4 Responses to “Newt Gingrich Schools MSNBC Reporter on Palin’s Record”

1. 1 Teresa
   Sep 6th, 2008 at 10:35 pm

   I thought Jon Stewart’s treatment of this was brilliant. Just show Karl Rove disparaging a Democratic VP hopeful a short time ago, someone who was mayor of a much bigger town, has been govornor of a state much longer, etc…someone with analog credentials, but much more experiance; and then showing Rove now talking about how great Sarah Palin’s credentials are for a VP candidate.

   It shows the uselessness of the argument from the angle it’s being persued.

   Obama gets slammed that he is out-of-touch with the regular guy, branded as an elitist working for a nanny state that will do to people rather than do for them, and then when he touts his time working to help ordinary people connect with the political process in their local area to make government work for them; suddenly, it is rediculous.

   People say that he thinks that the only qualification for being pesident when in fact it is the thing he highlighted to answer the biggest criticism of him.

   The credential wars aren’t being looked at correctly. Everyone has their own experiences that they bring to the job. Obama’s biggest weakness in the polls was that he couldn’t connect to ordinary people’s problems. He is trying to highlight that he can.

   Palin’s biggerst criticism is that very few people know much about her, and she was a politician in a small, insular community; which means that there are probably as many toes she has stepped on as not. And the press has very little time in which to sort through it all to get to the truth. So they’re tearing through it pretty quickly. My sense is, that they don’t understand small-town politics.

   For instance, we’re getting a sense of the tone of her relationship with political rivals when we hear her giggle on a radio show while DJs call one of the rivals a “bitch” and a “cancer” (the woman is well-known to be a cancer survivor) and make jokes about her weight.

   Does she just not know how to handel that in a classy way? (In which case a little coaching will solve the problem) or is she really the kind of person who thinks it’s OK giggle encouragingly while the DJ’s talk? Probably, she just didn’t know how to react, or hadn’t made the mental transition to the level of professionalism required by her position.

   In that case, inexperience is the more flattering attribution.

   And as for inexperience in either case…a lack of experience can be easily remedied if the person is smart. And they are both smart.

   Teresa’s last blog post..“Free market” bait-and-switch

2. 2 Roxeanne de Luca
   Sep 7th, 2008 at 9:57 am

   Teresa,

   We’ll have to agree to disagree on whether or not the press’s treatment of her is justified. I think it is an abomination and a sickening, unjustified character assassination.

   And the press has very little time in which to sort through it all to get to the truth. So they’re tearing through it pretty quickly. My sense is, that they don’t understand small-town politics.a

   1. That’s only because they weren’t paying attention. Palin’s name has been floated as a VP for months. The press will typically try to learn things about VPs before hand, but they missed the boat on this one. My friend Simon wrote a great piece on the myth that Palin’s nomination was out of the blue>.

   2. Even if they were caught by surprise, the media is still lying about most of this. The retractions are coming fast and furious, but the machine marches onwards.

3. 3 Teresa
   Sep 7th, 2008 at 10:57 am

   Roxeanne,

   Agreeing to disagree is one of our countrie’s most important values

   I’ll just inject one final remark:

   I don’t know anyone who feels like the press did a good or fair job of representing them.

   I’ll cehch out Simon’s piece after I get back from Kung Fu.

   Teresa’s last blog post..A Christian sentiment that is Anti-life AND Anti-choice

4. 4 Sunflower Desert
   Sep 7th, 2008 at 9:43 pm

   Great clip.
   Sunflower Desert’s last blog post..Quote of the Night

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