I know everyone is saying that the bar has been set so low for Sarah Palin‘s debate performance that all she has to do is show up and utter a few coherent sentences in order to win.
I completely disagree.
I think that the reason Palin’s poll numbers have fallen is that while people like her charm, her appalling interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric have alarmed a lot of people who now worry that she’s a 72 year old’s heartbeat away from the presidency and she appears to have no qualifications nor, more importantly, capacity for the job at all.
I don’t think Sarah Palin has to simply not screw up; I think she needs to demonstrate a solid understanding of the issues we face and clear reasoning for the positions she takes.
Glittering generalities and homespun hockey mom stories that have no bearing on the question will be seen through for what they are: nothing. I think the Internet has taught us to see through that.
I have no idea how intelligent Palin is but I gotta think anyone who can get elected governor has got plenty of smarts. Worse, she appears to be completely incurious. And we’re still watching that movie.
The problem is, it looks like she has never had to grapple with national and international issues and she’s not had nearly enough time to cram. I think people want to be reassured that she can be president and you can’t do that just by cramming.
Aw, c’mon, dude. Don’t be such a hater. She’s all folksy, like us! She can get all Fargo and stuff, like, she can totally relate to the rest of us.
And you heard her during the debate, she knows how to defer to other people who have more experience. She was deferring to other people like crazy. How humble is that, eh?
Why, she’s the type of candidate I could sit down and have a beer with. How cool is that? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a President you could sit down and have a beer with?
Democrats like to claim themselves as populists, yet when the ultimate populist becomes a candidate their words begin to sound awfully elitist.