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Good Lord

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Sarah Palin’s CBS interview with Katie Couric was a train wreck. Video when I can get it.

*** Update ***

Here is one. The video of her answering about Rick Davis was even worse. And that does not even count the clip with her getting riled up about a depression.

More here:

Train wreck. Now do you understand why they are trying to weasel out of the debate?

Reader Interactions

84Comments

  3. 3.

    Comrade Fwiffo

    Here’s a longer clip. I couldn’t make it though 60 seconds without cringing. Couric’s “could we have another great depression” was straight up stupid though. Get some fucking perspective. Yeah, things are gonna suck, maybe suck hard, but the depression was orders of magnitude worse than anything anyone since then has ever experienced economically.

    I also love this story. Here’s how they came up with $700 billion.

    “It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

    Asked who they expected to buy this shit, the spokeswoman replied “Well, these rats sure ain’t gonna fuck themselves.”

  6. 6.

    Comrade EdTheRed

    Wow. This train wreck is truly, truly epic. I actually think even Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis would have wiped the floor with these jokers.

    You want a crisis? I can get you a crisis, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don’t wanna know about it, believe me. Hell, I can get you a crisis by 3 o’clock this afternoon… with lipstick. These fucking amateurs…

    (PS: speaking of fucking amateurs, WTF is with WordPress?)

  7. 7.

    Rob

    Soooo sick and tired of this phony ass homespun bullshit the Republicans keep ginning up. Sasa Ralin is the worst example of it ever seen And that is saying a lot.

  8. 8.

    demkat620

    She is just terrifyingly stupid. God save us all.

    OT but condolences John, from my whole family and our adopted JRT.

  9. 9.

    Jake

    You have to wonder if McCain’s stunt today isn’t a gambit to provide media cover for the EPIC FAIL that is that Couric interview.

  10. 10.

    heyoo

    Another part of the interview:

    Palin: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and…
    Couric: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
    Palin: Exactly.
    Couric: Does that mean it’s louder? Is it any louder?
    Palin: Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
    Couric: I don’t know.
    Palin: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
    Couric: Put it up to eleven.
    Palin: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
    Couric: Why don’t you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
    Palin: [pause] These go to eleven.

  11. 11.

    Colonel Danite

    Remember when we used to have presidential nominees who were educated and sounded like educated people? In this decade we’ve had a moron from Connecticut who speaks like an uneducated West Texas roughneck and now this woman who can’t bother to pronounce the word “you” in a formal interview setting. Call me an elitist but I want a president who says “you” instead of “ya”, “going” instead or “goin” and “nuclear” instead of “nucular”. Is that too much to ask?

  12. 12.

    Comrade PeterJ

    News Hounds got a post about Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili appearing on Your World with Neil Cavuto.

    Cavuto: “Let me ask you ah, Mr. President, I know you met with someone who wants to be the next vice president of the United States, Sarah Palin. There were many at the UN who said she isn’t up to speed. She isn’t up to the job. Um, what did you think?”

    Saakashvili: “Well, first of all, I met both of them. I mean, Joe Biden is a long-time friend. Amazingly smart guy who gets very good perspective on Georgia’s situation. Um, I ah, met Sarah Palin and, ah, she was wonderful. She was absolutely delightful.”

    No wonder that they want to postpone the VP debate to November 5th.

  13. 13.

    SnarkyShark

    Well Comrade Cole, it looks like its time to Nationalize Katie Couric.

    We can put her to work driving a tractor at the Bakersfield Commune.

    Long live the Proles!

  15. 15.

    Comrade EdTheRed

    Wow. This train wreck is truly, truly epic. I actually think even Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis would have wiped the floor with these jokers.

    You want a crisis? I can get you a crisis, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don’t wanna know about it, believe me. Hell, I can get you a crisis by 3 o’clock this afternoon… with lipstick. These fucking amateurs…

  18. 18.

    corwin

    Katie Couric is too tough on Sarah Palin?!?

    Can we get her on Colbert? She would implode in about 30 seconds.

  19. 19.

    dr. bloor

    You want a train wreck? I’ve got President Irrelevant on my teevee screen as I type, trying to look authoritative and knowledgeable as he talks about his economic legacy, but looking more like he’s trying to hold back an episode of blow out diarrhea.

  23. 23.

