Robin PottratzPalin and the media: campaign tactics or political cowardess?
October 9th 2008 18:40
Lets start by going back a month. At the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, the world was introduced to a hockey milf who was now the Republican nominee for Vice-President. Sarah Palin captured the political world with her folksy address at the world's largest gathering of rich white people. She fired attacks about Barack Obama's career as a community organizer, as well reinterate how much of a "maverick" and "reformer" she is. Despite her quasi mean spirited oratory, she became a star. It got to the point that some pundits believed that she could carry Senator McCain over the top. However, in the 36 days since that speech, something happened. The political world fell out of love with Gov. Palin as quickly as they fell in love with Gov. Palin.
How could this possibly have happened? It seemed that this woman could withstand anything. She even got gut shot with the news that her 17 year old daughter was pregnant out of wedlock by a hard drinking, potsmoking, hockey afficianado. I'll tell you how it happened, Sarah Palin was forced to do what most public figures have to: give interviews. She started with ABC's Charlie Gibson. For her first interview, she held her own for the most part. The first cracks in the armor came when Gibson asked her if she agreed with the Bush Doctrine, to which she replied after a long pause:
"In what respect Charlie."
It was clear that she didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was or what it constituted. In all fairness, I'm sure that the majority of Americans do not know what the Bush Doctrine is, however I believe that the person who could be a heartbeat away from the Presidency should probably know what it is. Anyway, aside from that one hiccup, she escaped the Gibson interview relatively unscathed. The real hammer came down on Gov. Palin when she was interviewed by Katie Couric.
Katie Couric is not exactly known for her tough interview style, which made it surprising when she was able to stymie Gov. Palin. What was interesting about that interview was that Katie Couric was able to break Palin down by performing tactics that are out of journalism 101. She simply pressed Palin to clarify her answers by repeating the questions on such topics as her views on abortion, why she believes homosexuality is a choice, any past legislation spearheaded by McCain, or even what magazines she read. Palin either repeated her same answers or simply spewed out talking points to avoid answering the question. When Palin failed so dramatically in her interview with Couric, the republican media machine was quick to coin a new phrase "gotcha journalism." Couric's interview was dismissed as simply "gotcha journalism," but it could not erase the opinions of many who now viewed Gov. Palin as someone who was in over her head when it came to the job of V.P.
In the 36 days since she was introduced to the world at the RNC, Gov. Palin has only done 5 televised interviews. One was with ABC's Charlie Gibson, one with CBS' Katie Couric, and the other three have been conducted by the Fox News Channel. I am not kidding, even more sadly funny is the fact that two of those interviews were conducted by Sean Hannity. Sarah Palin interviewed by Sean Hannity is the equivalent of Keith Olbermann and Bill Maher having a conversation on television. Both Hannity/Palin interviews were complete jokes, with Hannity asking leading questions about comments that Barack Obama had made and possible nafarious Obama associations. On his radio program, Hannity became defensive about people who were critical of his interview with Gov. Palin:
"All I did in my interview was let her talk, that's when she is at her best when people just let her talk."
The problem is that when people just let her talk she spews out nothing but talking points and generalities. When she is pressed, she becomes more nervous and is more prone to say things that are foolish or unpresidential. Perhaps that is why 60% of her interviews have come from the most conservative television network in the country, and why 40% of her interviews have been with the most conservative host on television. If she is being interviewed by someone who agrees with her and wants to see McCain get elected, then they wouldn't possibly do anything that could cause her to become nervous and commit a gaffe.
The McCain campaign has been widely criticized (rightfully so) for not allowing Gov. Palin to talk with the media. However, no one seems to be asking the most important question about that, which is why. Why won' t they let her speak? Are they afraid of what she may do? Why is it that she is more willing to do interviews with an agreeing party? Do they feel that she could cost McCain the White House?
