Today’s “On Point” had a round-table of Amy Sullivan of Time, Jack Beatty of The Atlantic and token “conservative” Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune. I wasn’t able to listen to the whole thing (something about teaching), but from what I did, it had to do with Palin’s Charlie Gibson interview (which proved, according to all) that she’s not ready for prime time, and with the McCain campaign “smears.”
Before I get down to the nitty gritty, I’d like to say I don’t think that McCain will be served by his campaign firing off a new ad to every insulting or untrue thing that Obama’s campaign and media supporters have to say about him or Palin. Having said that, after deploring Palin’s answer about the Bush Doctrine, they swept right into the lipstick on a pig business, all of them defending Obama from a charge of having directed it at Palin. An astute observer called in and stated that it was clear from the reaction of the crowd that Obama intended to reference Palin, and in the course of disagreeing, Amy told the host (who actually was the most evenhanded person on the panel) that he’d cut off the sound-bite too early, and that Obama had gone on to say something (don’t quote her here) about “stinky” fish wrapped in newspaper. What Obama actually said, of course, was “old fish,” a much less mistakable reference to McCain. But the entire panel swallowed that, hook, line and stinker.
Nothing at all was said, at least in the part that I listened to, about Gibson’s scrubbed lie (taken from the AP) regarding Palin’s “God is on our side” rhetoric. Even designated “conservative” Steve Chapman pointed to the fact that the AP (the AP!), had called McCain’s bluff on the education ad, and when the AP calls you on it and you’re a Republican . . . well!
The moderator kept coming back to the point . . . but, what about all those crowds turning out for Palin? Sullivan, the most obviously pro-Obama of the group kept stating that we can’t extricate the situation from the bounces yet, and that there was no sign that any Independents, on whom the outcome of the election depends, were jumping to McCain-Palin yet. The interview was likely to turn them away, etc. Perhaps I haven’t been paying attention to the polls as well as I should, but it seems to me that there’s lots of evidence that she’s just wrong about that.
On the whole, a lot of what you’d expect: deploring lies in the process of deploying them. Thanks, NPR!
Noonan has advice for the Democrats (sorry, hf):
You can never kill her now. Forget it. She can hurt herself, but in terms of Democratic attacks she is bulletproof. You made her thatâ€â€she wasn’t that way when she walked in.
Hope that Mr. McCain stops campaigning with her and spins her off into her own orbit, to small towns and medium-sized cities. It will cut his recent power in half. Some press will follow her, but mostly on gaffe patrol. They will want to keep their main lens on Obama and McCain.
This is going to be the only way to contain her power: Ignore it.
Meanwhile, McCain screws up by sending her to Hannity. What the hell good is that going to do? Want to help her out? Send her to Olberdouche.
Here’s Gibson’s hard-hitting interview with Barry O! from 2007. Howard “We’re Losing This Thing!!!” Kurtz likes Charlie’s hard-hittingness. I think it might be instructive to intersplice the two interviews. Howard is a stickler for detail.
Comment by sdferr on 9/12 @ 4:41 pm #
On our dime (in part) no less.
Comment by happyfeet on 9/12 @ 4:47 pm #
There may be some anomalies at the local level, but NPR’s core national audience has become so homogeneously rich white and liberal that they aren’t reaching anyone who didn’t drink the Kool Aid long ago. I heard an industry expert the other day seriously question whether newsweeklies like Time would even be viable in five years.
I have a theory that lots of people already understand on a basic level that their Time subscriptions and NPR contributions are de facto political contributions, and when these guys fail to deliver the ascendance of Baracky, people may very well not think these feckless echo chamber people are worth their support anymore. People are definitely nervous.
Comment by Pablo on 9/12 @ 5:26 pm #
Olberdouche wouldn’t have her on. He never has guests that might show him up. ‘Cuda would rip him to shreds. Olby doesn’t have the balls to get in that ring.
Comment by sdferr on 9/12 @ 5:27 pm #
KP is an Alaska chauvinist…and pretty…and, aw heck, she’s still a democrat…but she does at least seem p.o.’d on behalf of the distaff set.
Comment by happyfeet on 9/12 @ 5:59 pm #
I don’t think the media can afford to ignore a historical female vice presidential candidate. This is the first attractive and popular one of them ever. The media can’t ignore that because they’ve already really a lot sexistly been trying to kick her her stupid bitch redneck pig teeth in. I can’t see them leaving that alone. They have to either fix it or vindicate it I think. Peggy is right this is what they should do though. But Peggy is stupid-wrong to posit Governor Palin’s orbit as “small towns and medium-sized cities” I think. She’s a superstar now. You go into election day with the VP you have, and McCain picked Madonna, really. He shouldn’t try to minimize that I don’t think.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 9/12 @ 8:18 pm #
I tuned in to NPR the other day, and they were gushing over some survivors of communist China’s Long March.
Comment by datadave on 9/12 @ 11:10 pm #
rich white and liberal two outta three ain’t bad….hf
I guess I am going to get rich eventually listening to NPR.
Glad you discovered one of the best most informative shows on radio: On Point.
Oh, you prefer Fox’s Hannity? (just kidding.)
Palin’s a powerhouse for sure but could self destruct. Who’s that crippled little white ol man hanging around her???
Comment by Dan Collins on 9/12 @ 11:15 pm #
That’s Stephen Hawking. I think his parents should have aborted him.
Comment by B Moe on 9/12 @ 11:33 pm #
I guess I am going to get rich eventually listening to NPR.
That and keep cheating on your taxes. Should be a lock.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 9/12 @ 11:44 pm #
You mean the fellow crippled by the beatings dished out by the left’s North Vietnamese allies? The fellow who, because of those beatings, can’t lift his arms high enough to use a keyboard?
The guy who physically cannot use a keyboard because of those beatings who the O! campaign just attacked for not using email?
Comment by datadave on 9/12 @ 11:46 pm #
hick I’ll drink on that. Pour another one for my friend, Darleen.
hmmm, but lou gehrigs disease isn’t a birth defect:
“Almost as soon as he arrived at Cambridge, he started developing symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (colloquially known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), a type of motor neuron disease which would cost him almost all neuromuscular control. During his first two years at Cambridge, he did not distinguish himself, but, after the disease had stabilized and with the help of his doctoral tutor, Dennis William Sciama, he returned to working on his Ph.D.[5] He revealed that he did not see much point in obtaining a doctorate if he were to die soon. Hawking later said that the real turning point was his 1965 marriage to Jane Wilde, a language student.[5] After gaining his Ph.D., Stephen became first a Research Fellow, and later on a Professorial Fellow at Gonville and Caius College.
Comment by datadave on 9/12 @ 11:48 pm #
you know, I just wrote that just to bug you, Rob. You know that dontchya?
President McCain! I just have to get used to it…Long LIVE the dude as that Sarah’s frightening.
Comment by Dan Collins on 9/12 @ 11:53 pm #
Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrig’s disease, you know.
What are the odds?
Comment by B Moe on 9/13 @ 12:04 am #
I blame his parents for naming him that, Dan. You just don’t tempt fate that way, bad karma dude.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 9/13 @ 1:16 am #
Yeah, it’s like Napoleon deciding to fight a battle at Waterloo.
Hubris and atē, that was.
Pingback by Educating Sarah « docweaselblog on 9/13 @ 3:07 pm #
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