    DaveInOz

    Perhaps Joe Biden should offer to step aside and let Dan Quayle debate her. No, even that might be too tough.

    It would be a hell of a show though.

  25. 25.

    SGEW

    “I’m not looking at poll numbers . . . .” – Gov. Palin

    “I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion po . . . .” – V.P. Cheney

    She’s a keeper.

  26. 26.

    D-Chance.

    BTW, Obamamerica should bottle and preserve the last 6 hours. Easily the highest point he’ll see in this campaign. If he doesn’t emerge with a double-digit lead come Monday morning, we should just have a voice acclamation for Hillary and get it over with, screw the elections.

  27. 27.

    Ecks

    That was a mighty impressive interview performance*.

    I just can’t believe Katie Couric asked all those hard questions. Doesn’t she know it’s sexist to challenge a woman.

    * For a branch manager position.

  28. 28.

    Colonel Danite

    I used to have an application for my old Palm Pilot that generated random company mission statements. You would press a button and it would shoot out “We will shift paradigms to maximize customer happiness” and then hit the button again and it would spew “We will make customers satisfied by thinking outside old paradigms”.
    I think that’s how Schmidt and Rove have programmed Palin. She not actually saying anything meaningful. She’s just grouping key words together into almost coherent sentences. I can’t believe that almost half of the voters in this country actually want her and McCain to run this country!

  29. 29.

    The Dangerman

    You have to wonder if McCain’s stunt today isn’t a gambit to provide media cover for the EPIC FAIL that is that Couric interview.

    I smell an even bigger stunt; all of this is pretense to boot Palin back to Alaska under the guise of an emergency. I’m calling it as Romney by the end of the weekend.

    Of course, the Fundies will take a walk and the Republican Party will schism into nonviable parties for a while, but that works for me.

    Seriously, along with the whole Palin thing (as in, what the fuck were they thinking?), and if this isn’t a stunt, how in the fuck did we get to a point where a relative few weeks before an election we would be threatened with financial collapse without action? This is bizarre beyond words.

  30. 30.

    jaime

    Proof positive that McCain voters are just as stupid as Sarah Palin. This from a Dipshit Dan Riehl poster:

    As regards McCain’s offer to take the VP debate date, I thought that was a step towards showing respect towards Senator Obama and his need to have the debate. It was a very nice gesture. Why do people always have to put spin on everything? I’m sure Sarah Palin and Joe Biden would gladly give up the debate if the presidential candidate asked them to do this.

  31. 31.

    Comrade EdTheRed

    Dear sweet baby witchhunting jeebus…that Letterman clip is sweet.

    Also, Bush remains a complete tool.

  32. 32.

    Dennis - SGMM

    This may mean that “that thing you do with your tongue” is not sufficient to qualify a person for the vice-presidency.

  33. 33.

    Svensker

    My gosh, as much as I dislike this woman for her pretensions to power (let alone the wingnuttery), there’s still part of me that is humiliated for her. She should just go home and bake some cookies, or somethin’.

    Can it get worse?

  34. 34.

    Comrade PeterJ

    Even more brutal… Letterman tears into McCain.

    I highly doubt that McCain will rescedule his appearance, nor do I think that McCain ever will appear on The Daily Show again (and he’s been on TDS 13 times, most of any guests)

  35. 35.

    SGEW

    When John McCain loses the presidency to some black guy no one’s ever heard of, he’ll be sad; and he won’t even have any of his old friends anymore to console him.

    Tragic.

  36. 36.

    J.D. Rhoades

    “I’ll try to find ya some an’ I’ll bring em to ya!”

    She does everything but crack her chewing gum. I mean, I’m sorry, but am I the only one who thinks this is the most unprofessional sounding candidate we’ve ever had for high office?

  37. 37.

    Comrade PeterJ

    When John McCain loses the presidency to some black guy no one’s ever heard of, he’ll be sad; and he won’t even have any of his old friends anymore to console him.

    Tragic.

    Guess how pissed his wife will be. She’s too old to start over again with a new prospect.

  38. 38.

    Comrade Cumrag

    If Sarah Palin was really the quick study she’s touted to be, she’d realize she’s a fuckin’ idiot.

  39. 39.

