garragiola.
And why is it Palin is persecuted for lack of experience for VP, but Obama gets a pass and he is running for President? 2 years of actual Senate experience? Oh I forgot, he wrote 2 books too.
John H,
I really hope this is just your interpretation of how your family of psychologists think, and that in actuality they don’t misuse their authority to construe people’s political beliefs as psychological ‘concerns’. Either way, it’s wrong of you to invoke their qualifications to imply you have the authoritative knowledge on this. It’s not right to misuse psychology to classify others’ beliefs as wrong; if you were practising yourself I’d consider it an abuse of your position.
Most people who are strongly against Palin do not despise her, but the things she stands for, which they have a right to. You are right that many are against her position on Roe Vs Wade etc and fear she’d be a bad influence on issues affecting women’s rights, and they have every rational reason to believe so, whether you agree or not. But by framing this as a concern of your all-knowing family of psychologists, you make it sound like it’s an irrational fear. This is extremely belittling to many people’s political beliefs, to diagnose this as an emotional problem of some sort.
Further,to suggest the same people are against her because they consider her university to be inadequate out of some sort of elitism or snobbishness is absurd. Perhaps some people feel that way, but it’s a degrading supposition to group this reasoning in with those who are against her because they strongly believe what she stands for is wrong.
There are also plenty of other reasons why people are against her becoming VP, e.g. the issue of whether she is in any way qualified, with plenty having plenty of sound arguments to back these up (these opinions must be respected even if you don’t agree with them). That’s why truly reading up on the issues and the views on either side that many have articulated very intelligently is important, rather than theorizing based on pre-conclusions.
Anyone who uses psychology, whether they practice it or use it second-hand like you are to say ‘I know and you don’t’ – especially when the paradigm of psychology is not the most suitable to characterise political beliefs – is misusing it.
I’ve just seen Sarah Palin interviews, and she is the WORST candidate of all. Katie Couric asked some very direct questions, and Sarah Palin just literally blabs and blabs and blabs. Did you all get what Palin was saying? I had to re-run the video footage about 20 times just trying to understand what the hell she was blabbing about. She failed to answer a direct question and failed to relay her idea. She is the joke of the century.
How did a WOMAN like this get to be a politician in the first place? Did she actually graduated from highschool/University with her BS like that?
It was utterly PATHETIC. Makes all women who are career minded look bad.
hahaha you americans kill me. Everytime I feel a bit down I google “american politics” and just laugh for an hour. Here’s for four more hilariuos years, because of course McCain/Palin is going to win!
I can’t believe people really defend Sarah Palin after this interview? This isn’t a “Republican thing,” or a “Democratic thing,” it’s a situation where someone was exposed for who they really are, an idiot! If Obama elected to have someone as inexperienced and naive as Palin run on his ticket and be interviewed by a nationally sindicated television show, instead of someone w/ over 30 years of foreign policy experience, the result would have been the same. McCain and his campaign made a decision that lost them the election. If you think people mock Palin because she’s a woman, a conservative, or from Alaska, you’re wrong. They mock her because she is an idiot that got exposed in front of the world for who she really is. I am a registered “Independent” that probably leans conservative on most issues, but Palin was a “gimmic” from the ouset of her nomination that attempted to capture votes from the Clinton supporters that wouldn’t support Oboma. Looks like that one backfired. Try again in 8 years Palin. Because the economy will drastacally improve in a few years no matter what and people will think it’s because of Obama, winning him the next election. For all conservatives, Palin just bought the Dems 8 years of presidency and majority in both houses. Thanks Sarah!!!
THAT COMMENT BELOW ME IS FUNNY AHAHAH