Sarah Palin, Miss Alaska and the Vice Presidency | Newsweek Politics: Conventions

Detroit: Begging For Help
Keith Naughton 11/7/2008 12:00:00 AM
One intense political campaign may be over, but another one has already begun. "It is time for action," the candidate said forcefully to a nationwide television audience. "And the time is now." But that was not Obama or McCain, or Palin, or even Biden. That was General Motors chairman Rick Wagoner on CNBC on Friday exhorting Congress to give his company, and the rest of Detroit, billions—or have the nation's economy face "significant risks." The auto exec was ostensibly on the financial cable channel to discuss GM's abysmal $2.5 billion loss in the third quarter. But like a savvy political pro, he used the free air time to make his case to the American people and rebut the naysayers who contend that GM, like Lehman Brothers, deserves to collapse from its own ineptitude. "I read the pundits and I suspect these are the guys who said let Lehman Brothers go and you see the impact that had," Wagoner said. "This is a pivotal issue for the U.S."
STRAW POLL
Elisabeth Unplugged
11/1/2008 12:00:00 AM
Poor Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Her co-workers never seem to enjoy her view on "The View." But as she's been appearing on the campaign trail with Sarah Palin, things have gotten extra heated. A sample:
TELEVISION
Why Obama Needs a Tina Fey
Joshua Alston 10/25/2008 12:00:00 AM
If self-sacrifice is the mark of a true patriot, then Mike Barker is an American-flag pin incarnate. Barker is an executive producer of "American Dad," Fox's animated sitcom featuring Stan Smith, a xenophobic, far-far-right FBI agent—the type of Republican who believes we're winning in Iraq because the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED banner said so. "Dad" derives much of its humor from Stan's slavish adherence to cultural conservatism and President Bush's cowboy diplomacy, so attendees at this year's Television Critics Association press gathering wondered aloud how a Barack Obama presidency might affect the show. Could it benefit more from a McCain upset? Barker put any questions of his allegiance to rest: "I think we have to put the needs of the country ahead of the show." McCain might be hogging the slogan, but sometimes even Hollywood liberals put country first.
TELEVISION
Sarah Palin, Reality Star
Joshua Alston 10/18/2008 12:00:00 AM
During her fumbling, now classic, Tina Fey-worthy interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin was given an opportunity to backpedal on her suggestion that hailing from Alaska was a qualification for the vice presidency. Instead, she doubled down, insisting that Alaska's proximity to Russia has imbued her with foreign-policy savvy. Palin has been pilloried for the argument, and deservedly so. But the real issue with her claim is that she missed an opportunity to make an argument that would resonate with anybody who owns a television. Her Alaska roots are indeed a qualification, not because Alaska is close to Russia, but because Alaska is Alaska. Anyone who can't parse that logic doesn't watch much Discovery Channel.
POLITICS
McCain’s Mrs. Right
Evan Thomas 8/30/2008 12:00:00 AM
Sarah Palin posed for a photo spread in Vogue, but that's about as far as the glamour goes. She piles her hair up in a librarian's bun and wears what she calls "schoolmarm" glasses (one blogger compared her to "Tina Fey's sexier sister"). She was at one time a beauty queen, Miss Wasilla 1984, in her hometown, population: 7,000 or so. "We were really surprised when she wanted to do it," her father, Chuck, told the Vogue reporter. "That wasn't her thing." Basketball and hunting were more like it. Palin regretted the whole beauty pageant experience. "They made us line up in bathing suits and turn our backs so the male judges could look at our butts. I couldn't believe it!" she told Vogue.
CAMPAIGN 2008
'Work Harder, Prove Yourself'
Karen Breslau 8/29/2008 12:00:00 AM
But I'm looking long-term. I'm looking at my kids growing up and wanting to provide them opportunities, wanting them to realize clean air, clean water, healthy wildlife up there in Alaska. We've got to make sure we're taking care of that today, which means we've got to make sure the producers of our oil and our gas are following the law. In fact, we have to beef up and strengthen our environmental laws in Alaska so that we can prove we have the correct oversight to allow this development to happen. So, recently, in suing Exxon, BP, Conoco Phillips, you know, the party leaders don't like that.