Williams drops the ball
Like every journalist, I have kicked myself after conducting an interview for not asking an obvious -- in retrospect -- follow-up question. So I don't want to be too harsh on Brian Williams. Nevertheless, Williams bungled big-time when he allowed John McCain and Sarah Palin to exploit Joe Biden's knuckleheaded prediction that a new President Barack Obama would be tested by America's enemies.
Contrasting himself with Obama, McCain said: I've been tested." Then he harped on the fact that Obama is "young and untested," and Palin chimed in, calling Biden's comment the "most telling" utterance of the campaign.
Whoa! "Young and untested"? Isn't that also a description of Palin, who as even her supporters acknowledge is a foreign-policy novice? Wasn't the obvious follow-up for Williams this zinger: "If, Senator McCain, you had a fatal heart attack on Jan. 21, would our enemies be tempted the next day to provoke a crisis to test President Palin?"
True, Williams later asked the Republican couple to comment on Colin Powell's criticism of McCain's choice of Palin, which evoked a defense by Palin -- who didn't want to toot her own horn -- of her executive experience. But the subject was foregn policy, wasn't it?
I'm not surprised that the conservative right loves Palin. Barney Frank said it - Republicans believe the right to life begins at conception and ends at birth. Palin is a shining exemplar of this point of view. This spring she gave birth to a baby with very special needs. Everyone connected with this child must be devotional of he is to have any hope of living as normal a life as possible. Just how much time will Palin, as VP of the US, have to stand watch over his development? Let's face it. The VP isn't an eight hour shift - at least I hope it isn't. I want the second in command working long, hard hours at points
all over the globe. This is the least an electorate should
expect. If we get this from Palin, what does her baby get? Oh, yes, the rightous right laud her for choosing not
to abort her child, which is fine with me, but they turn a
sickeningly blind eye to her virtual desertion of him in her
quest for self-aggrandizement. Life begins at conception
and ends at birth. I had him, and now my family and
employees can raise him. Any fool, including Sarah Palin, should be able to see that her baby needs her more as a mother than we need her as a vice president.
Posted by: estragon | October 23, 2008 at 07:38 PM
We are much more likely to be tested by our enemies if we put in the hot headed, sound-bite addicted, fear-mongering Republican couple. I cannot believe the american public is naive enough to believe the rhetoric.
Fact checkers say: 80% of americans will be better of financially under Obama's plan, 20% under McCains.
McCain has been tested militarily and proved to be a hot-head crashing 5 planes. Biden has studied foreign affairs and has the experience to make a thoughtful recommendation. (Yes, he does sometimes put his foot in his mouth. This is why having such an eloquent chief executive will be important.)
From an integrity standpoint, McCain has renounced everything he stood for back when I was willing to vote for him in 2000.
This election is about hope vs. fear and the informed vote vs. the "reality show, shallow, sound-bite" vote.
And, I hope that the votes are counted fairly
Posted by: K. Larson | October 23, 2008 at 06:22 AM
She is a SELF-PROCLAIMED RED NECK--she tried to start a consulting firm under a business license she took out from the State of Alaska in 2005 she PROUDLY named "Rouge Cou"--French for REDNECK. She knows what the connotation is., and she is proud of this? VERY TRASHY. A lot of people do not know this, and are appalled to find out. So SPREAD THE WORD!
Here is the link to the state's license site:
http://www.commerce.state.ak.us/occ/bussearch/BusDetail.cfm?LicNum=310429
Sarah Palin is not a smart woman, Alaskans know this but did not care when she was just our Governor, because Alaska has ZERO problems and an over-abundance of state wealth. So nothing can go wrong here, essentially. Everything Sarah Palin says about herself is and exaggeration of the truth.
She is also incorrect about the number of employees "she" has. She did not correct McCain--no doubt because as with most things, she does not really know--that the State of Alaska employs only 15,000, not 24,000 as they claimed to Brian Williams. Furthermore, I am one of "her" employees (I am an Engineer, and I am much smarter than this woman and much more knowledgable about government and foreign policy, although I am far younger than she is), and as with all us State of Alaska employees, she absolutely has no control over any of us who work for her. So do not be fooled by her pretend experience in this category--she simply has nothing to do with her 15,000 employees.
