The Gibson-Palin Smack Down.

Palin pressed hard in ABC interview -- baltimoresun.com

Like Thursday's interview on World News, rounds two and three also went to Gibson, who gave voters a much better sense of Palin's limitations than they had before he and she sat down to chat.

Funny, I didn't realize I was watching a championship bout between hostile contenders. I sensed it but I did not know it.

I think Charlie Gibson did Gov. Palin a favor. He put her under a lot of pressure and she handled it well. Most people are probably more confident that if called upon, she could step into the job of president and see the country through the next election -- which is the VPs job. If she seems uninterested in launching sweeping new intiatives should those circumstances occur, so much the better.

I'm Drownding, I'm Drownding. How do you spell Drownding?

I only got to see 35 minutes of the Gibson-Palin interview last night from here in Galveston, Texas. Alright, I'm not in Galveston, even though facing certain death from a 25 foot wall of water sounds intriguing. Apparently, many of the citizens of Galveston feel the same way. But I'm in Ohio facing certain rain. I thought if I say I'm in Galveston it will help blog traffic. But then people will come to the blog and find that I am not in Galveston facing certain death (it's wet, I'm wet, I'm drowning!) and be disappointed. And they don't even know me! Where was I?

Right, I was thinking the whole Sarah thing has peaked. She did not commit a gaffe and Gibson put enough pressure on her to show she does not easily shake. She'll be a fine vice president. She does not seem to believe that the answer to every problem is in DC, and I like that. Of the "three things" they would do different from Bush, getting the regulators in Washington to function on a rational and sound economic basis is mighty important. The whole subprime mortgage mess was a gift from Washington, set in motion back in the 90's by changes to make mortgages more accessible to those who probably shouldn't have one. Regulatory reform is boring, but if they could actually do that, it would be a boon to the economy.

Interestingly, in the discussion afterwards Democrat Dee Dee Meyers refused to go after Gov. Palin. That can only be because their attacks have backfired badly. So look for Gov. Palin to fade from the news while the media and the Democrats nurse their wounds.

On the Democrats Umbrage to nowhere -- I'll point out Senators Biden and Obama voted for funding the Bridge "to nowhere" and the media acts as if they had no other choice. Somehow, it's all the fault of the Governor who cut it from the state budget while the Senators spending the money are like innocent bystanders. So being a Senator is a lot like being a small town mayor except you don't have to take responsibility for anything.

Our national media pretends to be the watch dogs of the people when they are really the guard dogs of the Washington Political Establishment.

Finally they got something on Palin.

A shocker that will kill the McCain campaign with the base.

But in her 21 months as governor, Palin has taken few steps to advance culturally conservative causes. Instead, after she knocked off an incumbent amid an influence-peddling scandal linked to the oil industry, Palin pursued a populist agenda that toughened ethics rules and raised taxes on oil and gas companies.

And she did so while relying on Democratic votes in the Legislature.

Yes, the legions of investigative reporters have uncovered the fact that -- "Palin governed from the center!"

My God, they are throwing everything at her including the kitchen sink. In fact, they started with the kitchen sink, stove and refrigerator. Then they tried to make dinner. Now they have sent out for pizza. Stay tuned.

Should I invest an hour watching Charlie Gibson try to trick Gov Palin tonight? I think the folks who waited for the manuscript of last nights interview did a better job dissecting it then I did (I mean if accuracy counts). But I was just winging it, which don't take as much time.

A Babe not of this Woods

I just watched Charlie Gibson of ABC News interview Gov. Palin. First, he asked her if she is prepared to be President (she's running for Vice President -- people might be getting confused on that point). She said quite forthrightly "Yes." She gave this answer even though Bill Clinton has assured us that absolutely no one is ready for that job. She should have given him the same answer Barack Obama gave to that question back when he announced for the top spot. "You asking me if I'm ready? Are you kidding. Me? Ready? I only been in the Senate for two years. Of course I am not friggin ready to be President, you idiot. No. I'll be ready after I've run for President for two years and after I've served my first term." I remember him saying this because we don't often see such humility.

After Gov. Palin said she was ready-- if not down right eager -- for the job, I thought I heard Charlie Gibson say "Doesn't that take Hubris." I think that's a cheese sauce the French put on roast beef. No. Wait. Hubris means excessive pride or self confidence. To say you are ready to do a job when Charlie thinks your not? Was he referring to his hubris or her hubris or was he just fulfilling the role of the Greek chorus? I could not tell. In any case she just talked right over him which was just as well. Unfortunately, he did get some words in.

He asked her if she agreed with the Bush Doctrine. The Bush Doctrine is where you say "screw the French" and invade other countries. But Gov. Palin didn't want to put it in those words, so she put it in other ones. And if Israel bombs Iran? he asked. Hey, you stand by your friends, she replied. I'm paraphrasing. But I do want the total lack of nuance to come through. I think the mullahs just ran for their prayer beads.

