Interview II

I remarked before that I was somewhat disappointed at Sarah Palin's performance in the Charles Gibson interview. During the day, while I was trying to get some Actual Work done, it nagged at me that I should not have left Gibson's (and ABC's) performance go unremarked.

Of course, Vladimir Putin won't treat Sarah with kid gloves, so I think I was correct in emphasizing her performance. However, I should point out the following:

The editing by ABC was so amateurish that I thought I was watching a "What's Up, Tiger Lily"-style asian martial arts movie. Shame on ABC.

But most important, Charlie Gibson, or perhaps the punk-intern who wrote his questions for him, truncated Palin's prayer before a group at the Wasilla Assembly of God church to make it sound like Sarah was calling upon the Almighty to sanction some sort of Christian version of jihad. As the context makes clear, she asked that God help them all act in conformity with His will. Gibson left out a crucial clause, and then said he was quoting her exact words, rendering her prayer as the aforesaid call to jihad. This makes Gibson either a knave or a fool (for not checking the context himself), and henceforth to hell with him in my book.

The Interview

I'm a fan of the Warrior Goddess of the North, but I was somewhat disappointed in her performance in the interview with Charles Gibson. She has to be exhausted, with a new baby and sending her son off to war this week, and then having to prepare for this major MSM inquisition. Understandably she looked tired and ill-prepared. But Vladimir Putin won't make allowances for that sort of thing. So she shouldn't be cut too much slack, except to point out that executive decision making is not the same thing as fielding gotcha questions.

I thought her command of energy issues was obvious, and that alone comes close to making her qualified. But on the Bush doctrine, I think she just didn't know what it was, but should have. Having said that, I think her instincts are good and she's smart and a quick study. So in substance, I'm not really worried about her ability to lead, despite the fact that sometimes I expect a voice to come on saying, "in this portion of Fargo, the part of Marge Gunderson will be played by Joan Cusack."