Palin gives appropriate radio interview; her enemies bring the hysteria

Update:

Assistant Village Idiot:

Palin’s critics don’t care what she said. They care what they can make it sound like.

There may be a time, in future, when I do not defend Sarah Palin. However, I'm defending her re this radio interview. A Washington, D.C. automaton would have avoided directly responding to the question. Sarah Palin is fresh air precisely b/c she is not that automaton; precisely b/c she directly responded to the question. Her response, while politically naive, was nevertheless logical and appropriate.

I wonder: was her response really a political mistake? She didn't intend it to be a stealth attack on Pres. Obama. However, if the accusations against her continue long-term, Palin will be protected by the "boy who cried wolf" dynamic of past smears against her. Meanwhile, the hysteria will remind voters that Pres. Obama still hasn't proven he is legally qualified to hold office.

Disclaimer: I strongly suspect Pres. Obama was born in Hawaii. Birther arguments are unconvincing. Yet, it's a scandal that I do not know the certain and proven facts about his birth. As in Climategate: why must I rely on opinion instead of proof?

If you listen to the interview, you realize Palin has little interest in this issue. She knows little of the minutia of the issue - just as everyone who has little interest in the issue knows little of the minutia. If she had interest, she would have educated herself about the issue.

Her in-context response was about the McCain Campaign's failure to adequately focus on issues in Sen. Obama's background. Here is the conversation preceding, then the relevant quotes:

6:45
Humphries

"You really seem unaffected by this tremendous media scrutiny you've been under. Why have you been so unaffected? Or, are you just good at playing it cool?"

Palin

discusses "political shots my family has taken", and how Trig's circumstances ("He's given us his first smile!") and Track's military deployment have helped her keep perspective: "I can blow off a bunch of the bullcrap that goes on in the political arena, b/c of these things that God has allowed me to go through that, again, keep it in perspective."

7:38
Humphries

"You have a daily Thanksgiving perspective, almost?"

Palin

"Yeah, that's right on."

7:45
Humphries

"One if the questions Jason asks is 'Would you make the birth certificate an issue if you ran?'"

Palin

"I think the PUBLIC, rightfully, is still making it an issue."


Note: "rightfully" equates to Obama's background ought be vetted, yet has not been vetted. "rightfully" was sloppy construction by Palin. When "birth certificate" was raised, Palin ought have heard alarm bells in her head, and she ought have been carefully precise in her answer.


Palin
"I don’t have a problem with that."


Note: This equates to I am not into this issue, but it's not an unfair question.

It's absolutely fair for the public to demand proof of Pres. Obama's legal qualification for the office. If the constitutional requirement is unfair, then Congress ought change or amend the constitutional requirement.


Palin
"I don’t know if I would have to bother to make it an issue, because I think that members of the electorate still want answers."


Note: This is sloppy language on Palin's part, and ought have been cleaner. Here's what she was saying in her head, yet was failing to precisely communicate: If I investigated this, and if there were something there: I don't know if I would then have to call attention to it, due to the keen public interest which already exists.


Humphries

“Do you think it’s a fair question to be looking at?”

Palin

“I think it’s a fair question, just like I think past association and past voting records — all of that is fair game. The McCain-Palin campaign didn’t do a good enough job in that area. We didn’t call out Obama and some of his associates on their records and what their beliefs were and perhaps what their future plans were. And I don’t think that that was fair to voters to not have done our jobs as candidates and as a campaign to bring to light a lot of the things that now we’re seeing made manifest in the administration."

Sarah Palin's Facebook response, later that night:

"Voters have every right to ask candidates for information if they so choose. I’ve pointed out that it was seemingly fair game during the 2008 election for many on the left to badger my doctor and lawyer for proof that Trig is in fact my child. Conspiracy-minded reporters and voters had a right to ask... which they have repeatedly. But at no point – not during the campaign, and not during recent interviews – have I asked the president to produce his birth certificate or suggested that he was not born in the United States."

Verdict:

Tempest in teapot. Palin's interview response was reasonable, though not as clean and precise as it ought have been. Her Facebook response was clarifying, and was consistent with her interview response. Smearing her over this is either misguided or dishonest.

Verdict #2:

The left will try to hang this on her, similar to "potatoe" and "I invented the internet". However, smearing Palin, in future, will be made more difficult by the "boy who cried wolf" dynamic of past smears against her. Undecided voters know she has been smeared like crazy. They will not credit this hysterical accusation against her. There's a chance, actually, that future publicity about this will result in collateral damage to Pres. Obama.