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The Case Against Palin: We Examine the Facts

The country is ready for a woman VP and president. No one but the most extreme male chauvinist believes women are wired in a way that prevents them from being excellent leaders. There are plenty of women out there who are as qualified and able as John McCain and Barack Obama to be president. You might not like her, but Hillary Clinton could do the job. She could debate McCain tomorrow and pass the test with flying colors. (article continues below ad.)

With the best will in the world, we cannot say the same for Sarah Palin. As evidence, we present you with her answer to a question from Katie Couric about the $700 bailout package. Couric asked whether the bailout money might be better spent on the middle class instead of making it available to the banking system. This was a golden opportunity for Palin to show the nation that she

"That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the -- it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that."

This is not just a hockey mom talking, nor a nervous caller to a radio talk show, nor a guy sitting in a bar who has downed a few too many High Lifes. At this point, Palin isn't a mayor of a tiny town, she's not on the PTA, nor reading a speech that has been written for her. She is a woman being groomed to LEAD, or at least assist in leading, the most powerful country in the world. 

Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin was neither aggressive nor exceptional. She asked questions you would expect a journalist to ask during a presidential campaign. Sarah Palin's answers were mind-blowingly awful, lacking in meaning, coherence, and style. We cannot remember a candidate for major office who has appeared so unprepared and fazed by the big time. The Couric interviews were Palin's undoing.

Her answer proves she cannot convert a stream of ideas into a coherent message. She is unable to absorb facts and detail and present them in a manner that inspires confidence in her abilities. She does not convince us that she understands the issues. For example, what is the immediate connection between the bailout and health care reform? There might be a tenuous connection way down the line when the banking system is running smoothly, but that's not where we are today. At the moment, the bailout has nothing, zero, nada to do with health care.

If you want more, read Palin's response to a question on why Alaska's proximity to Russia boosts her foreign policy credentials: 

"Why sure," said Palin, "And it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where -- where do they go? It's Alaska. Those Russian planes leave Russia and where are they? They're in Alaska. Think about it. It's just over the border. It's from Alaska that we send those people of ours to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to -- to our state."

You could forgive such a sloppy analysis from a gum-chewing teenager who is bored by foreign policy. You could accept it from someone at a dinner party who'd drunk too much red wine and was trying to connect some vague dots in their head; you could handle it from your husband or wife who wanted to be polite to you by answering a question that didn't interest them. But you have a right to expect more from someone who wants to be, and considers herself qualified to be, the vice president of the United States.

There is plenty of damaging evidence against Palin. Take the fact that she is not allowed to talk to the press. This isn't a situation John McCain wanted. When he picked her as his VP, he was expecting it would take only a couple of weeks to prepare her to deal with tough questions. He thought she'd need a few sessions with his advisers to learn all the talking points, the McCain program, standard answers to standard questions, nothing fancy. But then, after Palin had performed disastrously in mock interviews and rehearsals with the McCain team, he had to make the embarrassing decision of preventing her from meeting the press.

She couldn't avoid Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and Katie Couric. They were considered soft options. McCain knew those three would not tear Sarah up and feed her to the wolves. But what he could not predict was that Palin would destroy herself by her inability to answer even simple questions.

Some Palin supporters see Palin's weaknesses as strengths. She is not a Washington insider. She did not attend an Ivy league school. She took on the GOP in Alaska. She fought the oil companies and imposed a windfall tax on their properties. What's more, she doesn't talk like a polished politician but  communicates in broken, hanging sentences like most regular folks who haven't the time to read policy documents, highbrow literature, legal briefs, or poetry. 

So let's buy that argument for a while. We all remember Bill Clinton. He had the common touch, understood people's pain; he spoke in clear, simple sentences; he was in his element at the pit barbecue in backwoods Arkansas. But the man also had a brilliant mind. He studied at Georgetown University, attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and obtained a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School. Palin, in contrast, struggled through a number of minor colleges to finish a bachelor's degree in six years (One semester at Hawaii Pacific University, two semesters at North Idaho College as a general studies major, two semesters at the University of Idaho, one semester at the Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska, and three semesters at the University of Idaho, graduating with a B.S. in communications-journalism).

Palin supporters try to convince us with her experience as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population about 7,000.. Her first operating budget was $7.3 million. Her last operating budget was $12.5 million. If you're the pastor of a big church, the owner of medium-sized business, a successful investor, you handle more money than that. It's less than a Hollywood star gets for one movie; it's the value of Britney Spears' Beverly Hills home. The city of Chicago's operating budget is $5.9 billion. President Bush's proposed federal budget for 2009 is $3.1 trillion (source: Chicago Tribune, Sept. 28).

An examination of Palin's time in office shows she wasn't a cut and save conservative at all. She imposed a sales tax, employed a $46,000 a year administrative professional, spent $55,000 redecorating her own office, and she hired a lobbyist to get money (your tax dollars) out of Washington and into Wasilla. 

As governor of Alaska, she had more to do, but it's still small potatoes compared to what she will be expected to do as VP and stand-in president. Remember, too, that Alaska is the most socialized of the states, with state-run enterprises and the residents receiving annual dividends from the oil industry. Republican-run Alaska is probably the closest you'll come to socialism in America. Free market capitalism does not operate in Alaska.