She has barely accomplished anything--she did not "take on" our previous governor, she ran against him--as is the method of conducting a campaign for public office. She wanted to be governor; he was the most unpopular governor in our history, so people thought she would be better than he, so it is all relative. Alaskans REALLY and truly do not scrutinize our politicians AT ALL--this is why she won, and this is why we only NOW are finding out how corrupt and unethical she is. It is absolutely ridiculous, although in her defense, I actually think she is ony this unethical because she is actually super stupid, and doesn't really think a whole lot about her own behavior.
It is scary to think that ANYONE would want this woman to be Vice President--or worse, thinks that she is capable of being President, if it came to that? But I suspect her only supporters are people who do not care beyond her superficial qualities, and do not even realize (or care?) that she lies, has no integrity, does not possess an ounce of wisdom, has no command of basic principals of federal government, and perhaps cannot tell that her comments or speeches are NEVER her own--they are someone's thoughts formulated for her and shoved into her below-average brain--which is why her answers always seem so shallowly formulated. These people just don't care about the truth, so one cannot convince them otherwise.
It is the thinking people I care about: do not allow this woman to get away with this. She does not deserve our consideration or your vote.
And NO, her ratings are not at 80% anymore in Alaska--I am so sick of them pretending is still is. After 1.5 years as governor, of course people said she was fine--that is not long enough for us to know any better, let's be realistic. I liked her as governor, but she is in no way fit to be VP of this nation--that is a horrible joke gone wrong.
Even though this state is super conservative, people are pissed at her that she has not contacted Alaska since late August (see, we have no problems, so the state can run itself without her) and are also bothered to find out about her wasting State money to take her daughters on vacations, allowing her husband to be part of all her meetings and produce the state budget, and firing our Public Safety Officer for not firing her ex-brother in law. This woman is sadly dumb.
Her approval rating in Alaska is now about 50%--not something to be proud about, but they try not to mention it, don't they?
Posted by: Alaskan Against Palin | October 23, 2008 at 02:30 AM
Palin is a fraud upon the American public. Not because Palin is not, or was not, a fine governor for the state of Alaska. But, Palin is being advertised as someone who is ready-on-day-one to take over the command chair of the nation of the United States. There is no question that Palin can pull the levers and keep her appointments in the oval office, the question is whether or not she is worthy of the office of the Presidency. Does she have the intellectual curiosity to recognize the complexity of the issues that faces her? Should it not scare America that Palin had, at best, only a passive interest in foreign affairs, the War on Terror, and the Iraq War? Lacking a knowledge base from which to draw; having not internalized the facts and issues; having not followed the debate or watched history unfold.....how can Palin be taken as credible? Palin demonstrates her lack of deeper understanding every time she opens her mouth. Palin has simply lacked the curiosity to have learned to see what the big issues are in this world and she has not demonstrated the capacity to grapple with the issues on her own using her own mind. It is great that she had a former Bush speech writer write her acceptance speech, it is wonderful that neocon Randall Scheunemann has been spoon feeding his foreign policy agenda into Palin's impressionable mind, but it isn't great for America. America deserves better.
Posted by: Nick | October 23, 2008 at 12:30 AM
Yup,you media guys missed the kill shot on Palin there, all right-
But, for myself, as an American, I would really like to know what "international crisis" is going to hit the USA next year. Don't you people at the La Times have any interest in that? IWell perhaps if you have some extra time, you might possibly e-mail Sen. Biden and see what exactly he was referring to.
Of course, only after you finish those imperative investigations on the most critical matters facing our country- how much money Gov. Palin spends on her kids and clothes.
Shame.
Posted by: Vin | October 22, 2008 at 09:28 PM
Oh no - he let them speak without asking them a lot of unimportant questions. Wake up and don't let your blinders hinder your judgement. Post this if you're honest.
Posted by: joenoe | October 22, 2008 at 09:20 PM