Thoughts on the Palin Interview and Some Free Advice to Camp McCain

1. ABC News intro piece prior to showing the Palin interview said a lot about the tone of this speech. It was the most part, a prosecution rather than an interview on Gibson’s part. Gibson came in with a narrative that he wanted to tell and he pushed it, she pushed back, just fine.
2. I thought it was stupid for Gibson to seriously ask her to figure out what the difference would be between a McCain budget and a Bush budget. What the heck? You won’t know those type of numbers won’t be there for anyone to guess at until McCain takes a look at the situation and a budget is written early next year. No one knows how much garbage you’ll find there until you get in there. The point is they are dedicate to cutting spending and eliminating waste.
3. I think Palin would have done better to pump her record of addressing pork as the Governor of Alaska.
4. Palin did okay. No harm done. I think she did pretty well in answering questions she’d never answered before. If there was any nervousness, it was because she was in unfamiliar territory (the issues, not her location.) Anytime, you’re a Vice-Presidential nominee, you’re in an uncomfortable position of adopting wholesale the views of another person, and in Palin’s case, it occurs on many issues which she was not previously an expert or familiar in. She needs to find a good balance between
   “prepared” and slightly over-coached, which she was tonight

UPDATE

For a non-political perspective from someone who doesn’t eat, drink, and sleep this stuff, my mom was mad at Charlie Gibson, and her opinion of Sarah Palin was not diminished.