The McCain camp has decided to keep their shiny new car under wraps. Last night they said that Sarah Palin will not be available for any interviews. Not only for the upcoming week, but for the foreseeable future! This Sunday the other three candidates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency will be on the news shows answering questions and sharing their views with the American people. Sarah Palin will apparently be sealed off somewhere cramming for her final exam (which will come in the form of a debate with Joe Biden in October). She has a few short weeks to learn all of John McCain's positions on the issues (which is going to be tricky because John McCain and his staff don't always agree on what exactly those positions are) and absorb a crash course in international politics. This lack of access to a candidate is surely unprecedented in recent history and it may be a first in Presidential politics. The McCain campaign is apparently so afraid of what Sarah Palin might say that they won't allow her to utter a word a public that hasn't been written for her by one of their staffers. John McCain, who once half jokingly said that the press was his base, is now deathly afraid of them. The McCain camp will claim that they don't want Palin to have to answer questions based on rumor and innuendo (and there is certainly a lot of that going around), but to deny the established news shows access to Palin as well demonstrates an extreme level of fear.
There are some real issues which I am sure they are struggling to come up with answers to. They want to make sure that they have consistent and defendable positions before they allow and to allow Sarah Palin to face the press. Her association with a political party that promoted the idea that Alaska should secede from the United States is one that comes to mind. Her husband was definitely a member of that Party and she may or may not have sympathies toward that group. The now infamous "troopergate" scandal, that she is currently under investigation for by the Alaskan legislature, is another. The list of earmarks that she sought as mayor is certainly an issue that she should speak to. Her family issues are inconsequential but there are real issues that the American people deserve to hear from her about.
The McCain campaign is attempting to create a new set of rules in the middle of the game. They scream from the rafters about what a fabulous pick Sarah Palin was (which is echoed by the right wing of the party), and yet they won't allow her speak for herself. The question is whether the press is going to allow them to get away with this. How can someone who is vying to become the Vice President of the United States be unable or unwilling to speak to the press? Even Dan Quayle (who may have been the dimmest bulb ever to hold the office of Vice President) spoke to the press immediately after he was named as the nominee. This isn't China.
I for one demand to hear from the person who might be called upon to lead this nation in a crisis. I think that the people should demand to hear from her as well. The press should demand to hear from her. This cannot be allowed to stand. Is Sarah Palin a puppet who can only speak from a prepared text? Isn't she supposed to be a maverick? Isn't she supposed to be an independent thinker? What are they so afraid of? The bottom line is that it doesn't matter what they're afraid of, the last time I checked this was still the United States of America and WE THE PEOPLE still have the right to hear from the people who are vying to be our potential leaders. Where the hell is the outrage in the press? Where the hell is everyone????
2 comments:
"WE THE PEOPLE still have the right to hear from the people who are vying to be our potential leaders. Where the hell is the outrage in the press? Where the hell is everyone????"
You're right. We await hearing from Barry soetoro, or Barry Dunham, or Barack Obama, or whatever his real name might be.
As for the outrage in the press? First, you have to have a press, print or broadcast, that has sufficient ethics and professionalism.
Give the Obama shills and their unabashed prejudice, to whom and for what will they now be outraged? That they expect something they have been unwilling to demand of Obama is laughable.
Typical of Demockacrats, liberals and leftists, though, but still laughable.
Two sets of rules. Two sets of realities. Situational ethics.
Typical.
@CKAinRedStateUSA:
If you want to be taken seriously you'll have to get down to particulars:
1) If there is "unabashed prejudice" on the part of the Obama campaign, then name an instance of it.
2) What is the "something they have been unwilling to demand of Obama" that is so is laughable?
"As for the outrage in the press? First, you have to have a press, print or broadcast, that has sufficient ethics and professionalism."
-like Fox news?
Sorry, I'm not buying what you're selling.
I'm not happy about the rush to fill in the blanks on Sarah Palin, specifically Soledad O'Brien's parroting of a flat out wrong report on her record. It's pretty distressing, but all this could be fixed with her...doing...one...interview. Which will be delayed by the McCain campaign as long as possible because there is much fear surrounding the answers she will have to give. That's if she answers questions honestly.
You can kid yourself about Sarah Palin, but the rest of the country can't afford to. If you think the fact that she's "not a Democrat" is the only reason you need to silence any questions about her competence, then you couldn't have put any thought into your coming vote at all, regardless of who McCain eventually picked, -which frankly puts you right out of the conversation.
The fact of the matter is she was chosen by the McCain camp in a transparent and calculated move to grab media attention...
...We'll they've got it, in a brilliant and history-making high risk/high reward gutsy move. They've now got all the media attention devoted to their VP pick anyone could possibly want. So stop whining, seriously.
Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters need to stop playing the victim.
Nobody believes the media is "after" them, -they don't even believe it, it's just politically expedient to paint themselves as being in a state of retaliation. They're not. They're the moneyed establishment. They are the incumbent party.
Asking politicians direct questions about their record and competency is the job and responsibility of journalists. You need to look at this "situation" with your eyes open. Lieberman was McCain's ideal choice wasn't he? Don't agree with that? Ask yourself this question and answer it honestly: "when was the first time I heard the name Sarah Palin?"
I demand to know more about the person who might be president in waiting. It's my right as a citizen. McCain saying she's "okay" isn't enough for me, though it appears to be for you. You don't want to exercise your right to know? Don't read the newspapers, ignore the news in all media, see how that works out for you.
Interestingly, none of these questions would have arisen from a chocie of Romney, Huckabee, Ridge or Pawlenty or any of the other front runners for VP. Everyone knows who they are and where they stand.
The same attention that has been devoted to speculation (groundless at that) on Michelle Obama's patriotism (she isn't even runnning for office) hasn't been devoted to another unofficial player who isn't running: Sarah Palin's husband and his support of Alaskan secession. Nobody's questioning her patriotism and they should frankly, don't you think?
"Two sets of rules. Two sets of realities. Situational ethics."
-Yes it is typical, of politicians in general and Republicans in particular in this case isn't it?
Here's an exercise for you: Change Sarah Palin's party affiliation to Democrat and imagine her as the running mate for Barack Obama. You can't escape the truth of it: the questions surrounding her would be the same if not more numerous.
For the record, I don't see Obama/Biden winning this election.
We have less than two months to learn something about Sarah Palin, who, due to McCain's age could very likely become president at some point. Maybe all you care about is a Republican victory. In that case, enjoy the next four-year installment of GW Bush's America...
May this new age be as kind to you as it has to his extremely rich friends and allied corporations who continue to be untouched by the consequences of his policies.
You go ahead and vote for four more years of this.
Thanks for reading our blog.
-SJ
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