The Charlie Gibson Interview, Part 1

Tonight Governor Palin sat down with Charlie Gibson for her first serious interview since being named the Vice Presidential Nominee for the Republican Party.

Charlie Gibson was extremely patronizing. He was both literally and figuratively looking down at Governor Palin. The editing was horrible and all of the questions were attempts at a “gotcha” moment, crafted for “yes” or “no” answers when neither “yes” or “no” would suffice. I’m still wondering if we will ever see Barack Obama interviewed like this, or for that matter Joe Biden.

But that’s fine.

You want to play games and hold us to a higher standard? That’s fine… we can take it. We expect the media to be tough on the other side and they don’t, but rather than whine about it exclusively we should step up and take it. Lead by example and show the American people what real character looks like.

So if Charlie Gibson wants to try and distort Palin quotes (which he did) or try to get her locked into a war with Russia before election day… that’s fine. But remember this, Barack Obama and Joe Biden both support Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO, so Governor Palin was not only right when she said that might lead us into a defensive war of our treaty partners, but she’s also not alone (unless Obama and Biden don’t understand what a defensive treaty is). And to my knowledge, President George W. Bush never defined the “Bush Doctrine,” the media did. Supporting this is not simply a “yes” or “no” answer as 1) it’s not formally defined and 2) its not a simple “yes” or “no” proposition and 3) of course she isn’t going to commit herself to a hypothetical preemptive war. But Governor Palin handled it well and answered it forthright, not in a “blizzard of words” but with honesty. She could have danced around with nuance not saying anything, but we’ll leave that to Obama.

I also found the Israel questioning suspect. And while I wouldn’t change the answer I would add something to it. A President or Vice President shouldn’t answer hypothetical questions or limit their options. But clearly Governor Palin is right, Israel has the right to defend itself and it should never be the policy of the United States of America to infringe upon that right.

UPDATE: I stayed up to watch Nightline last night.  The editting was certainly better and I think Governor Palin came across much better with less edits than she did during the Nightly News.  I still think some of the questions were a crock and shame on Charlie Gibson for misquoting her regarding the war in Iraq (which the AP and other outlets are STILL carrying wrong).  Funny how they give Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt on his “lipstick” context, but don’t pay attention to the ACTUAL QUOTE and UNQUESTIONABLE CONTEXT of Governor Palin’s quote/prayer.  But what do you expect from the liberal media?

At least the LA Times got the prayer quote right… too bad they blew it with their wrongful criticism of her Cold War nod to President Reagan.