I guess if you can't distinguish yourself from Bush-Cheney on the issues, there's only one way to go, and that's as low as you have to go to win. That's where the McCain-Palin ticket is right now. They have regressed to the larval stage. What little attention they were devoting to the issues is now completely gone. And now that she has proven that she can't answer the types of questions you'd expect a vice presidential candidate to be able to answer, it's pretty clear that Sarah Palin is only going to be allowed to speak to reporters she is comfortable with. You know, those who won't challenge her. That pretty much leaves Sean Hannity and Fox Network. It's also clear what her assignment will be: To smear Barack Obama. If the campaign style seems a bit familiar, it's because McCain's campaign manager is a protege' of none other than Karl Rove, and Sarah Barracuda is up to the task.
Some folks are gushing about Mrs. Palin's debate performance. It didn't take much for her to look good, given the hole she was climbing out of. It was indeed a 'performance'; there was nothing genuine about it. To real political junkies, she neither looked comfortable nor natural. She looked scripted and rehearsed. Sarah Palin didn't answer one question that was asked of her by the moderator. These were questions that the people want answers to. Instead, Sarah Palin conducted her usual three-ring circus, ignoring the moderator's questions and choosing her own topics. She hijacked the debate and turned it into a shameless stump speech spewing the McCain as Maverick propaganda and touting her record as mayor of Wasilla and Governor of Alaska.
The majority of the time she read directly off her notes, sticking to her talking points which were often not related to the questions Gwen Ifill was asking. When Biden spoke on the issues, she either rolled her eyes or smiled sarcastically. Some may have found that appealing, but Sarah Palin did a great disservice to the American people by not addressing the issues facing them. In fact, John McCain has done a great disservice to this nation and to the American people by choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate. It's John McCain's job to make sure Sarah Palin is qualified before putting her on the ticket. It's John McCain's job to make sure Sarah Palin is well informed about their campaign positions. However, the fact that Sarah Palin does not do anything to educate herself on the issues is because she's intellectually uncurious. She couldn't even give Katie Couric the names of publications or books that she reads. It doesn't seem inconceivable that she doesn't bother to read.
The serial winking into the camera was way over the top. The first time she did it, I felt like years of fighting for women's equality went out the window. It got worse from there. There isn't one person I've spoken to, male or female, that didn't interpret her winking as a deliberate exploitation of her sexuality. Given Mrs. Palin's view of what women should be, that doesn't surprise me either. She got Rich Lowry of the National Review Online so riled up that he posted a supposed review of her ability to connect with the public that read like some kind of perverted soft-core porn. I will not show the post in this article, but you can read it here. The morning after the debate as I stood in line at the supermarket, I overheard the two men behind me talking about Sarah Palin's winking into the camera. One said to the other, "Man, I'm really tired but, hey, after she winked into the camera there was no way I was going up to bed." Is this the kind of representation we want in Washington, ladies? Her image doesn't work for me. I can do without brainless but hot.
The fact that Sarah Palin is a compulsive liar is not new news. In fact, Keith Olbermann pledged to donate $100 for every lie she tells. He donated $3,700 this week alone to the Alaska Special Olympics Fund. At this rate, Olbermann might have to hit Hank Paulson up for a loan. She claims that Alaska has billions of gallons of oil that will help us become energy independent. Alaska pumped 777 billion gallons of oil back in 1988. In 2006, it was down to 225 billion, and it continues to fall.
Everyone was warned that the oil supply would eventually be depleted. Yet, Palin continues to feed the American public lies about her state coming to the rescue. This whole 'drill, baby, drill' lie is just unbelievable because the math doesn't work. It's another lie foisted upon us by the Republicans. America owns, at best, about 2% of the world's oil supply, but we use 25% of the world's oil supply. This is basic math. What is it that people don' t understand about it? She continues to tell the American people that she was against the Bridge to Nowhere from the beginning. This is a lie.
Sarah Palin lobbied extensively for this project, until she realized it was a bad political move to do so. Then, she turned against it out of political expediency. Here's the kicker, she never returned the money. Instead, she built the road n leading to the non-existent Bridge to Nowhere. At the Republican Convention, she talked about the Alaska natural gas pipeline, saying, "And when the deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence." Come on, Sarah. The pipleline exists only on paper, the application will not even be filed until 2011, and it will take ten years to construct.
Now we come to the issue of her folksiness. Joe Biden broke down as he related the story of losing his wife and daughter in an accident, and the fear he felt being left to raise two gravely injured boys by himself. He was not even sure if they were going to survive. Sarah Palin smiled through the entire story. At the end, instead of expressing some type of comfort, she immediately returned to her notes and began another John McCain as Maverick fantasy. So much for "folksy." Being folksy means being genuine and empathizing with people. It's not supposed to be an act, but it clearly is with Palin. Seeing the way she reacted to Biden made me instantly realize that she could care less about the average American.
Sarah Palin is a legend in her own mind. She lives in an alternate universe from the rest of the American pubic. What America needs is a vice presidential candidate grounded in reality and in tune with the needs of her citizens. America also needs someone with the intelligence and savvy to assume the role of the presidency at a moment's notice. Sarah Palin may do okay when her talking points are scripted for her, but running the country is never scripted. It requires the ability to think on your feet, analyze the situation and take action that is in the best interest of the American people. Sarah Palin is by no stretch of the imagination ready for this job.