    Mary

    This is incredibly painful to watch. That walky-talky thing at the beginning of the interview: wow. I actually felt sorry for Palin. Not only did she sound terrified and barely coherent, she didn’t even look that good, and I’m someone who thinks that she is generally an attractive woman. On behalf of all librarians everywhere, can we retire the sexy librarian meme for Palin, like, NOW? (That finger licking and swirling? About as sexy as your Mom spitting on a kleenex and wiping smut off your face.)

    And speaking as someone who has successfully bullshitted her way through a variety of academic environments, she’s not even a good bullshitter. She’s all soundbites, labels, empty phrases, and faux-folksyisms.

  40. 40.

    hamletta

    Don’t diss Katie, y’all.

    Her first journalistic scalp was soon-to-be-former president George Herbert Herbert Bush, and that was before she got the Today gig, IIRC.

    In her warm, intimate, vaseline-on-the-lens lair, she got that idiot to show her ass.

    It’s not unprecedented, but still.

  41. 41.

    Comrade General Stuck

    “I’ll try to find ya some an’ I’ll bring em to ya!”

    Didn’t she play Alice in “Mels Diner”?

  42. 42.

    tBone

    My gosh, as much as I dislike this woman for her pretensions to power (let alone the wingnuttery), there’s still part of me that is humiliated for her.

    Right there with you. She’s like a female David Brent – it’s incredibly painful to watch but hilarious at the same time.

  43. 43.

    Comrade Flip Wilson

    The way this country, and the world generally, looks right now, I think JM will find himself kicking back in one of his numerous luxury homes after the election and thinking, “Damn. I almost won that thing. What a relief.”

  44. 44.

    Comrade Cumrag

    Didn’t she play Alice in “Mels Diner”?

    You’re thinkin’ ’bout Flo. She worked at Mel’s Diner. And the name of the show was Alice.

    You fail. Now kiss my grits!

  45. 45.

    Soylent Green

    Sarah Palin has a journalism degree. But it turns out that reading the sports scores off the teleprompter is not the same thing as knowing something about sports.

    To historians, President Palin is going to make George Bush look like George Washington.

  46. 46.

    Comrade Kevin

    You’re thinkin’ ‘bout Flo. She worked at Mel’s Diner. And the name of the show was Alice.

    You fail. Now kiss my grits!

    That’s an insult to Flo; she was far smarter than Governor Natasha Fatale.

  47. 47.

    hamletta

    That walky-talky thing at the beginning of the interview: wow. I actually felt sorry for Palin.

    Oy! I feel ya!

    Usually that walky-talky thing is just the interviewee riffing and being all cool and chatty and “from the heart.”

    That poor woman is terrified. I’m not the first one to point out this analogy, but she acts like she’s in the 8th grade, giving a book report on a book she hasn’t read.

    Bless her heart. She’ll be much happier back in her little fiefdom in the tundra, where she can push people around with impunity.

    Or not. Because I saw an Alaskan radio reporter on Countdown who hadn’t seen the footage of the wacky pastor, and said, “No, Alaskans don’t know about this.”

    Struck me as interesting, because I get the impression Alaskans lean towards the (long-dead) Libertarian end of the Republican Party, and just didn’t care about her religion, but hers is a religion that is (ahem) somewhat intrusive.

    I think her stock in her home state will go down as a result of the exposure this campaign has brought.

  48. 48.

    Comrade General Stuck

    You fail. Now kiss my grits!

    LOL, that I did. I got it mixed up with the movie it was based on, Alice doesn’t live here anymore. And I hope that also isn’t more fail on my part.

  50. 50.

    SGEW

    O/T:

    Al Gore Urges Civil Disobedience To Stop Coal Plants

    It is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration.

    Well, damn. Now that it’s all mainstream and stuff, it ain’t so fun anymore. Guess I was ahead of the trend. You know. Back when it was still “cool.”

    I gotta say it, I love me some Al Gore.

  53. 53.

    Comrade Tax Analyst

    heyoo Says:

    Another part of the interview:

    Palin: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and…
    Couric: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
    Palin: Exactly.
    Couric: Does that mean it’s louder? Is it any louder?
    Palin: Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
    Couric: I don’t know.
    Palin: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
    Couric: Put it up to eleven.
    Palin: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
    Couric: Why don’t you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
    Palin: [pause] These go to eleven.

    If I’m not mistaken, this is VERYclose to a scene from the movie “Spinal Tap”. One of the characters(I think it was Michael McKean’s character, but I’m a little hazy on that, it’s been a while) was explaining to an interviewer (Rob Reiner) about how their amps went up to eleven, and how much better that was than ten. But he couldn’t answer whether it actually was louder or not.

