A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS by Christine Bowman
Will the GOP repackage Palin to tug at voters' heartstrings?
Jill Zuckman scored a rarity in this campaign season -- an exclusive interview with Sarah Palin. Zuckman's write-up for today's Chicago Tribune is, sadly, little more than a campaign puff piece.
The softball questions and the way the article is edited allowed Palin to push her talking points and avoid any stumbles on the eve of delivering her first, and perhaps only, national speech on a public policy issue, a talk on children with special needs. There's no mention of Palin being deposed Friday by an independent investigator working for the Alaska personnel board, either.
Instead, Zuckman began by giving Palin her chance to deflect criticism of expenditures on Palin family clothing, hairstyles and makeup -- the $150,000 RNC outlay for the month of September. Palin asserted that she and her family are "frugal," and she allowed as how "It's kind of painful to be criticized ..." Zuckman didn't follow up or ask how the Neiman Marcus shopping spree jives with the campaign's Joe the Plumber talking point.
As transition into talking about any policy issues, Zuckman paused to portray Palin as a hapless victim. "Thrust into the national spotlight [to the contrary, Palin leapt into the fray with nary "a blink"] ... Palin has found herself [note passive sentence construction] under the microscope ever since, accused [there's the victim card again] of being inexperienced, a drag on the ticket, and most recently the recipient of racks of expensive clothes." Which part of that isn't true?
Palin also turned the exclusive interview into an opportunity to reestablish the link in voters' minds between herself and Senator Hillary Clinton. "I think Hillary Clinton was held to a different standard ... remember that double standard. ... I'm not going to complain about it, I'm not going to whine about it ..." Palin said, as she complained and whined about reports critical not of how she looked but of what the RNC spent to make Palin and her family look their best. Palin and her campaign are being criticized for conspicuous spending. Scrutiny of Clinton's look year in and year out was much more personal.
Zuckman did eventually let Palin preview her policy speech about funding for children with special needs. Zuckman summarized but did not analyze the McCain/Palin proposals. It appears that McCain and Palin want to piggyback two conservative issues -- school choice legislation and channeling funds to religious groups -- with more fully providing for such children. Instead of a "clean" bill, would theirs be a complex one that will be fought by special interests types and then defeated?
Then comes the piece de resistance and grand finale of Zuckman's hard-hitting journalism:
Palin's eyes well up as she talks about her sister's son, Karcher, who has autism."My sister and I have talked a lot about this. It makes me cry thinking about it," Palin said. "She asked with tears in her eyes, she says, 'What happens when Kurt and I, though, are elderly, then what happens to Karcher?' "
Palin's eyes well up as she talks about her sister's son, Karcher, who has autism.
"My sister and I have talked a lot about this. It makes me cry thinking about it," Palin said. "She asked with tears in her eyes, she says, 'What happens when Kurt and I, though, are elderly, then what happens to Karcher?' "
Well, nice try repainting Sarah Barracuda, Sarah the Moose Hunter, Sarah the Pit Bull as Sarah the Sensitive.
Last January, many pundits and campaign poobahs were impressed and puzzled when Hillary Clinton pulled out a win in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, despite all the polls and many of the pundits having predicted that Obama had the state and even the nomination sewn up. When Hillary Clinton won, many concluded that her tearful on-camera comments about how hard it all was, made the critical difference. They figured voters liked the humanized, femininized candidate and came out to support her at the polls in droves.
That may or may not have been what happened. There are other plausible theories floating around on what happened in New Hampshire.
At any rate, it looks like the McCain/Palin team feels this sensitizing thing is at least worth a try. They can see how it flies. I wonder, did the GOP get Palin's teary-eyed moment on camera? And will their timing prove to be good enough? Stay tuned.
Interview transcript is here.
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