Just saw the first Charlie Gibson / Palin interview on ABC and, forgive me if I'm out of line here, just feel the need to address the candidate personally:
Gov. Palin, I once had the opportunity to judge a state beauty pageant.
Governor, I know beauty pageants.
A beauty pageant winner was a friend of mine.
And Governor, today, on the news, you were definitely, definitely Pageant with a capital P!
Forget about not answering the question (3 times) about willingness to unilaterally go into Pakistan with anything but the statement you had rehearsed. Only wish Gibson would have responded, "So we’ll take that as a yes, then?"
Caesar turned down the crown three times, but we know this will be the second time in your life you'd only be a heartbeat away from one, at least figuratively. And now that we know Georgia should be in NATO regardless of whether that means we’d have to go to war with Russia, I’m guessing the Pakistan situation can sit on the back burner for awhile.
I’m happy for you that you can see Russia from the farthest reaches of Alaska. Is it the glasses? I can see a hospital from here, but you wouldn’t want me doing open heart surgery.
As for the Iraqi "mission from God," you could have just explained that you were in a house of worship and felt the need to tie it all in together. We could have bought that. Instead, you had to make it all cosmic, like a pageant answer. Now we have finally figured out what your pageant talent must have been – backpedaling.
Nooooooooo. It wasn’t any of the above that pinpoints you "Pageant." The real tip off was the instinctive employment of the traditional superfluous introductory clause contestants always fall back upon to vamp with -- while summoning up and adapting whatever response they had prepared by rote. Mastery of the topic, without necessarily actually understanding anything about it.
And superficial? It was like being asked a question by Charlie Gibson and responding with a poem by Henry Gibson.
Why don’t you hear Obama, or Biden, or even McCain responding in that rather unusual style? Well, because they’re prepared; and they didn't have to prepare just for the question. They’ve got the actual knowledge to answer from their preparation and from their actual understanding and experience. Their answers actually reflect how at least they'd want us to think they'd respond to the various situations Mr. Gibson posed. Sure looked like you weren't concerned with any challenge beyond just getting the answer right. That's sooooooo Pageant.
Why do you create the impression that if you had to come up with an additional sentence on any of the foreign policy questions you were asked that you’d be somewhat stumped?
Does this look and sound familiar?
The only difference is that poor kid wasn’t running for Vice President of the United States!
Governor, I don’t mean to be cruel here. I've posted two hilariously semi-snarky diaries with you as the foil over the past several days: The difference between a hockey PLAYER and a pit bull: TEETH; and SwiftSledding, FrozenWatergate and other Semi-Hillaryous Cheap Shots.
They really weren't about you, they were mostly about latching onto any premise for a creative writing exercise. I had started to feel bad about it. Now I realize they were not only snarky; they were prescient. Please don't take this as patronizing, because Lord knows you're head and shoulders above most of us in many areas, and I admire your acting on your convictions -- if not necessarily all of those convictions themselves. But it’s not your fault you’re not ready. It’s John McCain’s fault for being so frivolous with the security of this country --or "nation" which I guess is the way the focus group seems to prefer you refer to us.
You have many admirable qualities, but convincing yourself you can be ready for just about anything just because you want to be, isn’t one of them.
I do not find it comforting in the least to know that under the 1947 Presidential Succession Act, should John McCain, for whatever reason, be unable to fulfill his responsibilities as pageant winner, his duties will be seamlessly assumed by you as runner up. Oh wait, that the Miss American Succession Act.