  55. 55.

    mark

    That poor woman is terrified. I’m not the first one to point out this analogy, but she acts like she’s in the 8th grade, giving a book report on a book she hasn’t read.

    She may be used to pushing people around, but she looks like she has no experience being seriously challenged. She can’t even bullshit without a script. Putin would have her for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

  56. 56.

    mvr

    Katie Couric did a good job here. She asked the right questions to let Palin show her vapid mental life to us all.

  57. 57.

    Comrade Tax Analyst

    Comrade Cumrag Says:

    If Sarah Palin was really the quick study she’s touted to be, she’d realize she’s a fuckin’ idiot.

    I don’t think she gets to that chapter for at least another 2 or 3 weeks.

  58. 58.

    L. Ron Obamanov

    If I’m not mistaken, this is VERYclose to a scene from the movie “Spinal Tap”.

    That’s some Grade A snark right there.

  59. 59.

    Comrade Tax Analyst

    Soylent Green Says:

    Sarah Palin has a journalism degree. But it turns out that reading the sports scores off the teleprompter is not the same thing as knowing something about sports.

    It’s not? Shoot, next you’ll tell me that living so close to Russia you can see it from your kitchen window does not really count as “Foreign Affairs Experience”

  60. 60.

    stuck in 200

    “I’ll try to find ya some an’ I’ll bring em to ya!”

    The stunning thing (OK, one of the stunning things)is that she looks like she thinks she really hit that one out of the park.

  61. 61.

    Lidane

    She’s like the Alan Keyes of women.

    That’s unfair to Alan Keyes. Even at his most incoherent, Keyes could still bullshit better than that.

    She’s an absolute train wreck. And this is AFTER spending almost a month in seclusion, presumably learning what she’s supposed to know. No wonder they want to cancel the VP debate. Biden wouldn’t have to say or do a damned thing. He could just let Palin destroy herself.

  62. 62.

    Ecks

    This had me wondering if Couric’s chummy kibutzing with the male of the Palin species a few days ago (“like omigod, you’re from alaska, it’s co-old there. You race, squeee!”) was setting the honey trap to get the Sarah to step in.

  63. 63.

    nicethugbert

    Ccccccat Fiiiiiiiiiiight!

    Ack, she’s The Chimp in Drag! I can’t stand that vacant buzzing staccato of hers!

    Poor Katie, after all these years of having to play softball, this is what they let sink her claws into, quicksand.

  64. 64.

    J. Michael Neal

    She’s like the Alan Keyes of women.

    That’s unfair to Alan Keyes. Even at his most incoherent, Keyes could still bullshit better than that.

    The difference is that Palin is incompetent, and Keyes is crazy. Keyes is a smart, articulate man who happens to be batshit insane. It’s a combination that’s full of win when it comes to entertainment value.

    Alan Keyes isn’t scared, and would never turn down a chance to answer questions from the press.

  65. 65.

    nicethugbert

    How the hell does a person born and raised in the midwest, transplanted to Alaska, sound like a California valley girl? Is Sarah getting all this from 90210? Is that her playbook?

  67. 67.

    binzinerator

    Fuck. Palin made Couric look like a pro.

    I hate what Palin is doing to feminism, to competent smart honest women every where.

    At worst she’s a disaster to the republic, at best she will set back acceptance of a competent female major political candidate by 20 years.

    Heads goopers win, tails women lose.

  68. 68.

    hamletta

    This had me wondering if Couric’s chummy kibutzing with the male of the Palin species a few days ago (“like omigod, you’re from alaska, it’s co-old there. You race, squeee!”) was setting the honey trap to get the Sarah to step in.

    Dude, that was Greta van Susteren.

    AFAIK, Katie still has her orignal face.

  69. 69.

    rikyrah

    This was worse than the Gibson farce. She’s had more weeks to be filled with soundbites, and she still is wretched. There truly is NOTHING THERE.

    ABSOLUTELY NOTHING THERE.

    So, for my money, this one was far worse.

    Katie Couric gets paid, what, 17 million? She needs to give back 16,950,000, because an ambitious reporter just out of journalism school would have done a better job. She’s a friggin’ NETWORK ANCHOR. She didn’t do her damn job.

