September 12, 2008

The Palin-Gibson Interview: Round 1

She knowingly lies right to your face, again and again, even when she probably knows there's proof to catch her in the lie. She just doesn't care, doesn't feel a need to defend herself, or to be honest with the country.

And she, who could be president of the United States in a little more than four months doesn't even know what the Bush Doctrine is. Can you imagine what the response would've been if Dan Quayle had answered (or failed to answer) a question like that? That represents a truly staggering lack of knowledge about foreign policy.

But what was the coverage of the interview on NPR this morning? They had their expert reporters on (one of whom they share with FoxNews), and they basically said, well, she can handle being interviewed. It was as substance-free as most any other "news" coverage, and makes me question yet again (for something like the 85,731st time) why non-right-wingers think NPR is any better than any other news outlet.

UPDATE: The Fallows post Moon notes in the comments.

What Sarah Palin revealed is that she has not been interested enough in world affairs to become minimally conversant with the issues. Many people in our great land might have difficulty defining the "Bush Doctrine" exactly. But not to recognize the name, as obviously was the case for Palin, indicates not a failure of last-minute cramming but a lack of attention to any foreign-policy discussion whatsoever in the last seven years.

What kind of presidential candidate names such a person Vice President, especially while US troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Posted by armand at September 12, 2008 10:07 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Media | Politics


Comments

I'm too lazy to get the link, but Fallows over at The Atlantic makes an excellent point about Palin's non-answer on the Bush Doctrine: It reflects a startling lack of interest in foreign policy, or at least startling for someone as few as four months away from the presidency.

From what I've seen, Gibson is trying. So I'm reserving judgment about the interview -- and about the press coverage of same -- until I see the rest of both.

As a practical matter, "We might have to go to war with Russia" isn't such a bad meme to have percolating going into the weekend's news blackout.

Posted by: moon at September 12, 2008 10:27 AM | PERMALINK

Watching it on abc.com right now... um, does Palin not understand what the word "hubris" means? Haha.

Posted by: kikimonster at September 12, 2008 10:27 AM | PERMALINK

As to Gibson he spent some of his precious time asking her if she thought she was ready to be president. Huh? What's she going to say? No?

But you're right, we should probably wait to see the whole thing.

Posted by: Armand at September 12, 2008 11:43 AM | PERMALINK

And as far as having even the vaguest interest in foreign policy being a key attribute of the next president and vice president - my local paper tells me that this has already been the deadliest year for US troops in Afghanistan, and there are still over 3 and a half months left in the year. Why POW McCain would chose someone like to her to lead the country while we are in a situation like that is beyond me. Well, presuming he's not only a craven political animal. But maybe that's it.

Posted by: Armand at September 12, 2008 02:54 PM | PERMALINK
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