The Sarah Palin Show: Palin Agrees with Obama - on abortion - well, sort of

I wasn't sure I had heard it correctly, but when I went back to check the transcript, there it was; Governor Sarah Palin suggesting a way forward on the divisive issue of abortion. And the way she said it sounded, at first blush, like an Obama quote.

I have to admit that on the issue of abortion I'm more on board with Governor Palin than Senator Obama. But I've appreciated Obama's attempts to try and find a way out of the polarizing impasse.

It appears as if Palin was trying to do the same in the response she gave to Gibson's queries about the issue in the interview broadcast as a blurb on tonight's ABC news cast. Probing the accusation that she takes a hard core approach to abortion, what Gibson got instead was a white flag. Yes, she was playing politics. But it beats her pit-bull attacks at the convention. In this case I choose to be optimistic.

Note (with astonishment) how close the two sides are:

Palin: (from abc.com) What I want to do (is to) be able to reach out and work with those who are on the other side of this issue, because I know that we can all agree on the need for and the desire for fewer abortions in America . . .



Obama: (at the Saddleback forum.) What I can do is say there are ways that we can work together to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies so that we actually are reducing the sense that women are seeking out abortions . . .

"I think the better answer -- and this was reflected in the Democratic platform -- is to figure out, how do we make sure the young mothers, or women who have a pregnancy that's unexpected or difficult, have the kind of support they need to make a whole range of choices, including adoption and keeping the child."

The Sarah Palin Show: "Doublespeak"

A couple of things from tonight's interview on ABC evening news. Not sure I'm going to get to watch the longer interview on 20/20. My wife, who is part of the demographic that is supposed to go ga-ga over Sarah Palin - middle aged white evangelical (as am I) - has said that she's tired of seeing Palin's face on our TV. She finds her hard to stomach, particularly after watching her snarky performance at the Republican National Convention. Hard to see anything even dimly reflective of her professed Christian convictions there.



Here are a couple of observations (see next blog for the most astonishing statement of the night):

1. Governor Palin was far more relaxed tonight and didn't give the sense that she was repeating memorized policy statements. She was way out of her league last night. Tonight she was in familiar territory, speaking about issues she's had to deal with on the local and state level. I think we were actually hearing her own thoughts and words. First time since since the convention.

2. Any talk about Governor Palin being a "different kind of politician" needs to be set aside. This is a slippery politician who has learned how to deflect difficult questions with a kind of verbal sleight of hand. And she's a master at it, as the following exchange with Gibson on "the Bridge to Nowhere" shows:

(from abc.com)

Sarah Palin on 'Bridge to Nowhere':

GIBSON: You have said continually, since he chose you as his vice presidential nominee, that I said to Congress, thanks but no thanks. If we're going to build that bridge, we'll build it ourselves.

PALIN: Right.

GIBSON: But it's now pretty clearly documented. You supported that bridge before you opposed it. You were wearing a T-shirt in the 2006 campaign, showed your support for the bridge to nowhere.

PALIN: I was wearing a T-shirt with the Zip code of the community that was asking for that bridge. Not all the people in that community even were asking for a $400 million or $300 million bridge.

GIBSON: But you turned against it after Congress had basically pulled the plug on it; after it became apparent that the state was going to have to pay for it, not the Congress; and after it became a national embarrassment to the state of Alaska. So do you want to revise and extend your remarks.

PALIN: It has always been an embarrassment that abuse of the ear form -- earmark process has been accepted in Congress. And that's what John McCain has fought. And that's what I joined him in fighting. It's been an embarrassment, not just Alaska's projects. But McCain gives example after example after example. I mean, every state has their embarrassment.

GIBSON: But you were for it before you were against it. You were solidly for it for quite some period of time...

PALIN: I was ...

GIBSON: ... until Congress pulled the plug.

PALIN: I was for infrastructure being built in the state. And it's not inappropriate for a mayor or for a governor to request and to work with their Congress and their congressmen, their congresswomen, to plug into the federal budget along with every other state a share of the federal budget for infrastructure.

GIBSON: Right.

PALIN: What I supported was the link between a community and its airport. And we have found that link now.

