Contents
- “Palin Media Avoidance Watch – Day Seven“, Jake Tapper (ABC News Senior National Correspondent), posted at Political Punch, a blog of ABC News, 5 September 2008
- About Palin: “No Interviews Till She’s Ready“, Marc Ambinder, blog at The Atlantic, 5 September 2008 — A follow-on to the above story.
- “Palin Power: Fresh Face Now More Popular Than Obama, McCain“, Rasmussen Reports, 5 September 2008 — Quite amazing.
- “Sarah Palin’s Big Sleazy Safari“, John Dolan, The Exiled Online, 5 September 2008 — An example of the clear writing with a viewpoint that makes The Exiled Online a rarity in the media world.
Excerpts
I. “Palin Media Avoidance Watch – Day Seven“, Jake Tapper (ABC News Senior National Correspondent), posted at Political Punch, a blog of ABC News, 5 September 2008 —
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was named to the Republican ticket one week ago, and she has yet to answer questions from reporters.
… Yes, some of the comments from the punditocracy about her have been untoward, even sexist, but given the importance of the job she accepted Wednesday night in her nomination speech, it’s entirely reasonable for voters to expect Palin to answer questions from journalists about her positions and her record.
Time magazine’s Jay Carney tried to get McCain spox Nicolle Wallace to answer this question the other night. Watch HERE. {a partial transcript follows}
… So what does that mean, practically speaking? Will the woman seeking to be a heartbeat away from the presidency avoid talking to the media? Obama sat down for an interview with Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly Thursday — hardly friendly terrain. Is Palin willing to do the same?
II. About Palin: “No Interviews Till She’s Ready“, Marc Ambinder, blog at The Atlantic, 5 September 2008 —
A senior McCain campaign official advises that, despite the gaggle of requests and pressure from the media, Gov. Sarah Palin won’t submit to a formal interview anytime soon. She may take some questions from local news entities in Alaska, but until she’s ready — and until she’s comfortable — which might not be for a long while — the media will have to wait. The campaign believes it can effectively deal with the media’s complaints, and their on-the-record response to all this will be: “Sarah Palin needs to spend time with the voters.”
Not out of the question are appearances on lighter, fluffier television shows. But — not for a while.
III. “Palin Power: Fresh Face Now More Popular Than Obama, McCain“, Rasmussen Reports, 5 September 2008 — Excerpt:
Note: Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.
A week ago, most Americans had never heard of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Now, following a Vice Presidential acceptance speech viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% hold an unfavorable view of the self-described hockey mom.
“The figures include 40% with a Very Favorable opinion of Palin and 18% with a Very Unfavorable view (full demographic crosstabs are available for Premium Members). Before her acceptance speech, Palin was viewed favorably by 52%. A week ago, 67% had never heard of her.
“The new data also shows significant increases in the number who say McCain made the right choice and the number who say Palin is ready to be President. Generally, John McCain’s choice of Palin earns slightly better reviews than Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden.
“Perhaps most stunning is the fact that Palin’s favorable ratings are now a point higher than either man at the top of the Presidential tickets this year. As of Friday morning, Obama and McCain are each viewed favorably by 57% of voters. Biden is viewed favorably by 48%. …
IV. “Sarah Palin’s Big Sleazy Safari“, John Dolan, The Exiled Online, 5 September 2008 — An example of the clear, no bs writing that makes The Exiled Online a rarity in the media world.
Most people had never heard of Sarah Palin when she was named Republican VP nominee. But I’d been hearing her name all too often, because I belong to a group called Defenders of Wildlife-and in her time as governor of Alaska, Palin has used her position as governor of Alaska to ruin the Alaskan wilderness in every way she could.
Her most recent “victory” came on August 26 when Alaska’s voters defeated Measure 2, an initiative that would have banned hunting wolves from airplanes for sport.
Palin organized a campaign against Measure 2, and funded it with $400,000 of state money. For most of us, the idea of zooming around in a private airplane over snowbound wilderness just for the chance to spot a terrified wild dog and blow it apart with a high-powered rifle is insane. But there’s a whole culture out there in love with the idea. Palin did her part by playing the tired old Alaskan pioneer card, saying that lower-48 naysayers who dared to object to the idea of divebombing wildlife didn’t “understand rural Alaska.”
… To get an idea of Palin’s core constituency, just go to the homepage Safari Club International, one of the groups that fought hardest against Measure 2-and is now gloating loudest over this proud victory: “Safari Club International.” Even the name is a little skewed-“safari”? When was the last time you heard that word? Most people are trying hard to forget the “safari” era, when rich white jerks had themselves carried into the African wilderness by nameless black servants, at vast expense, to kill animals they could barely identify.
But for Palin’s core constituency, “safari” is still the dream. And Measure 2 would have interfered with that dream, the dream of strafing social canids from a Cessna. Alaska politics runs on the vast opportunities for graft offered by a small, easily manipulated constituency addicted to subsidies and self-delusion. Alaskans like to imagine themselves the last pioneers, hardy individualists, etc.-which makes them classic suckers for Republican propaganda. And they also like the petty cash that trickles down to them from the mining companies, timber companies, and hunting guides who make the real money. Palin, an undistinguished parttime sportscaster on a local TV station, was a perfect non-threatening mouthpiece for the companies that want to gouge as much oil, ore and timber from Alaska as they can-while it lasts.
… She has served the oil, mining and hunting interests from the minute she won the governorship. This summer, she showed herself willing to poison whole watersheds, and destroy a huge, lucrative salmon fishery, by opposing Measure 4. 4 aimed to stop the proposed Pebble Mine, a huge operation, from discharging huge amounts of cyanide and mining waste into streams which flow into Bristol Bay, site of the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.
Of course, Sarah Palin did her best to ensure the mining interests won. At first she had a bit of a problem: under Alaska law, the governor isn’t allowed to take a position on ballot initiatives. Palin squirmed her way around that rule in classic Republican style, by speaking as a private citizen, with true George W. Bush eloquence: “Let me take my governor’s hat off just for a minute and tell you personally, Prop 4-I vote no on that.”
… Perhaps the saddest aspect of Palin’s disgusting record on environmental issues is the fact that it’s hardly even being mentioned in the debate about her nomination. Most of the focus, for an audience of suckers weaned on celebrity gossip, seems to be about her mothering skills, her daughter’s pregnancy, and whether she was Miss Congeniality or just a runner-up in some beauty pageant. The fact that she makes her living helping to wipe out whole species, poison productive watersheds, and play to the stupidest great-white-hunter fantasies of her constituency hardly even seems worth a mention.
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