Whatever the rationale may be, the American People should be more curious and more frustrated about why Gov. Palin is being shielded like she is. Wasn't she supposed to be just like "joe six pack" and "hockey moms around the country." Wasn't that indentification that she brought forth supposed to propel Sen. McCain to the presidency. I hope that this trend changes in the coming weeks, and that Sarah Palin does more interviews with non Fox News personel. I'm not asking her to go on MSNBC or anything, but even an interview with Brian Williams or Larry King would be sufficient. Until she does that, I feel that the McCain/Palin ticket can kiss their hopes for the White House goodbye.
How could this possibly have happened? It seemed that this woman could withstand anything. She even got gut shot with the news that her 17 year old daughter was pregnant out of wedlock by a hard drinking, potsmoking, hockey afficianado. I'll tell you how it happened, Sarah Palin was forced to do what most public figures have to: give interviews. She started with ABC's Charlie Gibson. For her first interview, she held her own for the most part. The first cracks in the armor came when Gibson asked her if she agreed with the Bush Doctrine, to which she replied after a long pause:
"In what respect Charlie."
It was clear that she didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was or what it constituted. In all fairness, I'm sure that the majority of Americans do not know what the Bush Doctrine is, however I believe that the person who could be a heartbeat away from the Presidency should probably know what it is. Anyway, aside from that one hiccup, she escaped the Gibson interview relatively unscathed. The real hammer came down on Gov. Palin when she was interviewed by Katie Couric.
Katie Couric is not exactly known for her tough interview style, which made it surprising when she was able to stymie Gov. Palin. What was interesting about that interview was that Katie Couric was able to break Palin down by performing tactics that are out of journalism 101. She simply pressed Palin to clarify her answers by repeating the questions on such topics as her views on abortion, why she believes homosexuality is a choice, any past legislation spearheaded by McCain, or even what magazines she read. Palin either repeated her same answers or simply spewed out talking points to avoid answering the question. When Palin failed so dramatically in her interview with Couric, the republican media machine was quick to coin a new phrase "gotcha journalism." Couric's interview was dismissed as simply "gotcha journalism," but it could not erase the opinions of many who now viewed Gov. Palin as someone who was in over her head when it came to the job of V.P.
In the 36 days since she was introduced to the world at the RNC, Gov. Palin has only done 5 televised interviews. One was with ABC's Charlie Gibson, one with CBS' Katie Couric, and the other three have been conducted by the Fox News Channel. I am not kidding, even more sadly funny is the fact that two of those interviews were conducted by Sean Hannity. Sarah Palin interviewed by Sean Hannity is the equivalent of Keith Olbermann and Bill Maher having a conversation on television. Both Hannity/Palin interviews were complete jokes, with Hannity asking leading questions about comments that Barack Obama had made and possible nafarious Obama associations. On his radio program, Hannity became defensive about people who were critical of his interview with Gov. Palin:
"All I did in my interview was let her talk, that's when she is at her best when people just let her talk."
The problem is that when people just let her talk she spews out nothing but talking points and generalities. When she is pressed, she becomes more nervous and is more prone to say things that are foolish or unpresidential. Perhaps that is why 60% of her interviews have come from the most conservative television network in the country, and why 40% of her interviews have been with the most conservative host on television. If she is being interviewed by someone who agrees with her and wants to see McCain get elected, then they wouldn't possibly do anything that could cause her to become nervous and commit a gaffe.
The McCain campaign has been widely criticized (rightfully so) for not allowing Gov. Palin to talk with the media. However, no one seems to be asking the most important question about that, which is why. Why won' t they let her speak? Are they afraid of what she may do? Why is it that she is more willing to do interviews with an agreeing party? Do they feel that she could cost McCain the White House?
Whatever the rationale may be, the American People should be more curious and more frustrated about why Gov. Palin is being shielded like she is. Wasn't she supposed to be just like "joe six pack" and "hockey moms around the country." Wasn't that indentification that she brought forth supposed to propel Sen. McCain to the presidency. I hope that this trend changes in the coming weeks, and that Sarah Palin does more interviews with non Fox News personel. I'm not asking her to go on MSNBC or anything, but even an interview with Brian Williams or Larry King would be sufficient. Until she does that, I feel that the McCain/Palin ticket can kiss their hopes for the White House goodbye.
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