GIBSON: But you didn't say no to Congress, well build it ourselves until after they pulled the plug. Correct?

PALIN: No, because Congress still allowed those dollars to come into Alaska. They did.

GIBSON: Well, but ...

---------

Gibson finally gave up and went on to other matters which she also skillfully deflected with teflon-like ease. Which means that an aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh is most appropriate here.

Clearly any thought McCain had that he was getting a "straight-talking" partner is pretty much blown out of the water by these interviews. There's a reason Palin got as far as she did in Alaska politics. She's learned how to play the same kind of political games they all play.

"Doublespeak (sometimes double talk) is language constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning, often resulting in a communication bypass. Doublespeak may take the form of bald euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs) or deliberate ambiguity."

from Wikipedia

The Sarah Palin Interview Part 2: Militaristic Mama

Just made it through the Nightline interview which wasn't all that different from the Readers Digest version they put on the national news at 5:30. Mostly it filled in the cracks, so the ineptly edited earlier version made more sense. For the most part my initial assessment stands. This is a well coached debate student parroting answers to anticipated questions.

This time, however, it did appear that we were hearing some of Palin's own thoughts on issues related to terrorism and the war in Iraq. Given the fact that she just sent her son off to war this was to be expected.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything to indicate that she had thought very deeply about these issues, nor that she understood the complexity of what's been happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kind of like our current commander in chief. In fact, it sounded a whole lot like what we've been hearing for the past six years. The world is pretty much divided between good guys and bad guys. We're the good guys. Good people like us need to send troops wherever we need to go to take out the bad guys because they're out to get us. Don't like our way of life. And it's all about winning and losing, kind of like a high school hockey game only a tad bit bloodier.

Reports about the speech she gave this afternoon at the send off for her son say she made the link that even Bush has stopped making between Iraq and 9/11. She told Gibson that she hates war, but this plus most everything else she said in response to Gibson's commendably pointed questions about foreign policy suggest, despite her attempts to add nuance to her responses, that this is a person who would have no qualms starting wars for what she would consider righteous causes. The bad guys better look out if this pistol packin', moose shooting, pit bull of a hockey mom (with lipstick) is sitting in the White House. There'll be no place to hide. But then, when the nuclear missles start flying we won't have any place to hide either.

This is scary stuff, especially when you put it alongside the militaristic impulses of her running mate ("bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran."). And don't forget his shoot from the hip decision making (can anyone spell P-A-L-I-N?).

Next: Palin on global warming

The Sarah Palin Interview Part 1: Polly Wanna Cracker?

OK, we've heard the first 10 minutes of the ABC interview and she didn't do too badly. No major gaffes (like her one off script comment about Fannie and Freddie earlier this week). Nothing too radically ridiculous. And, boy, have they worked with her to get the pronunciations right. That Ahmadenijad slid right off her tongue as though she had actually said it once or twice before.

But, of course, she knew these questions were coming. She may, in fact, have had them ahead of time. That was the buzz earlier - ABC sent her the questions. But even if they didn't her handlers pretty much knew what Charlie Gibson was going to ask. No real curve balls here (except perhaps the one about the Bush doctrine. She seemed to be a bit clueless about that. Thought Gibson meant Bush's "world view," a Christian buzz word with which I am well familiar, but not what Gibson had in mind). And clearly she was well coached in what to say about the hot button issues buzzing around blogs, like her views on Israel and the God statement she made in her church about Iraq. Pretty clever of her handlers to put that bit about Abraham Lincoln into her mouth. I mean, who's going to question someone who's merely quoting one of the greatest presidents ever! Kind of a conversation stopper, don't you think?

But here's the point. We still don't have much of a clue what Governor Palin actually thinks or believes, or whether she knows enough to do the job of helping to run the government of the most powerful nation in the world. All we have so far is a well coached debate student parroting what her handlers have taught her to say. I'll reserve final judgment until I've had a chance to listen to the longer interviews later tonight and tomorrow. But right now I remain unimpressed. Not only unimpressed, but deeply concerned that all we're going to get between now and November 2nd is this kind of paint by numbers sort of response to every question put to her. So I repeat what I said in an earlier blog:

"Trained monkeys can do this."