Here’s the transcript of Sarah Palin’s interview with Charlie ‘Chuckles’ Gibson for ABC News. Highlights include her explanation of God’s Plan for bringing American-style-pursuit-of-happiness-goodness to the rest of humanity and her observation that war with Russia may be on the McCain-Palin agenda.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Two comments:
(1) If you click the ABC videos, they just show a constant camera angle from the side–you can’t see her face. WTF is up with that???
(2) I see on dKos that everyone is flipping out because she made the logical connection that if (i) we allow Georgia to join Nato AND (ii) Russia invades Georgia THEN (iii) we would be obligated to defend Georgia. Sorry, but SO WHAT?!?! Frankly, I’m impressed that she knows this fact, since it happens to be true.
its called a soft interview..you can see her face twitch when she response if she is qualified or not. but she has good legs…
“can’t”..they must have conformed to McCAin’s guidelines for the interview. The question and the camera angle say it all, “no she cannot look into the camera and say she’s qualified.”
Great question Gibson, when the camera is left to the side and she will not look into the camera…
They didn’t want you to see Karl Rove coaching her reflected in her glasses, hence the side-only shot. š
Yes, prompting her off stage. What deceitful weidrness we’re living through. It all began with the black-and-white television scams about toothpaste, deodorant and antacid tablets in the glorious fifties.
war is good for war profits and oil sales but neocons should stop licking their lips. – To repeat Lincoln Chafee’s descriptive, the ‘cocky whacko’ is due to self-destruct. Only a question of time before every voter see how dangerous she presents. All the crash courses won’t help her to study 5,000 years of history.
More important is Cocky whacko’s Time Chart; her best before date kinda running on the very pale side, especially when joined at the hip with McCain’s.
Unless Diebold steals it for the Neocons, Obama still has the edge…but he should WTFU. stop the angling. There’s only one way to deal with liars.
130 days, less than 8 hours 36 minutes 52.3 seconds to go before inauguration day.
“the ‘cocky whacko’ is due to self-destruct. Only a question of time before every voter see how dangerous she presents.“
Don’t count on it. They won’t let anyone interview her or even talk to her who will not follow their carefully crafted script.
you can count on it. she’ll self destruct even with wearing an invisible ear piece.
In politics, you can’t control everything
First off, she threatens war with Russia. That business of ushering Georgia into NATO just became a lot harder for ‘Old Europe’ to do. They were quite relieved Georgia had not be placed into the queue early this Spring. Also, it just got harder to get Russia’s cooperation and help on a number of issues. Help, as in lending us money!!
Forget having Russia on board for Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan and even servicing the international space station.
Palin’s handlers had best remind, it’s never wise to threaten one’s banker…especially when you need desperate daily funding. The Chinese are taking notes.
Learn the hard way.
“You can count on it.“
I am not so optimistic. Expect the worst, hope for something slightly better than that.
“she’ll self destruct even with wearing an invisible ear piece.“
George Bush didn’t, and Palin is far more articulate and polished than he will ever be. I have been shocked at how many good, liberal and progressive people thought she was impressive at the Convention, despite the fact that the Republicans are anathema to everything they believe in.
“In politics, you can’t control everything.“
You don’t have to control everything. All you have to do is fool just enough of the people just long enough to get elected. I would think people would have learned that in 2000, and if not in 2000, certainly ni 2004.
“First off, she threatens war with Russia.“
Did she? Explicitly? Well, she is not alone in that, is she? So what’s new? Anyway, it’s never too late to go get those commies! And let’s liberate Czechoslovakia while we are at it!
“That business of ushering Georgia into NATO just became a lot harder for ‘Old Europe’ to do.“
And what’s wrong with that?
“Also, it just got harder to get Russia’s cooperation and help on a number of issues. Help, as in lending us money!!“
Good. It’s about time someone with some heft stood up to the U.S.
“Forget having Russia on board for Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan“
Even better. Iran hasn’t done anything it is not perfectly entitled to do, hasn’t invaded or attacked another country in 250-300 years, and should be left alone. North Korea will collapse of its own weight if left alone, and would not be using its resources on nuclear weapons if it were not being threatened all the time. Invading Afghanistan was the wrong response to 9/11, and more military violence is not going to solve that problem. The United States should get out of there anyway.
History proves that the more the U.S. mucks about in other countries’ business the worse mess they make. The fewer countries that are on board that train, the better off the world – including the United States – will be.
“…and even servicing the international space station.“
A small price to pay for all those benefits.
Say, maybe I should rethink my opinion of Palin. She could do a lot of good things after all.
