Palin Embarrasses Herself Yet Again with Katie Couric

[Michael Tee]

COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this — to stay informed and to understand the world?
   PALIN: I’ve read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media —
   COURIC: But what ones specifically? I’m curious.
   PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.
   COURIC: Can you name any of them?
   PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news.

http://www.dailykos.com/

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This has got to be one of the dumbest most air-headed politicians I can ever recall.  No wonder George Will, a highly conservative columnist, has concluded well before this latest gaffe that she was unfit to be President.

Couple her with a 72-year-old four-time cancer survivor as a running mate and this spells D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R.

[Xavier_Onassis]

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news.

Translation: she sometimes read the Anchorage and Juneau newspapers and listed to the TV news.
Maybe CNN. Maybe the wrestling channel

[Religious Dick]

I don't have a problem with her unsophistication in foreign affairs. Is she qualified to be president next month? Probably not. However, her instincts are good, and as much as the media tries to make her look like an idiot, she isn't. She's a sharp lady and as vice-president she'll acquire the experience and knowledge she needs. I don't have any problem with the vice-presidency as a mentoring experience. She'd hardly be the first. And foreign affairs aside, I think she's well enough prepared to manage domestic issues. In fact, domestic issues are my highest priority. I'm sick and tired of presidents who think they've been elected Emporer of the World. A president who keeps her nose in domestic affairs and doesn't know Belgium from Berlin is perfectly fine with me. Let the rest of the planet go scratch where it itches.

[Xavier_Onassis]

And foreign affairs aside, I think she's well enough prepared to manage domestic issues. In fact, domestic issues are my highest priority. I'm sick and tired of presidents who think they've been elected Emporer of the World. A president who keeps her nose in domestic affairs and doesn't know Belgium from Berlin is perfectly fine with me. Let the rest of the planet go scratch where it itches.

The point is she is not ready NOW.

McCain is ancient. He could croak at any moment.
I am afraid that a president that doesn't know Berlin from Belgium could only be called incompetent.
The problem with Juniorbush is not that he did not know much about foreign affairs, but that he insisted on invading Iraq and pissing off every other world leader with his stupid stubborn arrogance. Colin Powell knew what Juniorbush needed to know, but Junoiorbush ignored him.

Palin is not a fool, but she is far from qualified. We need to do Alaska a favor and send her back where she can do some good.

[BT]

She gets her news online like 70% of us do.

We know she has a Yahoo account, maybe that is her homepage.

She could just surf from the Drudge list. What's that, 200 sources?

[Michael Tee]

Most of us who surf have some contact with the "old media."   Palin was unable to name either an internet source or a traditional media source.  She wasn't asked for a list of ten, just what she actually read.

In an earlier interview, she couldn't name any Supreme Court decision other than Roe v. Wade.  (Guess she never heard of Brown vs. Topeka or Dredd Scott, or Bush v. Gore or Miranda - - I found that rather remarkable.)

In another interview, challenged to find one example of the many times that she claimed McCain had pressed for more regulation of the financial industry, she could not.

She's never heard of the Bush Doctrine.

She explains the bail-out legislation in terms of expanding health care.

<< . . . as much as the media tries to make her look like an idiot . . . >>

How?  By interviewing her?  They ask questions, she can't answer them.  They're not hard questions, they're easy questions.  She does not know a lot of things.  She would have known, had she had an inquiring mind, but she obviously doesn't.  This is a real dummy, ignorant AND lazy.

[BT]

She's never heard of the Bush Doctrine.

Sure she had, she asked Gibson which version he was referring to?

Most of us who surf have some contact with the "old media."

Yeah i read the ajc online. The only dead papers i get are the free weeklies that i use to start the fireplace and charcoal grill.

Internet killed the record companies and it is killing the dead tree press. Who needs some oligarch to control your news when you can build your own daily mix.


What newspapers my ass. That is so new york city provincial.

She mentioned health care in direct response to Couric's question of main street vs wall street. I swear you guys didn't even watch the video. You have to be relying on third party hearsay. I can't see you risking being caught misrepresenting the truth when the transcripts are readily found on line.

[Michael Tee]

<<She mentioned health care in direct response to Couric's question of main street vs wall street. I swear you guys didn't even watch the video. You have to be relying on third party hearsay. I can't see you risking being caught misrepresenting the truth when the transcripts are readily found on line.>>

I first saw the "health care" reference in the Tina Fey- Amy Poehler skit on SNL.  Then I read on-line that SNL had skewered Palin using her own actual responses, repeated with a straight face, which had drawn tremendous audience laughter.  Then yesterday, in a Toronto Star article entitled "Like Waiting to See a Car Crash" which was essentially a compilation of many of Palin's recent gaffes, the same words regarding health care, with the question they were used to respond to, were reprinted without any reference to the SNL skit.

So - - and please correct me if I am wrong - - I had assumed that the SNL skit reproduced both the question and Palin's response accurately and in context.  But you are correct in that I did not see that Couric interview.

[BT]

So - - and please correct me if I am wrong

Consider yoursself corrected.

But you are correct in that I did not see that Couric interview.

No surprise, there.

[hnumpah]

Take a look at YouTube - one of the videos has the SNL skit, followed immediately by the actual interview.

[BT]

COURIC: Why isn?t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? ? Instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

[Knutey]

COURIC: Why isn?t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? ? Instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

This doesnt seem like a good question to you? Figures.

[BT]

This doesnt seem like a good question to you? Figures.

Where did I say it wasn't a good question?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Why don't you just comment on the question and the answer you think fits it. Discussing the origin of where you didn't say something is unproductive.

Or so it seems to me.

[BT]

XO

The reason i posted the question is because those who derive their opinions of the appropriateness of Palins response , obviously neither saw the interview or at the minimum read a transcript. They appear to get their news from third parties.

A simple reading of the question would reveal that it was Couric who introduced the topic of healthcare into the equation. It was also Couric who conflated main street with wall street. Palin in the end said that aiding main street was just as important a part of the overall solution as the quick fix being discussed for wall street.

Granted Palins explanation was not as crystal clear as my summary, but then, she hasn't had the years of practice we of debategate have been lucky enough to have experienced.