CNN's Campbell Brown speaks out about Palin

[apocalypsos]

YES, THIS. God.

Look, I don't like her. I think we all know that at this point. But this bullshit about keeping her away from reporters and keeping them away from her is ridiculous. If the other three candidates in this election have to deal with it, sorry, but so does she. Oh, she might get asked about personal and family issues? So do all of the other candidates. Obama knew he was going to get asked about his family background. McCain knew he was going to get asked about his marriages. Biden knew he was going to be asked about his missteps in the past. Learn to deal.

The longer the campaign keeps her and the media in separate corners, the lower my estimation of her abilities drops. Granted, they didn't start out very high to begin with, but still. This sort of decision-making by the campaign comes at the same time that they requested that the VP debates be altered due to her inexperience with debating, and at the same time that they had her meet with foreign leaders due to her inexperience with foreign affairs (admittedly, this is not a new concept for elections on either side by any stretch of the imagination). But taken together, the McCain/Palin campaign seems like they're almost admitting that they want a politician with very little experience with the media, foreign affairs, and debating -- three major arenas a presidential or VP candidate should do well in -- to be a heartbeat away for the presidency.

Comments

[tinylegacies.livejournal.com]

SRSLY

If she cannot handle the media scrutiny now, what's she gonna do if she ends up being the Vice President (or, God forbid, President) of the country?

Of course, given that she is pro-censorship, I wouldn't be surprised to see her try to violate the First Amendment rights of the press.

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

Don't be silly. They have this all planned out.

None of these things will be important once the Republicans win the presidency and they formally rescind the Bill of Rights!

[newredshoes]

*grabbyhands* Is there a transcript somewhere for those of us who can't watch right now?

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

From here:

"Tonight I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment," said Brown. "This woman is from Alaska for crying out loud. She is strong. She is tough. She is confident. And you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away form the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff. Allow her to face down those pesky reporters... Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic chain you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do. So let her act like one."

[newredshoes]

Oh, that's wonderful. Yes. Come on, Sarah, if Lindsay Lohan can do it, so can you!

And ha, I like this juxtaposition:

But charges that the campaign is insulting women voters by shielding its vice presidential nominee from the press are powerful and persuasive, especially when they come from a well-known female news anchor. Palin, it should be noted, will be taking questions from CBS's Katie Couric on Wednesday.

That's gonna be a real hard-hitting conversation.

[ljs-lj.livejournal.com]

While I agree with the end result of the rant (allow reporters to actually talk to Palin, for cryin' out loud), I disagree with the idea that it has anything to do with sexism. It's not that she's a woman, but rather that she's a religious nutcase who has no clue what's going on in the real world and the Republicans would get slammed if she was allowed to open her mouth on unedited, direct-to-broadcast television.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

I think it does have to do with sexism, considering they will argue to high heaven that Palin is capable of being the president in the event of McCain's passing and yet keep asking for all of these silly requests. They're not giving excuses for why they're asking for her to get all of these advantages (which, let's face it, they are when you're trying to lure in low-info voters and Palin comes off pretty well when she's only seen in short sound bites), but what they are doing is assuring the American public that she's capable of doing the job. So which is it? There's only two reasons they could be asking for all of these perks for her -- they know she'll come off as a first-rate nutjob (which is likely, but they won't admit to), or they're doing it because she's a woman. Which is less likely (although with a campaign featuring a man who called his wife a cunt and laughed at Hillary Clinton being called a bitch ... *shrugs*), but if they want to keep telling us it can't possibly be the other one, it means they don't really have a problem letting people leap to the other conclusion.

[smashingstars.livejournal.com]

There are dozens of male politicians who are religious nutcases and no one shields them from the media spotlight.

McCain has no clue what's going on in the real world and often says the exact wrong thing. He's not kept away from the press and televised debates aren't being reformatted for him.

[sweill.livejournal.com]

THIS!!!

And, dude! They're 'modifying' the format of the debates for her. Yeah, like 'dumbing them down'. The fact that she is lacking experience in debate is problematic. The fact the GOP is friggin' changing the rules of the game because if it is EPIC. We know that the Dems and any Dem woman would have been laid out like Thanksgiving for even suggesting such a thing. -sigh- Sorry for the verbal vomit. This campaign is making me sick to my stomach.

[bluesteelstars.livejournal.com]

Thank you for linking this!

[sxyblkmn.livejournal.com]

LoL, i love it!

[allthelivesofme.livejournal.com]

That is a thing of beauty. :-D

It's disgusting that Palin and McCain are perfectly willing to use the sexist stereotype of "wilting flower" to try and get her out of things. But then, I don't really expect anything better from them, so. . .

I mean, I could probably make a good impression with a national speech if given time to prepare, etc. But dealing with foreign policy and constant questions from reporters and all the rest of it? No. And the thing is, I know I couldn't handle it well and that is why I'm not trying for the damned job.

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

But taken together, the McCain/Palin campaign seems like they're almost admitting that they want a politician with very little experience with the media, foreign affairs, and debating -- three major arenas a presidential or VP candidate should do well in -- to be a heartbeat away for the presidency.

They do, because they intend for her to be a puppet.