Then there were a couple of those obligatory "so you got a direct line to God: what did he tell you that last time you had lunch together" type questions. I thought she handled them well. "Charlie, I don't know what God has planned--"

She just let it rip. I think a dozen members of our foreign policy establishment had strokes. This interview will cause more controversy than her hairdo. OK, maybe not more but certainly almost as much.

UPDATE: There are some film snips here

The Umbrage to Nowhere.

So Senators Obama and Biden supported the "bridge to nowhere" in the where/where it costs the taxpayers: The U.S. Senate. But who should've stopped them? Why, that person they dismiss as a small town mayor.

While running for chief executive [Govenor of Alaska], Palin backed the bridge, although with little evident enthusiasm. “The money that’s been appropriated for the project,” she told Ketchikan voters in September 2006, “it should remain available for a link, an access process as we continue to evaluate the scope and just how best to just get this done.”

A link? A link may be a bridge or it may be something like this -- a link to the above quote. But where the support counts -- in the state budget -- she found the bridge did not fit the state's priorities. They now have a different sort of link -- a ferry.

But what I love is the assumption that Senators are not responsible for what the Senate spends. When they offer hundreds of millions of dollars to governors, it is up to the governors to do the responsible thing and refuse. This is like adults (or what passes for them in the Capitol) constantly offering candy to children and blaming the children for taking it. I don't want treat the state governments like children -- the national press corps does that already (my chief objection to their Katrina coverage was their refusal to hold state and local officials in Louisiana accountable for their many screw-ups)-- but you can count on politicians to act in the predictable manner. It is up to Senators from other states to stop this nonsense -- not vote for the pork and blame someone else.

Apparently, being a Senator is like being a small town mayor except you're not responsible for anything.

Why the Long Face, Loh

All the candidates' children -- save you-know-whose -- went to private schools, writes Sandra Tsing Loh:

And yes, I know I appear to be ranting on like a pit bull without lipstick, which brings me to the final nail in the coffin in this sorry election year. As a Democrat I am horrified that Sarah Palin is the one who snagged the deeply profound — and absolutely ignored by professional smart people — emotional real estate of “P.T.A. mother.” I too am, in fact, not just “my kids’ mom” but their Title I Los Angeles public school P.T.A. secretary. This unheard female howl is, for better or worse, what Ms. Palin has set out to tap into; it is real, and I am sick that we’ve let the Republicans charge this ground.

Sarah Palin’s children went to what looks like a humble little public school: Iditarod Elementary on Wasilla Fishhook Road. The school’s score on www.greatschools.net is a 4. That’s a lot of street cred, for a gun-totin’, snow-mobilin’ creationist-lovin’ lady.

Oh, I’m such a depressed, Democrat P.T.A. mother.

It's The Party of Education, Not Learning. Interestingly, the schools in my town were more "diverse" before the social engineers took over. And they used to teach reading and writing, too.

Obama-Palin Smack down

I stopped watching the evening news after their Katrina coverage, which I found self serving and incompetent and deserving of every meaningless award the networks gave each other. But I won't go into that now. Suffice to say I haven't watched in a long time.

Yesterday a friend and Hillary supporter told me ABC's Charlie Gibson would be interviewing Gov. Palin. I actually like Gibson (and the other anchors) I just don't trust him (or them). In any case, I turned into the Nightly News to find out when that interview might be. That's when I saw Sen. Obama make that "putting Lipstick on a pig" comment. Now, I did not think they showed the comment because they thought it was a moldy old cliche that no one would associate with Sarah Palin. They do not pick their sound bites on the basis of how cliched and boring they are -- unless it is a Republican making them.

Then tonight they reported on the controversy that grew out of the story -- and Sen. Obama's indignant reaction -- as if it was a moldy old cliche that no reasonable person would associate with Sarah Palin. Except that many in the audience cheered because they did. It was good to see how Sen. Obama soldiered on through the hysterical response of his listeners. Apparently every cliche he utters is greeted with hoots and hollers. I wonder if Sen. Obama has the feeling his attacks on Gov. Palin have been counterproductive? Perhaps his intention is to build up the audience for her interview, hoping ABC will do the right thing by her -- or rather to her. I wouldn't count on it. They may be in the process of changing sides (why go down with Barack's barge?).

Well, I hope I remember to tune in to see the first portion of the Palin interview. I feel I've already had my fill of the network news these last two nights.

The day after Gov. Palin's pick -- all of, what, two weeks ago --my Democrat friend was hitting the Palin family issues, the Governor's lack of experience, and the "investigations" of her in Alaska. After Gov. Palin's excellent convention speech, she was a bit subdued but said, "What can a VP really do?" Yesterday she talked about Palin's opposing abortion in cases of incest and rape. And her general religious beliefs. The Democrats attacks are constantly shifting. It reminds me of that bridge to nowhere Bill Clinton built.