Strictly from a media savvy point of view, I see great potential and steady growth as she gets more experience in front of the national media. IMHO, she seems to be improving in that respect.

I’ve been in situations where I was forced to defend a position and answer hard questions in a semi-public setting. It took more than a few times for me to become smooth at it so I seemed more natural, even on things that I really knew my stuff on. That’s just my perspective.

Because of that, I give any candidate with little experience in front of the national media, the benefit of the doubt. I’ll look beyond weaknesses in that area to the meat of what they stand for, at least in the beginning. I don’t begrudge Obama’s or Biden’s gaffes either, even though they’ve had more experience in front of the national media. Heck, we’re all human. To me, those are all just distractions from the real meat.

I’m more interested to her response to some of the more off the wall questions as you know that she didn’t have talking points for those questions. On that, she did horribly. She couldn’t even answer what news sources she uses, or name a Supreme Court case that she didn’t agree with (Dred Scott, Kelo, how hard is this?)

That’s exactly my point.

And how is someone who appears to have no grasp on foreign policy (other than being able to see Russia from her home state) going to manage our foreign policy?

I didn’t see it that way. I believe you’re making a caricature of her responses. She had decent answers regarding the Georgian conflict and Iran and Israel and energy policy than you appear to be giving her credit for. You may not agree with what she said, but I thought she articulated those answers well.

I saw her in the Alaskan governor race debate. She looked a lot better in that. I say McCain’s folks should just let her be herself.

I think a much better criterion for choosing a VP is where they stand on the issues and what they’ll actually do in office.

Except that her stances on the issues appears to be whatever John McCain thinks is best. Well, what happens when McCain drops dead and she’s the President? And how is someone who appears to have no grasp on foreign policy (other than being able to see Russia from her home state) going to manage our foreign policy?

Biden makes gaffes. Palin often makes little sense.

I’ll take the former.

Running for Vice President, don’t Juneau

I am still anchoraged’d that she was chosen. Shows a thought or two for the future.

I think a much better criterion for choosing a VP is where they stand on the issues and what they’ll actually do in office.

Good interviewees with a polished media presence aren’t necessarily good leaders and vice-versa. Heck, Hitler had a charismatic media presence for his time.

How many of us Average Joes would interview well or speak articulately on camera?

She may not be polished yet, but that’s not mecessarily a bad thing in my book. Polished candidates have an easier time lying to your face. Those are the ones that really worry me.

If Ronald Reagan hadn’t backed up his polished presence with actions, he would have had me worried too.

For example; If I am told people cannot breathe water, and the very best pearl divers in the world can only hold their breaths for 4 to 7 minutes, should it really be necessary for them to tell me not to build my house on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico?

I do not think McCain’s spin machine is nearly as slick and as well run as Obama’s. Then again, nobody is as slick and as devious as the liberal press.

Oh well, all I know is that Republicans are not going to take my guns away. Go Palin.

Except that she didn’t seem to know what any of them were. And, of course Charlie Gibson also screwed it up when he tried to summarize the one he was talking about.

With the Couric interview, I like the way one blogger or pundit (can’t remember who) put it: the problem isn’t so much that she didn’t know the answers, but that so often, she didn’t seem to understand the questions.

Look, Palin’s the symptom, not the disease. The disease is McCain’s propensity to do anything and everything to win, no matter how it looks and what it means for the country. Even if that means putting someone obviously over her head a heartbeat away.

The problem for McCain supporters, I think, is that they’re going to have no earthly idea what they’ll actually get should McCain win. He’s changed so many positions so drastically, it’s hard to keep track of which positions are the sincere ones and which are the panders.

This was not a difficult question. If you were asked this question, you could answer it as you’ve done…I use an RSS reader, so I can’t remember everything that I use, but here are some examples, instead she dodged the question. This wasn’t a question about Russia or foreign policy, it was asking what new sources do you read/watch.

As a result, the only thing we have to go on is her interview with Charlie and Katie Couric. From these interviews, we’ve learned that she doesn’t know what the Bush Doctrine is, can see Russia from her home, can’t tell you what news sources she uses, can’t name a Supreme Court case other than Roe (not even Heller or Kelo), whatever her incoherent response to the bailout question reveals, amongst a bunch of other things.

If she were on the stump more and if she agreed to more interviews, there would be more to go on. Beyond that, Biden has a long history that the American people are aware of, nobody knew Sarah Palin until she was put on the ticket.

You know, Biden’s parents being space aliens might actually explain some things about him…

IF, IF McCain had any political smarts, he would send Sarah out to be Sarah and say “if they ask you what my policy is, say “when you interview John McCain,ask him”. IF he wanted to be really different, he would tell Palin to give HER VIEWS and that she would be free in his administration to represent, disagree and argue for those conservative views that McCain has generally ignored.

But I’m tired of being told I should give my vote to phony conservatives like Dole, like Bush, and like McCain when they do virtually NOTHING to get my vote!!

The only difference is who they put as first string.