Thursday, October 02, 2008

A Final Word About Tonight's Debate: No One Has to Go Easy on Palin Because She's an Airhead


About 20 years ago an ambitious young salesperson called trying to get me to buy her company's services. When, after a few painful minutes of listening to her canned talking points I pressed her with, "please tell me exactly why your company is better than the one I currently use," she incredulously replied with a bit of girlish charm, "oh c'mon, don't be difficult!" Her name was Sarah Palin. I'm kidding. But it might as well have been, because they both studied the airhead playbook.

The fact that Sen. John McCain chose the Alaska Governor as his vice presidential running mate doesn't in and of itself automatically make her qualified for the job, nor does it miraculously turn an airhead into an egghead. That he made a boneheaded mistake doesn't preclude us from exposing all her obviously glaring warts.

Which brings us to tonight's debate. There's been a lot of conjecture about what Sen. Joe Biden's strategy will be to avoid appearing condescending and/or sexist. And that's patently offensive to those of us with a brain. The bar has seemingly been set so low for Palin that Biden and moderator Gwen Ifill must treat her with kid gloves or reap the public-relations shitstorm that Republicans will rain down on them.

But let's get one thing straight: Palin's running for the second highest job in the nation. Leader-of-the-free-world in the on-deck circle. A heartbeat away from the presidency should something happen to the 72-year-old cancer surviving McCain. She's supposed to be brilliant. Knowledgeable about both domestic and foreign affairs. Possessing solid judgement. Able to string together a direct answer in three or four coherent sentences. She's not some damned beauty queen whose vacuousness we're supposed to tolerate through the question-and-answer part of the pageant simply because we love her in a bathing suit. She's not supposed to sound like some stammering 10th grader in a "my dog ate my homework" moment. She's not supposed to unconvincingly bluff through difficult questions like an 80-year-old Jersey grandma at a $2 Atlantic City poker table.

There can be no "aw c'mon, don't be difficult!" moments tonight. There can be no free passes. No slack cutting. We cannot allow Palin to get away with sounding like a woefully unprepared and unqualified airhead just because she is one. If she appears inexperienced, uninformed and out of her league tonight it'll be because she is, and not because of some absurd charge of sexism. Just remember, the only people who've lowered any bars here are her Republican handlers who are now chillingly aware of her massive deficiencies. The rest of us will still be holding her to the highest standards.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, and I do hope I am wrong, Ms. Palin has already "won" the debate due to the expectations of her performance being so incredibly low. All she has to do is speak generalities, throw in some biting comments, and she'll be lauded for being able to hang in there with a guy assumed to have more experience. We've seen it before.

Anonymous said...

Let us also hope she is not asked air-head questions like "What's your favorite color?"' or "What magazines do you read?" She's would then be justified in saying "Oh, come on." or perhaps she should be more butch and say "F__k off".

Anonymous said...

Obama acts as though he's just come out of the faculty lounge. McCain acts as though he's just left his buddies with whom he's been drinking beer. Palin acts las though she's just left the kitchen where she and the other ladies prepared the church supper. It has nothing to do with intelligence. True, each has a different set of behavioral traits needed to function socially in his/her respective environment. They, as we all do, learn new ways to behave when necessary. Palin hasn't had as much time to be groomed into a sophisticated national campaigner as Obama has to become "one of us." Just review the many aspects Obama has adopted.

Anonymous said...

And if Biden asks a paraplegic person to stand up, refers to TV or President Roosevelt in 1929, can't remember if he and Obama are for or against clean coal, calls Obama a "clean black", or begins to plagiarize somebody Sarah Palin should not feel obligated to coddle him.

Anonymous said...

She said she wanted greater powers for the vice presidency.
Now I feel a whole lot better.

Anonymous said...

11:06 PM,
You are lying. She did not say "she wanted greater powers for the vice presidency". That is just what you WANTED to hear. I challenge you to provide a link to an official transcript of her saying what you claim she said.

Anonymous said...

"The idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the
Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch."
-- Joe Biden 10/2/2008, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee for 16 years

He doesn't even know that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the Legislative Branch!

Anonymous said...

During the Democrat Primaries:

Question:"In 1982, Anwar Sadat traveled to Israel, a trip that resulted in a peace agreement that has lasted ever since. In the spirit of that type of bold leadership, would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?"

Obama:"I would. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them -- which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration -- is ridiculous. Now, Ronald Reagan and Democratic presidents like JFK constantly spoke to Soviet Union at a time when Ronald Reagan called them an evil empire. And the reason is because they understood that we may not trust them and they may pose an extraordinary danger to this country, but we had the obligation to find areas where we can potentially move forward."

Biden and all the Democrat shills that try to deny that Obama said he would meet with the world's worst tyrants without preconditions are LYING.

Obama is gullible, naive, and dangerous for national security. The real world is dangerous and Obama is unfit to protect American interests. Obama has NO TRACK RECORD of standing up for what he believes.

Anonymous said...

Palin knocked it out of the park for the common american voter.

How silent the Obots are today...

Anonymous said...

anonymous @ 12:16
From your reference:

Section III of Article I defines the role of the vice president as 'President of the Senate'.
Section I of Article II places the vice president in the executive branch.

Sidney Condorcet said...

Vice presidential debates are the epitome of low impact...

Palin managed not to make herself look as pathetic as she did with Couric, but this will not affect the race at all.

Obama is still poised to win, very likely now in a LANDSLIDE...

McCain's completely pulled out of Michigan...The number of ways he can possibly get to 270 electoral votes has just narrowed even further...

Sorry all you Obama-haters, better get ready to call the man your President.

Anonymous said...

The Constitution also says that the qualifications for the President and the Vice President must be the same. Obama is not as qualified as Biden and Palin is not as qualified as McCain. Since they don't fulfill the demands of the Constitution Obama and Palin should drop out.

Sidney Condorcet said...

the mind boggles....the reasoning of 3:58pm is just jaw-dropping

Anonymous said...

How on earth could you know about a mind boggling?

Anonymous said...

3:58
Were you educated in a public school?

Since likely nobody will take the time to educate you here, I will try. The Constitutional "Qualifications" are items like age and citizenship, not experience or intelligence.

Anonymous said...

Well, if age is a requirement of equal qualification in the Constitution then, since McCain is so much older than Palin and Biden so much older than Obama, in order to comply Palin and Obama should step down.

Anonymous said...

Naturally there is spin and distortion so I just ask myself.. if i fuck up my job does my boss allow me to make excuses and forget the past or does he fire me?
It boils down to this.. if you like what you see vote McCain if not vote for change and if you think voting for a 72 year old man who votes 95% of the time with Bush is a vote for change then you are pretty stupid..no offense intended

Anonymous said...

"...man who votes 95% of the time with Bush is a vote for change then you are pretty stupid..."

7:35 PM,
You are pretty stupid yourself. Explain how you calculated the 95% statistic. If you can't explain where that number comes from, it simply means you know enough to repeat what other people say. A parrot can do that.

Anonymous said...

Obama will never be president.

Don't have to prepare to call him anything but yesterday's news....or inmate #2099012XZT of the federal penitentary system ala Operation Board Games, falsification of records or whatever comes of the other twenty =plus lawsuits with his name as defendent on them...