  70. 70.

    Grover

    I am so unbelievably thrilled to find a place where other people also think this entire McCain stunt is all about canceling that VP debate. I felt crazy when I thought it, but I was so convinced I was right. Watching Palin in that interview tonight only confirmed what I’d thought. She is not ready, and McCain will look like a giant ass when she proves it on national television. I’m not crazy. Thank goodness for this site. Thank heavens for you people.

  71. 71.

    binzinerator

    nicethugbert Says:

    How the hell does a person born and raised in the midwest…

    I fucking beg your pardon but Idaho is NOT the midwest.

    (Says a native midwesterner. Heh. Fuckin’ Idaho. Sheesh.)

  73. 73.

    YellowJournalism

    Seems Palin got too comfortable with Sean Hannity last week. Maybe she thought all future interviews would work the way they do on his show.

  74. 74.

    jimBOB

    Who decided to let Perot and Stockdale run again?

    Really unfair to Stockdale, who was a substantial person even if he was out of his depth during a veep debate. Palin is just vacant. My neighborhood board of trustees has more capable people on it than she is.

    I hate what Palin is doing to feminism, to competent smart honest women every where.

    Naw, we’ve seen plenty of capable and accomplished women in politics of late. Palin is only dishonoring herself and McCain.

  75. 75.

    nicethugbert

    YellowJournalism Says:

    Seems Palin got too comfortable with Sean Hannity last week. Maybe she thought all future interviews would work the way they do on his show.

    Maybe she just got comfortable with repeating whatever Gramps and Grammee say?

  77. 77.

    daveinboca

    I guess Biden can tell us that FDR calmed us right after the ’29 Crash on TV, and the MSM walks away with a shrug of its shoulders and says “That’s Ol’ Joe.”

    But Palin can get nailed on a gotcha question & It’s some sort of fatal blow to her candidacy. Makes sense to me—-NOT!

  78. 78.

    Mary

    daveinboca, there’s a difference in someone who can speak comfortably and at length about a topic, but still makes some verbal clangers — that would be Biden, for those of you playing along at home — and someone who cannot put together two substantial sentences — that would be Palin.

    Don’t believe me? Let’s see what Saakashvili has to say:

    On a day (September 24, 2008) when Fox was obviously sweating it, not knowing exactly how to spin John McCain suspending his campaign and calling for Friday’s debate to be delayed, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili appeared on Your World w/Neil Cavuto and it didn’t go well from a McCain standpoint. Cavuto apparently expected that Saakashvili would have effusive and lavish praise for Sarah Palin after having met her today at the United Nations but, well, let’s just say things didn’t go exactly as planned.

    Cavuto: “Let me ask you ah, Mr. President, I know you met with someone who wants to be the next vice president of the United States, Sarah Palin. There were many at the UN who said she isn’t up to speed. She isn’t up to the job. Um, what did you think?”

    Saakashvili: “Well, first of all, I met both of them. I mean, Joe Biden is a long-time friend. Amazingly smart guy who gets very good perspective on Georgia’s situation. Um, I ah, met Sarah Palin and, ah, she was wonderful. She was absolutely delightful.”

    Cavuto asked Saakashvili if he had any of the same doubts about her as his colleagues, and though he spoke for roughly 45 seconds (he’s very savvy), he refused to answer.

    Cavuto asked “Who do you like more?” Again he refused to say but after another long, diplomatic answer he said, “I was very pleased to see her.”

  79. 79.

    Librarian

    To be fair, that question about McCain’s record on regulation was a trick question. He has no record of being for regulation.

  80. 80.

    Librarian

    To be fair, that question about McCain’s record on regulation was a trick question. He has no record of being for regulation.

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Trackbacks

  1. […] Look, I would be remiss if I pretended like I know a lot about politics. I most definitely do not. But today has been a surreal day for me to watch the political theater of McCain appearing to slowly come apart at the seams. First, Sullivan notes McCain appearing to lie about his back-and-forth with Obama. Then the McCain campaign is caught acting offensively with questions asked by Sullivan. Then Palin stumbles around talking to Katie Couric. Upon realization that Palin is terrible, McCain starts floating the idea of canceling the vice-presidential debates. Meanwhile, McCain’s trying to bail on Friday’s debate, which will now include questions about the economy. And then we end with this: […]

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