You know, when I was a young woman working for MSNBC, I thought Alter was great. Since then, I realize that sarcasm is the tool of the cheap shot, and I tune out as soon as I start detecting that unmistakable method of expression. Though I lean left, I still can't stand the Olberman foaming at the mouth bit, and here, Alter does not appear nearly as buffoonish as Olberman, but the sarcasm wears on me. Can't you lose it, and still make your (very valid) points? Though I have consistently voted for Democrat candidates (except for one Republican congressman, which I then regretted) I am currently reading Peggy Noonan's little book called "Patriotic Grace." It's a refreshing break from the polarized sneering punditry with which we are innundated. When are these "journalists" going to step up to the plate and discourse in ways that will help our nation move forward and really solve our problems? With their finger-pointing mockeries, they are acting as nothing more than court jesters for the parties.
McCain’s ‘Hail Sarah’ Pass
Palin's debut was good theater, but there's a reason that rookies rarely score hat tricks.
GALLERY
Who is Sarah Palin?
From beauty queen to vice-presidential candidate. A look at the life and career of John McCain's historic choice for a running mate.
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Happy birthday, Johnny Mac! You're 72 now, a cancer survivor and a presidential candidate who has said that the most important criterion for picking a vice president is whether he or she could immediately step in if something happened to the president. Your campaign against Barack Obama is based on the simple idea that he is unready to be president. So you've picked a running mate who a year and a half ago was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of about 7,000 people. You've selected a potential leader of the free world who knows little or nothing about the major issues of the day beyond energy. Oh, and she's being probed in her state for abuse of power.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's debut in Dayton, Ohio, on Friday was good political theater. She delivered a pitch-perfect speech with a panache that suggests she could be a natural on the national stage. Maybe Palin is a north-country version of Obama—an autodidact who, while juggling so many other things, managed to educate herself on the deductibility of health-care benefits and the constellation of forces in the Sunni Triangle. She speaks cogently and convincingly on television, which is a huge advantage. It's not hard to see why she appealed to McCain: her middle-class roots; her older son headed for Iraq with the U.S. Army; her (recent) opposition to the earmarked "bridge to nowhere." If camera-ready Palin helps McCain close the gender gap and win in November, she'll be history's hockey mom.
But there's a reason that rookies rarely score hat tricks. It's not her lack of name recognition; America loves a fresh face, especially one that's a cross between a Fox anchor and a character on "Northern Exposure," the old TV show about an Alaska town roughly the size of Wasilla. The problem is that politics, like all professions, isn't as easy as it looks. Palin's odds of emerging unscathed are slim. In fact, she's been all but set up for failure, which is yet another reason McCain's choice may prove to be irresponsible.
"What is it exactly that the vice president does all day?" Palin offhandedly asked CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow in July. Kudlow explained that the job has become more important in recent years. Palin knows the energy crisis well, even if her claim on "Charlie Rose" that Alaska's untapped resources can significantly ease American dependence on foreign oil is unsupported by the facts. But what does she know about Iranian nukes, the Arab-Israeli conflict, or the future of entitlement programs? And that's just a few of the 20 or so national issues on which she will be expected to show basic competence. The McCain camp will have to either let her wing it based on a few briefing memos (highly risky) or prevent her from taking questions from reporters (a confession that she's unprepared). Either way, she's likely to belly-flop at a time when McCain can least afford it.
Even on energy, Palin has her work cut out for her. First she has to convince McCain to reverse himself and support drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Her much-repeated sound bite that ANWR is only the size of the Los Angeles airport and thus drilling there is not environmentally destructive sounds good, but won't do much to counter the argument Obama made in his acceptance speech, which is that drilling is only a "stopgap" measure. Palin, who supported Steve Forbes's run in 1996, will benefit from very low expectations in her debate with Joe Biden, but she's going to have to have a photographic memory for new information to avoid getting creamed.
Governors often run for president, but only after many months of prep work on what they might confront in the White House. (The last governor nominated for vice president was Spiro Agnew in 1968.) Obama's résumé may be short but he now has plenty of practice sparring in the heavyweight division. Palin is more exposed. Even veep candidates with extensive Washington experience like Geraldine Ferraro and Dan Quayle were nonetheless grilled on policy and proved a drag on the ticket when they looked unpresidential.
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