Legal Commentary

Why Isn't Palin's Lack of Knowledge the Story?

By TChris

Despite writing for the traditional print media, Richard Cohen tells us today that he joins Sarah Palin in not having "a very high opinion of the mainstream media." Palin has been dutifully mouthing the standard, unimaginative Republican attack on the "librul media." Cohen hints at the more responsible point (although not in these words): a double standard governs much of the corporate media, one that lets Republicans avoid serious scrutiny while magnifying Republican smears that are leveled against Democrats.

Take, for instance, the GOP's insistence that Sarah Palin is qualified to be vice president because she's a regular gal, a hockey mom who raised a family while gaining some modest political experience. What would happen if Democrats ran a candidate who winked at the camera in lieu of giving straight answers to difficult questions?

[more ...]

Can you imagine the reaction of the press corps if [Hillary] Clinton had given the audience a "hiya, sailor" wink? Can you imagine the feverish blogging across the political spectrum if Clinton had claimed credit for stopping a bridge that, in fact, had set her heart aflutter? What if she had shown that she didn't know squat about the Constitution, if she could not tell Katie Couric what newspapers or magazines she read or if she had claimed an intimacy with foreign affairs based on sighting Russia through binoculars?

Ah, but the scorn, approbation and ridicule that would have descended on Clinton -- I can just imagine the Journal editorial -- have been withheld from Palin. Much of the mainstream media, grading on a curve suitable for a parrot -- "greed and corruption, greed and corruption, greed and corruption" -- gave her a passing grade or better. I agree with Palin. It's the mainstream media that flunked.

Palin exceeded expectations in the debate because expectations were set at zero. Shouldn't that have been the story? It would have been if Democrats had nominated such an unknowledgeable, unqualified candidate for high office.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 07, 2008 (boomark / email).