Conservatives Scrambling to Make Excuses for Palin
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Debates, Palin, Partisan Nonsense, VeepFrom almost the moment John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, we’ve heard the media are out to get her. Because, you know, the media hate average people. How dare they expect the anointed one (Republican model) to make a case for herself or to prove she has the base of knowledge necessary to be a heartbeat away from the President. How disrespectful.
As the legions of professional and amateur spindoctors gear-up for tonight’s vice-presidential debate, we’re getting some pre-battle spin. For instance, I’ve read Palin is a victim of that disreputable Katie Couric who asked “gotcha” questions. Never mind that those questions were so softball that an average college student could have answered them without breaking a sweat.
I’m also reading a lot about debate moderator Gwen Ifill, who may have a conflict of interest. Turns out, Ifill is publishing a book about the ascendance of a new generation of black politicians. The book covers Obama and even uses the senator’s name in the subtitle. The argument is: if Obama wins, Ifill’s book will sell more copies. Therefore, she can’t be trusted to moderate a debate.
This is a great bit of pre-spin because 1) the situation is a little fishy and 2) it doesn’t require anyone to make absurd claims about Palin’s performance to date. It just creates the room necessary to excuse a bad performance because we all knew in advance that the moderator was out to get her. It doesn’t even matter that Ifill has an exemplary record as a journalist and moderated the 2004 vice-presidential debate without once seeming biased (at least in my mind).
By tarring Ifill with the “biased” label before she’s even asked her first question, Republicans are making the debate seem “fixed” before the results are even in. If Palin fails, it’s Ifill’s fault. If she succeeds, she not only proved her mettle but she overcame a huge disadvantage. See how wonderful she is?
Ifill probably should have let someone else do the debate tonight, if only to avoid the appearance of bias. But I trust her to be fair. This pre-debate spin is just an attempt to salvage Palin’s reputation before she irrevocably ruins it with a bad debate performance. Maybe she’ll surprise us and turn in a brilliant show. But when being asked to list a few Supreme Court cases or being asked your position on the Bush Doctrine qualifies as a “gotcha” question, I can’t expect her to impress me tonight. And neither can her supporters – that’s why they’re doing everything they can to delegitimize the debate before it even happens.
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October 2nd, 2008 at 9:58 am
Biden is a notorious plagiarizer. I wonder who’s words he’s going to steal for tonight’s debate? At least Palin is sincere and speaks from the heart; unlike the overly scripted Obama bin Biden team, with their 500 advisors pulling their puppet’s strings.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 am
It’s usually mettle, not metal. I was surprised though to discover that the etymology of mettle is as a variant of metal, so either actually works.
The best thing we can all do is judge Palin on whether or not she shows poise and both depth and breadth of political understanding. I think Ifill ought to recuse herself, for the sake of appearance and subtracting the potential for making excuses.
But I won’t consider it an issue unless IFill shows herself to be blatantly unfair. Palin must show herself for who she is and what she stands for. Even if Ifill is in fact an evil orchestrator of partisan bias, Palin still MUST show that she has the poise and competence to overcome that. Because it’s what she’d face every day were she to become President.
I am uninclined to listen anyone making post-debate excuses for Palin that suggest she only looked bad because some mean people were against her.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:42 am
I find the criticism of ifill to be disingenuous on the part of McCain and the right. Her book announcement was two weeks before McCain and Co. agreed to her moderating the debate. Then they have had a couple months to make this argument and they throw it out right before the debate? Cmon. Maybe we should accuse them of racism for thinking all black people are biased for obama. Both arguments have equivalent levels of genuineness.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:44 am
No, it most certainly is “mettle,” but thanks for throwing me a lifeline. I guess I’ll have to roll back my “days without a grammar/spelling mistake” board to say “0.” And it had gotten all the way up to 2.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
[...] Alan Stewart Carl thinks those die-hard Palin supporters are throwing out accusations of “gotcha” [...]
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:20 pm
No really, you’re up to 3, if American Heritage Dic is a judge. They say that one is a variant of the other. Not playing grammar police to be a dick, BTW. My rule is only to bother with such corrections when it’s someone who I respect, just in case it’s one they want to be aware of. Oftentimes, people will use a sound-alike when they’ve only ever heard some expression and never seen it written., like “for all intensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes.”
Up until a few weeks ago, I had been inexplicably saying “if worst comes to worst.” Only when I saw it written did it occur to me that “if worse comes to worst” makes way more sense.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
RM, and all other Right Wing nut jobs, for that matter. Biden had one instance that I specifically know of where Biden plagiarized something. I’m sure if you go back through all Bush’s history, that lunkhead plagiarized something. Get off this mime.
And I think the Obama bin Biden bit is ridiculous. I hope you didn’t choke on your chaw Billy-bob.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:44 pm
As an American citizen, I am sip[remely insulted by the Repubs pick of an undereducated dolt who cant even answer high-school level questions while their former protege has drug the most powerful nation in history into a 3rd world hole. Republicans, you are traitors and I wish you in hell. Get out of my county you make me sick to my stomach. You should lose your US citizenship for saddling us with your child-like IQs. Your selections have done more damage to US credibility than any spy or enemy ever did. The truth hurts, but you wouldn’t know that since it is an alien subject to you. Those Palin supporters still left, my condolences to your families. You are stupid.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
The Fox News’ assertion that Gwen Ifill is biased is an absurd ploy to get more buzz going about Palin and possibly give the right an excuse for Palin’s inevitably poor perfomance at tonight’s debate.
It’s common for journalists to author books. Their personal opinions may come through in the text. This does not render them incapable of remaining any more or any less objective during a debate than they would have been had they not written a book. It is preposterous to put forward the idea that journalists can’t do their jobs because they have their own personal opinions.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
RM, who do you hope to convince with phrases like “Obama bin Biden”?
I would have been willing to listen to your thoughts on Biden if you’d given a reasonable argument for his high school plagiarism somehow linking to a debate forty years later.
One of the things I like about this site is that people generally have respectful conversations. I for one have been focusing on Palin’s public experience and appearances, not resorting to name-calling and epithets - tempting as they might be to use.
Grow up.
(and John, don’t take the bait.)
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Kranky … no worries. I changed it anyway. But, in any case, it’s not nearly as bad as the time I spelled the nation of Colombia as Columbia.
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Christian — really mature argument there. You want to add that you’re taking your ball and going home? Let’s keep our heads straight, ok? Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are traitors. You really want us to be a 3rd world country, then keep hating your neighbor. We can disagree on policy without resorting to vitriol. And, yes, that applies to both sides of the aisle.
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Alan,
The Repubs are not making the debate seem fixed, they are, like so many other lame attempts during this campaign, TRYING to make the debate seem fixed. Just as those other attempts backfired, this will fall flat when Ms. Ifill does her typical generic, soft toss job as commentator. I think it’s standard technique at PBS to not be very aggressive so as not show bias. I have no problem with it, they trade sound bite journalism for lengthy discussions.
The only way this will have any sticking power is if the media repeats it enough, so thanks for that, Alan. I know you’re only trying to heighten the drama, but I’m not sure that needs to be done. Sarah Palin has, from her previous intrvws, lowered the bar to such a ground sweeping level, that all the dirt may be gone! I think that she may have no where to go but up.