Okay, Lawrence Eagleburger has crawled out of the back room of McCain campaign headquarters sweating, begging for forgiveness, and pleading for understanding but only manages to to damn Palin with faint praise, confirm his earlier remarks, and nervously heap a dollop of his infamous viciousness on Barack Obama.
I don't know how Fox News viewers buy this shit. The interviewer, some man with a British accent, takes the part of the interrogator helping Eagleburger grovel and explain himself. Fox's position in the tank is so obvious, it's painful to watch.
But the fact that Eagleburger fails to actually recant his statements from yesterday (he only explains them) is comedy gold. If you thought the Manchurian Candidate was comedy. I almost felt sorry for the man.
Video and transcript below the fold.
Fox Interviewer: Did you not say that Sarah Palin is not quite ready for the vice president’s spot?
Lawrence Eagleburger: You are witnessing something quite unique, a man about to talk to you while he has his foot in his foot in his mouth.
I made a serious mistake yesterday. I was quoted correctly. I wasn’t thinking when I said it. In fact I was discussing foreign policy and this was in that context and I was just plain stupid. And if I have given that flim-flam artist Barack Obama some success with this, I am deeply apologetic. I did not intend it. In fact ever ... if you look at this carefully on the question of the experience, for example, Sarah Palin has been a governor, she has executive ability, she knows energy issues. Now you tell me what Barack Obama has ever done in the way of executive bus -- doing anything in the executive field. He’s been in the senate for two years and has been there half the time and seldom votes on issues. I’m sorry I made a terrible mistake.
And when you look at the Palin thing in context ... I have to say that I don’t that she would be from the minute she became vice president she would be an expert in foreign affairs. That’s clearly not the case. But she’s going to have a mentor who is better at it than anyone else and that’s John McCain. And she’s a quick learner and I should have said that within a relatively short period of time she would also be a foreign policy expert. I feel badly and I’m sorry.
Fox Interviewer: No, Mr. Secretary we’re just actually waiting for Governor Palin to make an appearance, a campaign appearance in Pennsylvania, and we will bring part of that speech to you when she arrives at the podium.
But I do want to give you another opportunity to straighten out. You do feel she’s a quick learner and would be good as vice president given a few days...
Lawrence Eagleburger: As a matter of fact....no, a few days, uh, no.
But as a matter of fact she has demonstrated from the time she first was nominated and the period of time since then .... she’s made it clear she’s a quick learner. She didn’t know anything about foreign affairs nor should she have on the basis of what she had done but she’s now working with a man who knows it all. And she’s learned from that and if she becomes vice president she’ll still be working with John McCain and she’ll learn quickly. You can’t expect her to have it all in hand and I can only say again you tell me where Barack Obama has had anything to do with foreign affairs. The statements he’s made during his campaign have been stupid and contradictory. So I still say we’re comparing a vice presidential candidate with a presidential candidate who knows less than she does.
Fox Interviewer: You straightened it out, Mr. Secretary, Lawrence Eagleburger. Thanks very much for joining us, sir, we do appreciate it. Thank you.
Lawrence Eagleburger: Done my best. And I apologize to the McCain people. Please, don't hit me again.
Fox Interviewer: Ok. We got it.
Ok, I added the "don't hit me" stuff. It's natural dialog if you listen to the video.
But Eagleburger never actually recants what he said yesterday, he merely narrows it to the field of foreign policy and said she'd overcome it. Not in a "few days" though. In case you didn't see it, here's an audio from yesterday in which he said Palin would not be ready.
I'll let the vicious and disrespectful remarks about Obama pass as Eagleburger is known for that. It's surprising any administration would make him the secretary of anything.
Here's the question. Do you think Eagleburger actually recanted his derogatory remarks from yesterday's NPR interview? Or did he just dig his hole sideways? And how about that groveling? What did they do to the man?
And is he saying Palin actually didn't see Russia from her backyard?