Palin: The reviews are in
Posted: Friday, September 12, 2008 9:12 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Sarah Palin
Here are some of the reviews of Palin’s interview with Charlie Gibson. The lead from the Los Angeles Times: "Palin took a hard line on Russia and Iran on Thursday as she fielded questions on foreign affairs for the first time since Republican presidential candidate John McCain named her his running mate two weeks ago. The Alaska governor also reversed her stand on the cause of climate change, telling ABC News that she believes ‘man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming.’ Less than a year ago, she said the opposite.”
The New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg: "At times visibly nervous, at others appearing to hew so closely to prepared answers that she used the exact same phrases repeatedly, Ms. Palin most visibly stumbled when she was asked by Mr. Gibson if she agreed with the Bush doctrine. Ms. Palin did not seem to know what he was talking about. Mr. Gibson, sounding like an impatient teacher, informed her that it meant the right of ‘anticipatory self-defense.’”
The Times’ Alessandra Stanley: “Ms. Palin didn’t look rattled or lose her cool in her first interview with Mr. Gibson, the network anchor, on Thursday night, but she skittered through with general answers, sticking to talking points that flowed out quickly and spiritedly, a little too much by rote to satisfy her interviewer that she was giving his questions serious consideration… ABC News delivered the first glimpse of Ms. Palin without a script or a cheering audience, and it was a strained and illuminating conversation… At times, her eyes looked uncertain and her voice hesitated, and she looked like a student trying to bend prepared answers to fit unexpected questions.”
The Washington Post: “GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin … appeared to back Barack Obama's assertion that the United States could attack targets in Pakistan without the country's permission -- a position that her running mate Sen. John McCain has called ‘naïve.’”
“Pressed three times by Charles Gibson of ABC News on whether the United States had the right to make cross-border attacks into Pakistan, ‘with or without the approval of the Pakistani government,’ Palin twice avoided the question before answering: ‘I believe that America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists who are hell bent on destroying America and our allies. We have got to have all options out there on the table.’”
Howard Wolfson adds his two cents. “Up until last night's interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson, the McCain campaign had shielded Governor Palin from the media. And based on her performance yesterday they were right to do so… Her answers to a fairly basic set of foreign policy questions were formulaic and unimpressive. She didn't say anything disqualifying, but it is unlikely that anyone watching would have come away sanguine about her ability to step in as President on Day One if necessary.”
The Boston Globe: “Palin … presented a confident face in what was considered an important early test of her knowledge of foreign affairs. She answered most questions by repeating McCain's view of the world, but also made some missteps, at one point seeming unfamiliar with the ‘Bush doctrine’ of preemptive war while under repeated questioning from ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson. She responded by saying ‘In what respect, Charlie?’ and went on to speak in broad, general terms about Bush's efforts to fight terrorism. Gibson later explained that the doctrine laid down by Bush after Sept. 11, 2001, asserted that the United States has the right to launch preemptive wars on nations that present a threat.”
What about that Lincoln comment? “Harold Holzer, a prominent Lincoln scholar and author of multiple Lincoln biographies, said last night that Palin's original comment that US troops are on a task from God does not follow Lincoln's quote. ‘I think there is no computing the precise Lincoln quote with her own quote,’ Holzer said. ‘Lincoln sought guidance from God, he didn't tell people that God was guiding him. It is just different.’”
The Washington Post's Kornblut also notes Palin attempted to link Iraq and 9/11 in her remarks yesterday at the ceremony seeing her son off to Iraq. She told “an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would ‘defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.’”
More: "As she has been since McCain plucked her from relative obscurity two weeks ago, Palin continues to be surrounded by senior McCain advisers even here; the senator's top strategist, Steve Schmidt, and several others accompanied her to Alaska. The group is guiding Palin through a crash course on policy issues and is revising the campaign's original plan to send her on fundraising missions separately from McCain."
The AP: Palin "sidestepped questions on whether she had the national security credentials needed to be commander in chief. Republican presidential candidate John McCain has defended his running mate's qualifications, citing her command of the Alaska National Guard and Alaska's proximity to Russia. ... she struggled with foreign policy, unable to describe President Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against threatening nations and acknowledging she's never met a foreign head of state."
"Former senator Lincoln Chafee, the Rhode Island Republican who is backing Democrat Barack Obama, yesterday stood by his remarks calling Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin a ‘cocky wacko.’”
