Palin: Let's talk about the Supreme Court and Why Katie Couric is Annoying

Sarah Palin went on Fox News to talk about Supreme Court cases. Yup that's right. This time, she went on and on about the ones she disagrees with. 

Talking Points Memo said it best:

"You get sense that if Cameron had interrupted her at any point there, she would have had to start her answer all over again from the top."

She also told Carl Cameron of Fox News that she likes to read The NY Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Economist. Riiiiight. And supposedly the reason some of her answers seemed inadequate wasn't because she didn't know the answers,  it was because she was annoyed. Sam Stein of The Huffington Post reports that she was "annoyed" with the way Katie Couric handled their interview and complained that the CBS Evening News host failed to give her the opportunity to take a proverbial axe to Barack Obama. Palin claimed that Couric's questions put her in a lose-lose position.

"The Sarah Palin in those interviews was a little bit annoyed," she said. "It's like, man, no matter what you say, you are going to get clobbered. If you choose to answer a question, you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too."

She wants to convince us that all media outlets EXCEPT for Fox News are Liberal loving Palin haters? How is asking a vice presidential nominee about Supreme Court cases and news sources "out to get you" questions? 

Roe v Wade and Roe v Wade?

Finally, here's the footage of the much talked about supreme court question. In her interview with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin discussed why she thinks Roe v Wade was a bad decision. Couric asks Palin what other Supreme Court decisions she disagrees with. She names...Roe v Wade. Couric then asks her to name just one and unfortunately Palin is stumped.

At Least Palin Made Social Conservatives Happy

Now I remember why John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. To help win over the social conservative base. Palin talks about abortion and homosexuality with Katie Couric.

On Abortion:

In cases of rape and incest, she would "counsel to choose life" and make adoptions easier. She also doesn't support the morning-after pill as a form of contraception.

On Homosexuality:

She doesn't believe in judging "Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships." She says she has a good friend who is gay, but implies that homosexuality is a choice.

Come On, Just Name One...

Did Sarah Palin get another "trapdoor" question from Katie Couric? Here's a highlight from Palin's CBS News interview with Couric:

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested, "Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?" Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

She couldn't pick one news source? Not ONE? She MAJORED in journalism. Hmm, maybe this is all part of McCain's campaign strategy. Maybe Palin is just playing uninformed to lower expectations of her debate performance? Well, it's working. Expectations can't be any lower. Or can it?

McCain Looked Like Palin's Overprotective Dad

Did anyone else watch the joint interview McCain and Palin had with Katie Couric last night? It was a bit... strange. It was like McCain was Palin's overprotective dad who was trying to get her out of a "jam." At one point McCain started answering questions meant for Palin. Palin's answers seemed so rehearsed and McCain looked on like a proud parent. I was just waiting for her to lean over to him and ask if she was doing ok. Check it out below.

Supreme Court Question - Palin Definitely Needs a Lifeline

In an earlier post I mentioned the rumor of CBS having embarrassing unaired footage of Sarah Palin from last week's interview with Katie Couric. A CBS spokesperson later denied having any additional footage from the interview. WELL...according to Politico.com, CBS does have embarrassing footage. This is what they found:

Of concern to McCain's campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin's interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing.

The Palin aide, after first noting how "infuriating" it was for CBS to purportedly leak word about the gaffe, revealed that it came in response to a question about Supreme Court decisions.

After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases.

There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence.

Hypocrisy At Its Best

McCain surrogate Nancy Pfotenhauer was on Fox & Friends discussing what Sarah Palin may be up against at the upcoming vice presidential debate. Here is what Pfotenhauer had to say:

"Obviously you can have a series of "gotcha" questions..."

Nancy, what exactly are gotcha questions? Are those the same as questions that any other experienced vice presidential candidate can easily answer? Or maybe those questions are similar to the series of "trapdoor questions" Katie Couric asked her. Yes, Pfotenhauer really thought those were "trapdoor questions." See the clip below.




"My guess is that they're going to go very heavily on foreign policy." She adds, "Normally on vice presidential debates you see a more even-handed approach, particularly with the challenges we're facing with the nation's economy. So I would hope the questions would be more even-handed"

Commentator Steve Doocy adds, " Nancy, it sounds like they're stacking the deck against her because everybody knows that's Joe Biden's, you know, that's his forte. Why wouldn't they ask half and half? The average person is more concerned with domestic stuff than foreign stuff anyway."

