It's the questions, stupid

For weeks, Republicans told us the culprit in Sarah Palin's dismal interview performances were the questions. Tonight, her relative success in the vice presidential debate could also be attributed to the questions.

By now most people have seen the 500 video clips of Katie Couric's interview of Sarah Palin that CBS has been dribbling out over the last week or so. The cringe-inducing performances even had conservatives questioning her openly. Of course, the right wing faithful told us the real problem were the questions. They were gotcha questions.

Q:What newspapers do you read?
Rep: Foul! No one would ask that of a man.
Q: Name a Supreme Court decision you don't agree with?
Rep: Foul! She is an outsider and didn't need to concern herself with supreme court decisions. That's not something a president needs to know, they said with straight faces.

During the debate however, Palin benefited from Gwen Ifill's boringly predictable questions. It was as if she went to the campaign websites and turned their policy papers into questions. They were all so utterly predictable. None made you look at the subject from a different perspective. None seemed to be designed to elicit a thoughtful response, so she rarely got any.

Of course this suited Sarah Palin just fine. Now she could recite her talking points with generous helping of "Golly Gee Beav..." At one point when Joe Biden was responding you could see Sarah Palin giggling to herself with that giddy "she's asking all my questions" smile.

Traditional media training always emphasizes that it's not the questions that sink you, it's the answers. In Palin's case, the questions are the ones that help her sink or swim.

From Meredith to Obama: a 46 year journey

Friday night's presidential debate marked a fairly underreported milestone. On Oct. 1, 1962, James Meredith became the first Black student to enter the University of Mississippi, after a legal battle that escalated all the way to the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court.

The drama had just begun, however. Mississipi Gov. Ross Barnett opposed Meredith's admission with a violent standoff that erupted in riots and ended with two people dead. The federal government intervened when Attorney General Robert Kennedy dispatched marshalls to prevent Meredith from being lynched. Meredith stayed for two years under federal guard and eventually graduated in 1964.

A generation later another Black man entered the University of Mississippi under federal protection...this time as a presidential nominee. We can argue whether having that evolution take half a century is a good or bad thing, but it happened. The University of Mississippi and Gov. Haley Barbour opened their arms to welcome a Black man, not as a student but potentially as the next president of the United States.

On CBS' Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer remembered it in more personal terms. It's a milestone we should all pause to acknowledge.



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Country First: McCain last

Here's an idea of how McCain could put Country First -- instead of suspending his campaign he should terminate his candidacy.

McCain's erratic behavior over these past few weeks shows that he is almost as unfit for the presidency as his neophyte running mate. It was forseeable that his last stunt would fail. McCain claimed he would suspend his campaign, swoop into Washington to save the bailout deal, and cancel his debate if he couldn't. Later he decided to attend the debate even though he hadn't saved the deal.

He should have known better than to wager his debate performance on his ability to make a deal with 534 people he couldn't control....especially if he couldn't control those of his own party. Now, without the deal, he must pretend that he made progress while he backpeddles on his own promise. Nice.

Today we saw images of McCain scuttling around the halls of Congress trying to talk members into a going along with the latest proposal. How unpresidential. How often do you see a president running around the halls of congress trying to talk members into a deal? If he wanted to look presidential he would summon them to his own meeting. Oh that's right, they wouldn't come. If you can't be in control of the meeting, you don't look like the president.

McCain seems to be more comfortable trying to work deals in the halls of congress. He should stay there.

Obama's debate debacle; grappling with the gotchas

I think we were beyond the halfway point of last night's debate when Charlie Gibson announced that 'now we will move to the issue Americans care most about, the economy.'

An interesting admission from anchors who seemed to glee in the endless stream of gotcha questions. From bitter, to Rev Wright, to Bosnia sniper fire, the debate seemed to deliberately avoid anything that looked like a substantive issue.

Too bad for Obama because he never fares well in those kinds of formats. Positioning himself as the gentleman of the race, he clings (yes, I said it) to being civil when the situation clearly calls for a street fight. A gentleman will never hit a lady, even if she is backhanding him with the broad side of a shovel.

I've often wondered why, after leading for so long, he can't or won't knock her out already. If Clinton had the advantages that Obama has presided over for the last few months, I'm sure she would have ended him in a grand a brutal fashion by now. Obama's the guy in the coliseum who has his opponent down on her back and rather than deliver the final blow, he turns and walks away. Everyone in the stands knows that were the situation reversed, she wouldn't hesitate to lower the hammer.

Clinton smells blood. The beating Obama got last night will pale compared to the beating to come. That is, unless he learns to shed the nice guy image and fight back. We all want to think optimistically about the new, diplomatic era of politics, but it ain't here yet. And you won't get to the big dance until you master the old fight.

I guess this is what the ABC anchors realize when they tossed both candidates into the ring and let them pummel each other for the first half of the debate. It's not the substance we hoped for but it's probably a fight they were destined to have.

I like the way Gail Collins sums it up in a NY Times op-ed:

I know it’s been a hard couple of weeks, people. You were all excited about this election and now you feel like someone who got all dressed up for a great event and wound up at a B-list party with a cash bar. You never want to hear the words “bitter” or “Bosnia” again. And the only political story that you’ve really enjoyed lately is the one about Cindy McCain’s list of favorite recipes being cribbed from The Food Network.