“Palin is far more articulate and polished than he will ever be.”
I thought I was watching a George Bush interview. She talks in bullet points and nervous smiles.
Of course she talks in bullet points – that all she has had time to rotely memorize. But at least she speaks English, and has well-formed features, although despite that fact, I find her quite unattractive – the old beauty comes from within thing, I guess.
Excellent discussion and explication here; thanks guys.
Charlie is surprisingly stern and I like how he is firing questions at her one after another. I’m pleasantly surprised. She had no clue what the Bush doctrine was…
If he really did his job, he would have exposed her for the fraud she is. Did he? Unless the answer is yes, I’m not interested.
even better if she exposes herself as a fraud. if it’s gibson, then the zombie brigade will just continue to blame the eeeeeeeevil librul media. oh wait, they’ll do that regardless.
never mind.
She exposed herself to you and me, and perhaps to “Charlie”. But did she expose herself to the average American? I am betting not.
i’d like to go on record in saying that I’m soooo glad you’re here to share your comments. (really.)
If he did that, he wouldn’t be doing HIS job.
Gibson’s job is to pretend to be an interviewer giving a pretend interview. If he suddenly became a hard hitting interviewer we might all be very happy, but he’d probably never get an “exclusive” like this again. And he knows it. Bastard.
Theatre of the Absurd.
She lied in that interview.
She said that Russia’s invasion of Georgia was unprovoked. It was most certainly provoked.
But Gibson did not call her on it.
If Obama does not rake her over the coals on that, he deserves to lose. This is the beginning of a fundamental rewrite of history here.
It was not a slip.
Neither was Gibson missing that word.
It will be repeated again.
“Russia invaded Georgia unprovoked” will be said again by the GOP. I promise you this. Absolutely.
The plan is now in motion.
“She said that Russia’s invasion of Georgia was unprovoked. It was most certainly provoked.“
Yes, but how many people know that? Very few because the standard government line, repeated loyally by the media, is that it was unprovoked. They studiously close their eyes and ears, and do not look at the horrors Georgia unleashed on in South Ossetia, attacking and killing Russian citizens, before Russia came in.
“But Gibson did not call her on it.“
Because he probably believes, like virtually every other American, that it WAS unprovoked.
“If Obama does not rake her over the coals on that, he deserves to lose.“
“This is the beginning of a fundamental rewrite of history here.“
That history was being rewritten as it was happening. No rewrite needed. You’ll be lucky if 5% of Americans know what really happened.
She lied in that interview.
and that’s a revelation?
she’s lied non-stop since she was anointed, what galls is that gibson gave her nothing more than fluff questions…and then didn’t even have the stones to follow up on those.
that whole exchange is a joke:or a campaign ad…and a bad one at that.
Watch the clips at HuffPo…she hasn’t a damn clue what the Bush Doctrine is, and when asked about her national security credentials, she talks about energy.
Epic fail. Biden is going to wipe the floor with her during the debate. At least Quayle could come off acting like he knew a thing or two…or at least had a slightly bigger worldview than Palin.
PsiFighter, you underestimate the degree to which she has the average American understanding and curiosity about these matters. Very few Americans know enough to even question what she said.
election 2008
Bush II took the oath of office twice and the rest of the world asked what’s up with Americans.
guess the RoW will be head scratching again as Dems panic and shoot their own dog.
On The Hill there’s panic but no one comes out to help Obama take on the lies.
When I was in the Middle East earlier this year (Jordan, Lebanon, and mostly Syria) I had numerous conversations with all kinds of people at all levels of society, including several taxi drivers each day. I cannot count the number who asked me a variation of this question: I think the American people are really good and decent, aren’t they? But unlike us, they can choose their government, so why, if they ARE good people, do they choose someone like Bush not once, but twice?
The people of Arab and other Muslim countries generally have a positive idea about American people, and are completely flummoxed as to how they end up choosing such terrible people to govern their country.
The people of Arab and other Muslim countries generally have a positive idea about American people, and are completely flummoxed as to how they end up choosing such terrible people to govern their country.
Tell me about it. I LIVE here and I know a lot of folks who voted for Bush (twice) and I’m still flummoxed about how and why they could do it.
But isn’t it true that we really don’t elect our government? That pols are shoved down our throats with media budgets and political party hacks placed on the ballot? We don’t choose, the elite and the connected create the governments that they want, state, local, and federal.
Isis, the people of the U.S. cannot duck the responsibility that easily. Voters get the government they deserve. Voting entails enormous responsibility, and that responsibility includes much more than just going to the polls on election day. American people as a whole do not appreciate what they have, and use it very badly.