Now foreign policy isn't what people are concerned with? Isn't this the same camp that is slamming Obama for lack of foreign policy experience? And how is asking foreign policy questions to a vice presidential candidate "stacking the deck against her?" Obama didn't get the same luxury of not getting asked those questions.

"I think whoever, you know the moderator, will have some questions to answer themselves if they do go so heavily foreign policy."

If you have to ask the moderator to go easy on someone who may very possibly be the next president of the United States, that might be a problem.

Uh Oh, Does CBS have more Palin/Couric Material for SNL?

Rumor has it that CBS has more un-aired footage from the Palin/Couric interview. The Daily Kos found this tidbit in Howard Kurtz' column:

And the worst may be yet to come for Palin; sources say CBS has two more responses on tape that will likely prove embarrassing.

I wonder when CBS will drop this bomb? I'm sure the Obama camp would love for it to air right before the election. But really, how can it get any worse? We've all seen her take on foreign policy experience.

*Update - A CBS spokesperson has said they've released all footage from last week's interview.

Turns out Palin Co-Wrote Last Night's SNL Skit

Tina Fey reprised her role as Sarah Palin last night on SNL. The skit was a parody of Palin's interview with Katie Couric (played by Amy Poehler).



Did Sarah Palin unknowingly co-write it? The skit used actual quotes from the interview. Hmm, doesn't it say a lot when a vice presidential candidate's words are used verbatim? Below is a highlight from the the skit:

POEHLER AS COURIC: "On foreign policy, I want to give you one more chance to explain your claim that you have foreign policy experience based on Alaska's proximity to Russia. What did you mean by that?"

FEY AS PALIN: "Well, Alaska and Russia are only separated by a narrow maritime border. (using her hands to illustrate) You got Alaska here, this right here is water, and this is Russia. So, we keep an eye on them."

POEHLER AS COURIC: "And how do you do that exactly?

FEY AS PALIN: "Every morning, when Alaskans wake up, one of the first things they do, is look outside to see if there are any Russians hanging around. And if there are, you gotta go up to them and ask, 'What are you doing here?' and if they can't give you a good reason, it's our responsibility to say, you know, 'Shoo! Get back over there!'

"Putin Rears His Head" . . .in Alaska

Here is part two of Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin. I felt like I was watching improv comedy. If this is a preview of what the debates will look like, I feel really bad for her. She needs a hug.

Thanks Washington Monthly for the transcript.

COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land -- boundary that we have with -- Canada. [...]

COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.

PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our -- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia --

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We -- we do -- 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. It's just right over the border. It is -- from Alaska that we send those out 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.

Palin allows Couric more than 29 seconds

Sarah Palin took time out from studying up on foreign policy to do an interview with Katie Couric. They focused on the economy and discussed the $700 billion dollar bail out, the risk of the Great Depression and the reports that the lobbying firm of McCain's campaign manager received money from Freddie Mac.

Here's an excerpt of the interview:

Couric: You've said, quote, "John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business." Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that's paramount. That's more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

Couric: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He's also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about - the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

Must...Stay...Up...Need...to...Watch...Letterman

My allergies are raging, I'm going on 4 hours of sleep and my body is ready to give out on me...but I MUST stay up and watch David Letterman.

Apparently John McCain was set to appear on Letterman tonight, but McCain called and told Dave that he had to cancel because he had to get back to Washington and deal with economic crisis. Well it turns out McCain never left for Washington. Here is how everything unfolded according to the Drudge Report.

In the middle of the taping Dave got word that McCain was, in fact just down the street being interviewed by Katie Couric. Dave even cut over to the live video of the interview, and said, "Hey Senator, can I give you a ride home?"

Earlier in the show, Dave kept saying, "You don't suspend your campaign. This doesn't smell right. This isn't the way a tested hero behaves." And he joked: "I think someone's putting something in his metamucil."

"He can't run the campaign because the economy is cratering? Fine, put in your second string quarterback, Sara Palin. Where is she?"

"What are you going to do if you're elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We've got a guy like that now!"

* Update - The reason the McCain camp canceled on Letterman? Because they "felt that it wasn't a good night for comedy." Point taken, but why lie about it????

*Update - Just watched it. Wow. I posted the video below