Palin Meets The Press On The Plane
(CBS)
(GREENVILLE, N.C.) The long, gloomy reign of what one journalist dubbed the “No-Talk Express” has come to an end. For the first time since becoming a vice presidential candidate on Aug. 29, Sarah Palin ventured to the back of her charter plane to answer reporters’ questions for almost 15 minutes.
Though video cameras were not allowed to shoot the unexpected media availability, Palin answered questions on subjects ranging from Troopergate (“Tasergate,” as she put it) to Tina Fey. She was warm and friendly to reporters, shaking everyone’s hand and addressing some by name. Still, most of her responses were sprinkled with the same talking points she delivers regularly in stump speech across the nation.
Asked why she has been focusing her remarks over the last few days on the questionable connection between Barack Obama and 1960s radical William Ayers, rather than on the tanking economy, Palin defended her tactic.
“Well, Americans are caring about the problems in the economy, of course, and wanting to know what those long-term solutions are that our ticket can provide and what the other ticket is proposing,” Palin said. “So when you talk though about what it is that we are proposing and what it is that Barack Obama is proposing, again it is relevant to connect that association that he has with Ayers, not so much he as a person—Ayers—but the whole situation and the truthfulness and the judgment there that you must question if again he's not being forthright in all of his answers as to how did you know him, when did you know him, why would you continue to be associated with him?”
When asked directly by a reporter, Palin denied that she was suggesting Obama was dishonest. But she did seem to question the Democrat’s integrity during another portion of the press conference.
“It makes you wonder about the forthrightedness (sic), the truthfulness of the plans that he is telling America in regards to the economic recovery because that is first and foremost on American's minds,” Palin said.
Asked why her husband Todd changed his mind and decided to return to Alaska to testify in what is widely referred to as the “Troopergate” investigation, Palin assigned a different label to the Alaska ethics inquiry.
“He's always been an open book about this whole ‘Tasergate’ issue, wanting to speak with investigators, wanting to speak and is with attorneys, everybody involved,” Palin said. “The personnel board in the state of Alaska is that board tasked with dealing with any issue involving the governor, the lieutenant governor, or the attorney general. What the investigation turned into, led by a Senate Democrat, has been kind of a goat rope, a very partisan and very controversial type of investigation."
For the benefit of those (like me) unfamiliar with the expression, Urban Dictionary defines “goat rope” as “when good intentions go bad, messily.”
“It's an open book,” Palin said. “Nobody has anything to hide. Nobody's done anything wrong. My choice, and my responsibility to replace a cabinet member, an at-will exempt political appointment whom I did replace, because his strengths were in other areas. It wasn't in running an entire department. There was some, some duties there that he was not able to fulfill, so my choice, my responsibility had nothing to do with my husband or any of my staff members asking a guy to step aside and take another job, and he didn't want to take that other job.”
Palin was relaxed and jovial with the “mainstream media” — an amorphous entity she often derides on the campaign trail. Aside from handling the serious questions, she took some time to look at a photograph one reporter had of himself as a young hockey player alongside his very own “hockey mom.” She was noncommittal when asked if the travelling press might be allowed to assume babysitting duties for her seven-year-old daughter Piper.
Asked if she would appear on “Saturday Night Live” to give Tina Fey a taste of her own medicine, Palin laughed.
“I would love to,” Palin said. “I love her. She's a hoot, and she's so talented and it would be fun to either imitate her or keep on giving her more material and keep her in business.”
Palin’s extensive media availability was entirely unexpected. When she suddenly appeared on the other side of the curtain that divides the press area from the campaign staff, it sent at least one reporter scampering back from the plane’s lavatory and another jolting awake from a nap.
If Palin's travelling press corps had forgotten one of the most important lessons from Journalism-101, they'll remember it now. Always expect the unexpected.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 117 CommentsI have a question for Sarah Palin, were you the director of a 527 political group organized by the now indicted Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska? How about answering the question, Mrs. Palin?
Let''s not forget that the Republicans won the election in 2000 by a 5 to 4 vote in Daddy Bushes'' Supreme Court.
Lets not forget that this election is about real issues like the economy, education, and health care, and not slime and repugnant political games that McCain and Palin are playing.
VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA AND LETS GET A DEMOCRAT WIN IN NOVEMBER!
estimated 50,000 in 1860 that was a lot of money. He made his fortune off of the backs of slaves and McCain and Palin never mention minorities in this country. What''s wrong with that. Now they incite riots wherever they go using lies. Who in their right mind would vote for hate-mongers?
-- He did not honor vows he took before God, family and friends (for better, for worse; in sickness and in health), instead he cheated on his first wife and divorced her.
-- He voted 19 times against raising the minimum wage. (That''s not being thy brother''s keeper.)
-- He wasn''t on the floor to vote on the Equal Pay Act, but publicly denounced the bill.
-- His campaign has deteriorated into one of hate and a fear. Jesus is all about love, faith and tolerance.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden truly care about the meek. Their deeds prove their sincerity.
I pray the McCain Campaign rereads 1 Corinthians 13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
This is an old ploy of the democrats. It has been used for years, because there are enough people like KeturahRose who don%u2019t have the sense to come in out of the rain. It doesn%u2019t matter how much we raise the taxes on the wealthy, the middle and lower income families pay for it. When your landlord has higher taxes, he pushes those costs into your rent. When the store owners have higher taxes, they push the costs into the products on the shelves. When a %u201Craise the tax on the wealthy%u201D democrat is in office, inflation goes out of the roof.