Let's look at the question of Palin's inability to speak coherently. There are surely people in the country who are excellent leaders despite being unable to communicate. We judge those folks by their actions, not their fancy words. Palin is not one of those. Unless you consider her slim track record to be solid evidence in her favor, she has not proved she would be able to make wise decisions on the economy, foreign affairs, health care, and the environment. She is an opportunist and a populist, who'll do whatever is needed to bolster her own popularity. Yes, she does have firm principles and values, but these are mostly private matters that tell us nothing about her abilities to lead a country.

Sarah Palin is the most unqualified VP candidate in living memory. Not only that, she has done nothing since the GOP convention to show us she's a quick learner or brilliant mind. It's fine to be ordinary. Most of us are regular and ordinary. But we have the self-awareness to know it, and we would not dare to presume we are equipped to be the second most important person in the nation.

(FrICTION is independent of both parties. We do not endorse Obama, we don't contribute funds to his campaign, nor do we receive money to comment on the campaign. We are concerned citizens who cannot believe the trick that John McCain is trying to play on the American public.)

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MT writes: "Well she committed a mistake that she cannot play around with the media, but this article is way too far in putting her down. If you compared her to Bill Clinton, he is a man who does not speak the truth and being in Oxford does not make him wise or brilliant. Sarah was part of the media before as a sportscaster and I do believe she understands how the media works and she just screwed up and she has to deal with it. When I listen to the transcript of her interview it is not Sarah Palin at all and I was shocked. But this is not her downfall. Everybody commits mistakes."

Roger writes: "I want a Vice President who can look Putin in the eye and tell him we will kick his ass and he believes it. Picture Palin and Putin face to face, he would pass out laughing."

Deanna writes: "She has my vote! I do not care about her interviews twisted by a hostile far left liberal press. Gosh the Obama camp and supporters must really fear Palin's appeal, why else spend all this time attacking her."

Raymond writes: "when will people realize that Sarah Palin is not qualified for vice president of the United States. if she ever became president than we are in big trouble. she has no idea on how to answer tough questions which are needed as vice president or as president."

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What must the GOP be thinking now? Get Out Palin

Katie Couric was stunned by Sarah Palin's inability to answer questions

A Republican Argues Why He Cannot Support Sarah Palin

by Alan Goldstein

I am a libertarian Republican. I take freedom very seriously. I don't want government interfering in my life, and I don't want other people's social convictions thrust upon me via Washington.

of dollars on an unnecessary war that burdens our economy, kills Americans, and makes the world less safe. 

I am strongly against the federal bank bailout because I think it amounts to rewarding businesses who have made colossally stupid decisions. 

I am against members of my own party, the so-called social conservatives, using the federal government to impose their social values on me, my friends, and family. They want to ban same-sex marriage because their social values tell them that central government has the right to deny gay people rights accorded to other citizens. By what right do they impose these values on me?

Decisions such as same sex marriage this should be left to the states; it is not a Washington matter. Similarly, many social conservatives want creationism to be taught in science classes, thus imposing a religious belief system on my children. Religion is a private matter; government should not be used to impose religion on anybody. Families and faith-based institutions are the places for religious instruction, not public schools.

These are some of the reasons why I cannot support Sarah Palin as vice president. She is not consistently Republican. She is not consistently for individual freedom. This is not surprising considering she is governor of Alaska, about the closest you can come to socialism in the United States. The governor of Alaska rules over state-run enterprises in an economic system that should be shunned by any true conservative.

Palin has also shown herself to be a supporter of taxation when it increases her own popularity. She imposed a windfall tax on the Alaskan oil industry, and she introduced a sales tax when she was mayor of Wasilla. She also lobbied for federal funds, your tax dollars, to be spent in her town, thus contradicting her later campaign stand against taxation and earmarks.

Her posittions on climate change and environmental protection seem to be based more on personal prejudice than sound scientific evidence. She is entitled to believe what she wants, but I get the impression that if action against the effects of climate change would make her more popular, she would support such action. Her removal of polar bears from the endangered list had nothing to do with good science. She did not even look at the evidence for or against.

This is a big problem with Palin. She is hopeless at handling detail. I do not see her as having a good enough mind to weigh up the pros and cons in complex matters. If she can get simple matters wrong, how is she going to handle the much more difficult issues of leading the country? I don't think she will handle them. McCain would probably give her a ceremonial role as VP and keep her as far away from power as he can.

I find myself embarrassed by Sarah Palin. She mocks good education, she pokes fun at those who use sentences with sub-clauses. She appears not to like people who read and think. 

I believe that Palin has no depth. She is all platitude and knee-jerk beliefs. She'll be unquestioningly loyal to McCain because she doesn't have a mind of her own. She wants the VP job so badly, she'll do and say anything to get there. She has no principles, other than the simplistic values of her evangelical faith, which might well entail commitment but certainly not thought.

Sarah Palin is a monumental mistake by John McCain. She was his bait to attract women voters, as though women vote in a block irrespective of principle. It's shallow thinking from a man who is supposed to have a keen, analytical mind.

I am ashamed of my party for supporting John McCain's choice of VP. I think he can save face by asking Sarah Palin to withdraw from the race.