Newsweek: Why Palin is set up for failure

[IDemo]

McCain’s ‘Hail Sarah’ Pass

His choice for veep is all but set up for failure in the fall.

By Jonathan Alter | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Aug 29, 2008 | Updated: 5:18 p.m. ET Aug 29, 2008

Happy birthday, Johnny Mac! You're 72 now, a cancer survivor, and a presidential candidate who has said on many occasions that the most important criteria for picking a vice president is whether he or she could immediately step in if something happened to the president. Your campaign against Barack Obama is based on the simple idea that he is unready to be president. So you've picked a running mate who a year and a half ago was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of 8,500 people. You've selected a potential leader of the free world who knows little or nothing about the major issues of the day beyond energy. Oh, and she's being probed in her state for lying and abuse of power.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's debut in Dayton on Friday was good political theater. She delivered a pitch-perfect speech (presumably written by McCain's ghost writer, Mark Salter) with a panache that suggests she could be a natural on the national stage. The well-kept secret of her selection let the GOP step on the story of Obama's boffo acceptance speech in Denver. It's not hard to see why she appealed to McCain: her middle-class roots; her older son headed for Iraq with the U.S. Army; her opposition to the earmarked "bridge to nowhere," which is arguably the only domestic issue that gets McCain excited. If camera-ready Palin helps McCain close the gender gap and win in November, she'll be history's hockey mom.

But there's a reason that rookies rarely score hat tricks. It's not her lack of name recognition; America loves a fresh face, especially one that's a cross between a Fox anchor and a character on "Northern Exposure," the old TV show about an Alaska town about the size of Wasilla. The problem is that politics, like all professions, isn't as easy as it looks. Palin's odds of emerging unscathed this fall are slim. In fact, she's been all but set up for failure.

"What is it exactly that the vice president does all day?" Palin offhandedly asked CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow in July. Kudlow explained that the job has become more important in recent years. Palin knows the energy crisis well, even if her claim on "Charlie Rose" that Alaska's untapped resources can significantly ease it is unsupported by the facts. But what does she know about Iranian nukes, health care or the future of entitlement programs? And that's just a few of the 20 or so national issues on which she will be expected to show basic competence. The McCain camp will have to either let her wing it based on a few briefing memos (highly risky) or prevent her from taking questions from reporters (a confession that she's unprepared). Either way, she's going to belly-flop at a time when McCain can least afford it.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/156258

-- "a cross between a Fox anchor and a character on 'Northern Exposure'" :rofl:

[cliffordu]

1. Ouch, that'll leave a mark....

:rofl:

[Martinucho]

4. Johnathan Alter is my favorite progressive writer

Always sharp and incisive, and well informed.

[grantcart]

9. that is going to leave a tatoo

first of many

[merh]

2. Of course she knows how to deliver a speech

Before she became mayor extraordinare, gov exemplify, she was a sports anchor - lol - she qualifies for a outdoors sports show, not the VP of the USA.

The CNN sports candidate, I'm not sure she would have passed that vetting, how she passed it for VP is beyound me.

[mzmolly]

7. Yes indeed. She's educated in journalism

of all things.

[merh]

10. I tell you one thing, I'd love to be the fly on the wall (or tree)

at the GOP VP next hunt, can you imagine her and Cheney together with rifles loaded. (This is definitely an insult to him, pretty young female qualifies to do his job.)

:rofl:

[pretzel4gore]

3. if Newsweek derides Ms Palin, then we must support the war hero's choice

if anything has been shown to be FACT then it's the Newsweek ed board's consistantly treasonous behavior. IF they are opposed to anything, then that thing is good by default! The war hero will totally destroy this thingy we are stuck with (aka western culture, i guess) while Mr Obama will try to rejuvenate it!
Hot darn!
That is not a good idea...

[npincus]

5. big OUCH

[mnhtnbb]

6. I wonder whether the National Equirer will investigate the baby

and whether it's really Palin's or her daughter's?

[msongs]

8. appealed to mcCain \cuz he is a family values adulterer who likes pretty younger women lol nt

[iamthebandfanman]

11. Northern Exposure was a good show n/t

[roguevalley]

12. the debate will show her up. this is going to be hard to watch