John McCain has been accusing the media of practicing "gotcha" journalism and jumping on any opportunity to twist Palin's words and make her sound uninformed (see: the Pakistan thing).
Sadly, they don't need to twist her words. Here, for example, is a transcript of her exchange with Katie Couric re: the bail-out.
Katie Couric: Why isn't it better, Gov. Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
Gov. Sarah Palin: 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.
Err.... WHAT? Granted, it was a poorly worded and heavily weighted question, but there wasn't a complete, coherent sentence in her entire response. She sounds like a sound bite generating robot with a short circuit.
The shame of it is that I like John McCain. If he'd beat out Bush for the Republican nomination in 2000 I would have voted for him in a heartbeat, but I think he's missed his window. (He even admitted that himself in 2000, saying that by 2008 he'd "be ready to go down to the old soldiers home and await the cavalry charge there.") Still, I might have been swayed back into his camp with a solid Vice Presidential pick, especially after Obama (who I love) picked Biden (who I loathe). Palin, however, couldn't be farther from solid and I am terrified of the thought that she could someday sit in the Oval Office. No chance in hell I'd cast a vote that would put her anywhere near the Vice Presidency. No fucking way.
Please somebody, anybody, talk some sense into the Republican party so that this woman steps down. She's so clearly out of her league that her continued presence on the Republican ticket is nothing short of an embarrassment.
To quote Michael Seitzman:
Stop voting for people you want to have a beer with. Stop voting for folksy. Stop voting for people who remind you of your neighbor. Stop voting for the ideologically intransigent, the staggeringly ignorant, and the blazingly incompetent.
Vote for someone smarter than you. Vote for someone who inspires you. Vote for someone who has not only traveled the world but who has also shown a deep understanding and compassion for it. The stakes are real and they're terrifyingly high. This election matters. It matters. It really matters. Let me say that one more time. This. Really. Matters.
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