Sarah Palin was on the Rush Limbaugh show today and made what was, to me anyway, a rather remarkable, if not brazen, claim:
RUSH: There are two stories today — one in the Los Angeles Times, one in the New York Times — both saying how wonderful you are as a speaker. The New York Times posited that you are the most forceful and dynamic speaker of all four candidates on the presidential circuit. Then they said that your forcefulness and your opinionatedness and your charisma and your overwhelming ability to say what you mean, is driving away moderates. Now, this is an attempt to get you to shut up.
GOVERNOR PALIN: (laughing)
RUSH: This is an attempt by the media to make you stop being who you are. What it means is, they’re really worried about the effectiveness that you have.
GOVERNOR PALIN: Well, yeah, I guess that message is they do want me to sit down and shut up. But that’s not going to happen. I care too much about this great country.
One might want to say any number of things about the mainstream press, but one thing that is clearly not true is that they want Palin to sit down and shut up. At the very minimum, the media love to interview candidates and they need speeches and such for articles. Beyond that, there is little doubt that Palin draws attention (which means viewers, listeners or readers for anyone who interviews her or even writes about her). Even if one wishes to buy the line that the MSM is out to get Palin, surely they would want to get her their shows and try to play “gotcha” journalism. She is, at a minimum, a controversial figure, and she draws attention. The press decidedly do not want her to shut up!
As such, the claim that the media want her quiet is remarkable. Indeed, if anyone has sought to keep her under wraps, it has been her own campaign and indeed, many McCain supporters lauded that approach, as they argued that it showed the MSM what for (see some of the comments in this post, for example).
Really, I am stunned by this statement. It is one thing to want to play the “I want to talk directly to the American people without the filter of the mainstream media” card, and yet another to pretend like one’s lack of availability is the fault of those seeking to speak to one. And, btw, the “speaking directly to the American people” card is bogus, if by that one means the convention speech, canned responses at debates (especially if one states outright that they plan to not answer the questions the moderator puts forth) and campaign stops. Those are highly contrived and controlled events that are hardly unfiltered. Of course, while it is bogus, it is at least honest, unlike the claim made above.
Some posts on this subject from the past:
- At Least Some Things are Consistent (Palin and the Press Edition)
- McCain Campaign: Palin will Appear when she is “comfortable”
- Apparently the McCain Folks Thing Palin isn’t Ready for Prime Time
The views expressed in the comments are the sole responsibility of the person leaving those comments. They do not reflect the opinion of the author of PoliBlog, nor have they been vetted by the author.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
The thing I was wondering about was Rush’s characterization of the NY Times and LA Times stories: “The New York Times posited that you are the most forceful and dynamic speaker of all four candidates on the presidential circuit.”
Huh??? Did they really say that? I have to imagine Rush is stretching something waaayyy out of proportion here.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Indeed. I haven’t had time to look up the stories.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Sarah Palin has been filtered through MSM and the entertainment venues to come off as an idiot. The fun part is that regardless of the overwhelming bad press she’s gotten, she hasn’t lost or given up one iota of who she really is and stays on course magnificently.
October 14th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
“A Riveting Speaker, Waving the Flag” by Patrick Healy is a NY Times (10/13/08)article stating that Palin is “the most electrifying speechmaker among the four…” “She generates enormous fervor…”
The author then speculates that her “partisan zeal” could turn off independents in battleground states. This must be what Limbaugh is referring to by alleging MSM wants her to shut-up and sit-down. ISTM like a bit of el Rushbo Psych-ops spinning. (evidence that MSM media wants to silence her: they insist upon pointing out she’s not popular among independents.)
October 14th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I have to disagree with you on this one. I think that the media does want her to shut up at this point. It seems doubtful that she would get caught in another Katie Couric situation, but if she keeps quiet it reinforces the brainless former beauty pageant contestant that can’t be trusted by the campaign storyline. That requires a lot less work on the part of the media to perpetuate.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
ts:
Your hypothesis is easy to test: if the McCain camp actually makes her available, and the nets aren’t interested, you’d be right.
However, I expect that there will no such press availability for Palin.
If the McCain camp thought that more Palin exposure in the mass media would help them, then there would be more Palin exposure in the mass media.
I predict that there won’t be, but rather that her exposure will be limited to controlled situations or very, very friendly venues (such as Limbaugh’s show).
October 14th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
the media wants palin to shut up ? anybody can see thru this crap ! palin WILL NOT HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE if the 5 major networks paid for it !
October 15th, 2008 at 12:13 am
Yana7 ~ All due respect, but you’re drinking the kool-aid.
Being unable or unwilling to name the media outlets one gets their news from is not “media filtering”. Neither is refusing to answer the questions one is asked during a debate.
And while I think she is a horrible candidate, I’ve never once said (or thought seriously) that she’s an idiot. Just supremely under-qualified for the task at-hand. And sorely lacking in many of the skills required for the job, as evidenced by her behavior. Being VPOTUS requires a lot more than nuance, bravado, a bright smile and the abilty to wink.
The campaign’s outright refusal to allow MSM access to her since her announcement is a perfect case in point; Biden is renowned for his ability to talk too much, yet he has done hundreds of interviews since joining Obama’s campaign.
For people who haven’t yet made up their minds, having access to the candidates is important. And those people are exactly who McCain/Palin should be courting right now.
Your parroting of the Bush administration’s favorite line “stay the course” is where you miss the point, IMHO.
“Stay the course” is a decision that is made after factoring all of the variables of a situation. Not a mantra to be repeated over and over again in the face of overwhelming odds.
And since it is a nautical term, let’s use the obvious example; if Gov. Palin were Captain of a ship, and a report came in from the Watch that there was an iceberg dead-ahead, she would order the Helmsman to “stay the course”.
And it appears that you would applaud her for it. Even if it meant the destruction of her vessel and the deaths of everyone on board.
They call it “the ship of state” for a reason - my analogy is a good one, even if it makes you uncomfortable. Bravado and inflexibility for the sake of pride have no more place in the second most powerful office in the world than they do on the bridge of a ship.
And to your “who she really is” comment - I point you to the recent finding that she abused her power as Governor.
So far I haven’t seen or heard anything to change my initial impression of her. And her silence doesn’t help matters a bit. I don’t swallow the bait from either side. Rhetoric has little effect on me when it’s unsupported. And my substantial research has shown Obama to be far more up-front on his policies and direction than McCain. A quick visit to the candidate’s websites makes that clear.
McCain/Palin are speaking to people like you… people who already support them. People who don’t care to dig deeper. And that is why they are struggling by some accounts. Perhaps they know that by appealing to the people they really need, they would alienate their base too much?
Perhaps this is why they are simply cycling through one attack after another, rather than speaking to their policies? I don’t blame them… it has worked swimingly for the GOP in many elections, especially the last two.
But after the past (almost) 8 years… what if people are just fed-up with the snarky deflection from the real issues as I suspect they are?
In that world, is “stay the course” really the best strategy?
Time will tell.
October 15th, 2008 at 10:18 am
When Hilliary complained about sexist treatment from the big O she was backed by many female groups. What has happened in the case of Palin is the worst sexist attacks in the history of man (amd woman). When she speaks the mainline press attacks her like a maddened bull. Its to bad the press will be making the decision on who will be the next president. They are not qualified!