I caught most of the clips ABC chose to show as a preview of its interview with Sarah Palin. I’ll preface my initial reaction by saying that it looks like ABC did more dicing with that footage than a chef at Benihana, but our new VP candidate did come across as nervous and a bit rambling.

Gibson caught her off guard with a question about the definition of the Bush doctrine, which should be a given for any political junkie, but given the circumstances just tossing the name out there might not be enough to elicit a solid answer from the Governor in her first MSM grilling. I’ll cut her some slack on that one.

What I don’t get, based only off what ABC has released mind you, is why she couldn’t begin with a solid ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response and then clarify it. She did a fine job explaining her position, but it felt a bit weak when she wasn’t willing to give him an ‘absolutely’ in response to whether or not we have the right to jet into Pakistan on the heels of Al Qaeda if necessary. Hell, if McCain and Obama have both had their own affirmatives on an issue, just take the plunge and stick it to the MSM, don’t tap dance around an answer.

Was she just trying to play it cool and keep from giving Gibson more ammunition or did she really not have a full grasp of the international issues he brought up? Only time will tell, but I’ll assume for now that it’s the former. One thing is for sure: Gibson was reading those questions off like it was a sentencing instead of an interview.

“I got lost in your blizzard of words?” or something like that? Seriously, did that come out of the mouth of a serious journalist? Bias anyone? Michelle thinks so too.

Update: I can assure you that many salt-of-the-earth women are doing what I hear my mother is doing right now, googling Charlie Gibson to judge just how poorly Sarah Palin was treated. Whether she performed well or not, this interview won’t hurt her in the heartland. It will backfire 100% in that regard. Absolutely.

Oh, and Allah at Hot Air picks up the same thing I did about the Bush Doctrine. Excellent read and video link.

Update II: Oh, and did anyone catch this forum nonsense with Obama and McCain? Obama is having rose pedals thrown at his feet currently, while McCain was grilled on whether America is “better” than everywhere else. McCain handled it masterfully given what he had to work with, while Obama is back to his rockstar roots at his Alma mater– complete with screaming fans in the audience.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 11th, 2008 at 5:11 PM and is filed under 2008 Race, Foreign Policy, Media Bias, Republicans, Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.