When government raises taxes on the wealthy, they actually raise your tax, and make the wealthy the tax collector. Now, if Obama had spent his $100 million on academics in the Chicago area, maybe, KeturahRose, you would have caught on to that trick.
So, KeturahRose, we have a choice. I can vote for the man who had every bone in his body broken to keep me safe, or I can vote for the man who spent $100 million dollars to teach my child to come home and kill me. Boy, this is going to be a hard one%u2026
His time has come?
Let%u2019s get away from friends. That old saying, %u201Cbirds of a feather flock together,%u201D after all is just an old saying. Let%u2019s look at what he%u2019s done.
First there is Ayers. Ok, let%u2019s not bring up the distant past, where he bombed the pentagon, white house, police stations, called to the young people to kill teachers, police, and then go home and kill their parents. Barrack was, after all, only 8 when that happened.
So what%u2019s Mr. Ayers doing today, besides teaching at a liberal college? Hmmm, he is stomping the American flag (Chicago Magazine 8/01) and saying the only thing he regrets about his past is he should have bombed more (NYT 9/11/01). In fact, if you read the NYT article you will see it had a quote of his from earlier years concerning the Manson murders, ''''Dig it! Manson killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they shoved a fork into a victim''s stomach.'''' Yep, that%u2019s Barrack%u2019s good buddy, Ayers. How close was Barrack to this pig? Well, close enough that he started his first political campaign in the man%u2019s living room.
How about Barrack%u2019s youth? We know very little about it other than he smoked crack. I don%u2019t think that places him in a better light than McCain.
Then, as a young man, McCain was captured (not by his choice, that%u2019s right!). Up to that point McCain did not show anything out of the ordinary. It%u2019s what happened after his capture that has caught patriotic American%u2019s attention. While imprisoned he was tortured, and they weren%u2019t asking for his mom%u2019s cake recipe. The enemy wanted information that would have put American lives in danger. Just about every bone in his body was broken, but he refused to give them that information because he loved his country and the people in it. That includes you, Ms. KeturahRose. Some of us appreciate that fact. Next time you see him try to raise his arms, instead of ridiculing the fact he%u2019s unable to use a keyboard you need to remember it%u2019s because he wanted YOU to be safe that he can%u2019t. Maybe that doesn%u2019t mean squat to you, but to many Americans it means a lot.
First, I don''t think it''s quite fair to critic McCain because his great great grandparents were slave owners, but if you want to play that game, we can do so with Barrack too. You see, he has a family history of slave owners too. In fact, if you do a little research you will find that Barrack is only half black, and the story is that side of the family didn''t stick around to raise him; it was the white side that raised him. The black side of the family had more important things to do than raise a son.
I know he doesn''t like showing the white side of the family, I suspect, since that''s the only side of the family he knows, he does this because he knows he wouldn''t be getting your vote if he did so. And we''re the ones that end up getting called racist!
Although she was a bit confused and off-track when she joined the campaign but now that ability to handle press and answer at the right time can be seen in her.
She has the points and the view but she needs to make the Americans see them.
A great site i would recommend about Palin''s views and policies is
http://dailysource.org/palin
It has in-depth research, audio clips, videos, excerpts and links to hundreds of articles, including many from papers and TV stations in Alaska. It has rare footage, including her telling the 2008 convention of the Alaska Independence Party, whose goal is to give Alaska a vote on seceding from the U.S. to %u201Ckeep up the good work.%u201D
In the meantime in what seams like a lifetime a child was born with little of nothing. Who knew that he, one with a father from another land and mother left to raise him alone would raise such a child. But God saw something in Him that He had placed there that even all of the lies and bickering going on now can''t take away. He was raised in poverty to see greatness. He was given a briliant mind and this was proven at Harvard. He was given a heart and this was proven in Chicago helping the poor when he could have been on Wall Street, Now is his time to do what he has been called to do. His time has come....
We need someone in office who LOVES his country, it doesn''''t matter if he''''s black, white, orange or purple or if he feels the whole world has mistreated him. Without that love he will never give his country his utmost, and that''''s what our country is needing.
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Posted by VickieB57 at 06:24 PM : Oct 08, 2008
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I agree 100pct Vickie. That is why I am voting for Obama.
We need someone in office who LOVES his country, it doesn''t matter if he''s black, white, orange or purple or if he feels the whole world has mistreated him. Without that love he will never give his country his utmost, and that''s what our country is needing.
Case closed...
And let''s elect the smart guy this time: Barack Obama.
"Council Of World Freedom", Lying John was not just a member, but his name was on their letterhead. They funneled money to the jihadist in Afghanistan who later became the Taliban. But then the ''con were supporting all kinds of bad guys back then.
If McCain wants to fling the word "terrorist" around, HIS connections are far closer to such organizations.
Inciting a crime is as illegal as commiting the crime. Tell Sarah.
John McCain shares a name with John Dillinger, but is anyone in the "party of integrity" mentioning that? NO! Bottom line, mediocrity always attacks excellence.
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