What, no thread on the Candidates Forum on Service? McCain just finished, using humor to get him over some humps. Obama just came out.
What the hell was ABC thinking by running an interview with Palin on the anniversary of 9/11? I hang around the blogs a lot, and didn’t notice much controversy about the scheduling of that interview. Is it too much to expect that we could have had a day of solemn recollection, and not do politics today?
WTF ???
I really don’t think it was planned at all. Just like how Palin’s son joined the military on 9/11, and happens to be deploying on 9/11 as well (which she so graciously pointed out by her). Completely random.
Totally.
of course I meant “WAS so graciously pointed out by her.” Damn it.
I am SO OVER the big yearly 9/11 anniversary reminder. Your country has unleashed a million 9/11’s since 9/11, and no one holds an annual commemoration of a single one of them. The Congo has had the equivalent of tens of thousands of 9/11’s and no one has noticed. Ditto Darfur, and…and…and…. And the Palestinians have had 60 years of daily 9/11’s at the hands of the “only democracy in the Middle East”, and America treats the criminals who perpetrate those atrocities as the victims of their victims.
Get over yourselves, people, and move on. Your 9/11 is relatively unimpressive.
Her coaches took a page out of “Born Yesterday” wth Melanie Griffith & Don Johnson…gave her a set of pat answers that worked for any question. Course her ego wouldn’t allow her to just stfu. She’s giving hardworking soccer moms a bad rap.
It is awesome, just by reading the transcript I can see a glimpse of what the talking points they most strenuously hammered into her head were. Here are just a few I took away:
Oops.
She didn’t even know what the Bush Doctrine was!
.
(The New York Times) – “There is a system out there or network, and that network is going to have to be attacked,” Mr. McCain said the next morning on ABC News. “It isn’t just Afghanistan,” he added, on MSNBC. “I don’t think if you got bin Laden tomorrow that the threat has disappeared,” he said on CBS, pointing toward other countries in the Middle East.
Within a month he made clear his priority. “Very obviously Iraq is the first country,” he declared on CNN. By Jan. 2, Mr. McCain was on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in the Arabian Sea, yelling to a crowd of sailors and airmen: “Next up, Baghdad!”
Iraq: there is a plan – “God’s Plan”
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."I can’t take four more years of shame. I want other countries to see our leaders and respect them. This is pitiful. How embarrassing that she is on the ticket of a major party.
They must have told her to say Charlie over and over as a way to disarm him. Why not just flash him or kick him in the balls it would have been more effective. Good grief the differences between her and Hillary are measured in light years. She will set women back a hundred if not a thousand years.
Did he call her Sarah?
I believe he called her Governor Palin.
Well, if he called her Governor Palin she was being very condescending towards him calling him Charlie, treating him like a minion (the one he actually is) in her employ. She was being sexist, belittling a man, being disrespectful of him, refusing to extend the deference to others she demands from those who are allowed to approach her. What a telling detail: rudeness. Or is rudeness nowadays a family value? I don’t have a family so you’ll have to clue me in. Of course they agreed beforehand how they were going to address each other. What a runt Gibson is to grovel before her like that.
ps – I agree with Salunga that calling him Charlie was an attempt to disarm him with her ‘good looks and charm’. Back to the 50s we go.
Lisa, you know she was spewing projectile bullshit diarrhea all over the set, I know she was spewing projectile bullshit diarrhea all over the set, “Charlie” clearly knew she was spewing projectile bullshit diarrhea all over him and the set. But that is irrelevant, because the majority of Americans were cheering and shouting “right on!” even as the projectile bullshit diarrhea shot out of their TV screens and filled their houses, burying them neck deep. They don’t even detect the horrible stench of it. And they are the ones who matter, not you, not me, and not even “Charlie”, who made a vain and feeble attempt to call her on it.
I haven’t yet had the pleasure (gag!) of reading or watching Caribou Barbie’s interview, but already I have bad news for you:
I spoke tonight with a prominent local Democrat, who said he had just heard the interview.
When I asked if it had been a puff piece, he replied, “No.” When I asked if she had tanked, he said no — that she had sounded good!
And this is from someone who is smart and on OUR side!
Heaven help us when the rave reviews come in from Joe Sixpack…
What did I tell you, people? No one is noticing that they are neck deep in stinking bullshit diarrhea because the one spewing it sounded confident.
I think that three decades of attacking the Grenadas of the world has given the typical American a false presumption of what a war with Russia would look like.
It would very soon look like the Stone Age.
Perhaps so.