Monday, September 29, 2008

Charlie Rose Interview with Govs. Palin and Napolitano

Charlie Rose: "Do you know what the Bush administration energy policy is?"
Palin: "Well...we hear about it through the media, yes." (Long pause) Charlie Rose is presumably waiting for her to enunciate it.

Napolitano steps in and inadvertantly rescues her and quips, "You're assuming there is one. I was waiting for it, but that's okay." Gov. Napolitano then takes the conversation back to an earlier question and begins to elaborate on being the commander-in-chief of the National Guard. Palin sits back and relaxes for a moment because she knows she's just been saved some embarrassment. Not only that, but Napolitano has opened up an area where Palin can be her rhetorical best. The full interview can be seen here:

http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/10/12/2/a-conversation-with-governors-janet-napolitano-sarah-palin

What is most revealing about this interview are two things that most of us think we already know. That is, 1) Palin knows a little bit and cares a lot about Alaska's energy policy and 2) she uses an excess of rhetoric and cliche to cover up what she doesn't know. And she doesn't know a lot.

I am reminded of the times in school when the smartest girl in the class gave a detailed, thoughtful answer and then the teacher turned to the "C" student for her take. The pretty, popular, not-so-bright girl does her best to flatter the smart kid by referring to her answer a lot and then coming up with a few empty comments of her own. The teacher is almost always smart enough to know what's going on.

Hopefully, the American people will, too.

1 comment:

KathyC said...

I'm appalled at the acceptance of this brunette bimbo by so many Americans. Does she have blond roots? Her inexperience and ignorance on almost all the major issues and her possibly being just a heartbeat away from the Presidency scares the living hell out of me! What the hell was John McCain thinking, or was he thinking??