Palin Reloading: Explaining 2008
Former Alaskan Governor and potential 2012 presidential candidate Sarah Palin is on a mission to improve her reputation, but she’s facing an uphill climb. Independents don’t trust her and even among Republicans she is constantly defeated in polls by the likes of Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. However, everybody loves discussing her and her book “Going Rogue” (due to hit bookshelves tomorrow) is already number one on Barnes & Noble’s bestseller list. Excerpts from it have already been thoroughly dissected on political talk shows and today she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to continue the crusade. The point of it all is to paint a more positive portrait of herself after the contentious election last year, and possibly to prepare the American people for a Palin White House candidacy to be launched in 2011. Let’s take a closer look at some of her recent statements:
- “After this vetting and the hours of discussion about the background, my record, my family, what I stand for … I thought after all that I better confess it now, the one skeleton is in my closet. I did get a D 22 years ago in a college course. And I thought that was going to be the extent of the controversy in Sarah Palin’s life.” The quote is from Winfrey’s show. The fact that Palin didn’t anticipate the criticism that would be leveled at her is reason for alarm. Senators Barack Obama and John McCain knew what charges might be thrown in their faces and handled those challenges to the best of their abilities. The fact that Palin was so clueless as not to expect her conservative statements to be criticized by the blue half of the population is a surprise. That college course D quote is blowing smoke in our eyes.
- “I thought this was like one of those relationships you have when you’re young, and somebody says, ‘I just love you the way that you are; now let me change you.’” Another quote from Winfrey’s show. A telling sign of Palin’s lack of judgment. She has been fierce in her criticism of John McCain’s advisers and campaign team (even though they have pushed back and said her claims are untrue). The quote concerns the clothes she and her family were allegedly forced by McCain’s people to wear at the Republican National Convention. But if Palin felt that she was the right person to be one heartbeat away from the presidency, why didn’t she find the guts to speak up to McCain’s staff, or rather the man in charge, the Senator himself? Besides, on the occasions when Palin was “allowed” to speak her mind she was far from convincing, which is probably the main reason why McCain’s people felt a need to muzzle her (don’t expect that to be addressed in her book).
- “A pretty mellow interview, short and sweet, about balancing motherhood and my life as governor.” The quote is from Palin’s book and reflects her anticipation of the now classic interview with Katie Couric, one that helped defeat the McCain-Palin ticket. The blame for the failure lies on everybody involved in the campaign of course, but Palin only fleetingly acknowledges her responsibility and chooses to hold McCain’s people responsible for not prepping her. She also blames Couric when all she was doing is ask tough, critical questions.
- “I had to trust her experience, as she had dealt with national politics more than I had. But something always struck me as peculiar about the way she recalled her days in the White House, when she was speaking on behalf of President George W. Bush. She didn’t have much to say that was positive about her former boss or the job in general. Whenever I wanted to give a shout-out to the White House’s homeland security efforts after 9/11, we were told we couldn’t do it. I didn’t know if that was Nicolle’s call.” The quote is from the former Governor’s book where she attacks former White House Communications Director Nicolle Wallace in particular. She was working on the McCain campaign as an advisor and she has responded to the allegations this way: “It’s not even like it’s slightly wrong. It’s like I feel totally the opposite.” Considering Palin’s history, whom do you trust the most? The YouTube clip above is from (lo and behold) Fox News, exposing one of Palin’s many “embellishments”.
Quotes have been lifted from CNN and The Wall Street Journal.
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