[mukto-mona] Sarah Palin won't face the national press anytime soon

Sarah Palin won't face the national press anytime soon

 

A.H. Jaffor Ullah

 

Like it or not, the rookie Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, won't face the national press anytime soon.  The McCain campaign is making sure that press reporters will not have a chance to interview the number two person in the Republican ticket lest she expose her benightedness vis-à-vis world events, national issues, and other whole slues of issues confronting the lower forty-eight states.

 

The vetting of Sarah Palin was only done by Senator McCain himself.  Since she is a political newbie, many Republican lawmakers in Washington hardly know her.  Had she been a seasoned politician, the press would have known her by now.  The issues that are close to her heart would also be known to national press by now.  But that is not to be the case.  To get a glimpse of her persona, the members of the national press have sent their reporters all the way to Alaska.  Since not much news about her is forthcoming from McCain campaign, the reporters are interviewing people in Wasilla – a town of 6,500 people where Ms. Palin was the mayor for consecutive two terms.  The Internet is also abuzz with blogs on Sarah Palin.  All kinds of news, views, etc., are circulating in the cyberspace of which some are sympathetic to the "hockey mom," but there are quite a few negative write-ups on her.

 

Senator McCain had vetted her before selecting the one-time beauty queen, ex-mayor of a small town, and the present governor of Alaska.  But she was not vetted by the members of national press nor was she vetted by others who belong to the Republican Party.  I read in one of the news reports that Senator Trent Lott, an elderly Republican lawmaker from Mississippi, quipped that he hardly knew her.  It is thus fair to say that she is not well known to other Republican lawmakers.   Naturally, there are many things that are not known about her than what is trickling down the wire services.

 

The election is hardly less than two months away from now (September 6, 2008) while the American voters still have no clues who this person Sarah Palin is.  Yes, she gave a fine speech at the convention in St. Paul, Minnesota to unify the Republican base.  Senator McCain was never been a darling of the diehard conservatives; therefore, to appease the bible-thumping Republicans McCain had to zoom into someone as his running mate who would energize the Republican "base" and he found one in Sarah Palin. 

 

After the St. Paul convention, Ms. Palin is yet to sit down for or even schedule an issues-oriented interview with any newspaper, magazine or television network.  To add insult to injury, the McCain campaign has drastically scaled back the access of the national press he used to jokingly refer to as his "base" to his running mate.  In the meantime several speakers, including Sarah Palin took potshots at the media in their speeches at last week's Republican convention.  The McCain campaign and the senator's surrogates now openly say that the "liberal media" is favoring Obama-Biden ticket.

 

Only 3 days before the commencement of the Republican Convention in St. Paul, on August 29 Sarah Palin was flown from Anchorage, Alaska to Dayton, Ohio where she was debuted to national politics.  Since then the McCain campaign has been receiving about 80-100 requests a day from news organizations allover the world, as per McCain spokesperson, Mr. Ben Porritt.

 

Judging from the way the McCain campaign is warding off reporters from Sarah Palin, quite a few media pundits hold the view that they (McCain campaign) would like to run out on the clock on this.  In other words, Ms. Palin won't take questions from news reporters in an unmoderated press interviews.  Others think that Sarah Palin is going through a crash course in both national and international affairs at this time.  The McCain campaign would love to unleash her but they think she is not ready yet to face the press.

 

On October 2, 2008 there will be a VP debate, which will be nationally televised.  Therefore, the McCain campaign would like to expose Ms. Palin to press as a prelude to the VP debate.  But before that could happen, the McCain campaign will not allow any national reporter worth his or her salt to throw any question.  And that is a sure thing.   

 

In the meantime Sarah Palin has a ubiquitous presence in the media.  To keep the news hungry folks keep guessing about Ms. Palin's prowess in handling reporters' question, some networks are running documentaries on her.  Also, 'People' magazine was allowed to shoot photographs of the newly minted VP candidate in the aftermath of the St. Paul convention by the McCain campaign.  Therefore, there is no shortage of photos, headlines, reports of the Republican VP candidate.  As a one-time beauty queen she still is photogenic at 44.  Perhaps Senator McCain at 72 needs her to show youthful exuberance of the Republican ticket!

 

Going back to the seminal issue of whether Sarah Palin would face the hostile 'liberal media," many are asking what would be her answer if reporters ask her a question or two on Pakistan, Georgia, Iran, Afghanistan.  What would be her answer to questions relating to inflation, meltdown in the Wall Street, rise in national unemployment rate, the curse of subprime lending? 

 

The morality issue may come in Sarah Palin's interview with the press.  Her eldest child was born before eight months could elapse after her formal wedding.  Was her child premature or did she conceive her child before her wedding?  Also, her eldest daughter, Bristol, who is 17 years old, is an unwed mother.  She is an avid advocate of book banning.  Is she for free press?  Does she favor banning of books at local library?  On what ground does she favor banning of certain books.

 

Sarah Palin is a church-going and bible-thumping Christian who believes that Americans involvement in Iraq War was the will of god.  She also said the same thing about Alaskan pipeline.  The newspaper reporters would certainly have a field day with her if the McCain allow her to face the reporters.

 

In summary, the vetting of Sarah Palin in public media has yet to take place.  Senator McCain and his campaign may have vetted her already the public would like to know where she stands on myriads of issues.  Many people therefore expect that the McCain campaign would allow her to answer questions from the press.  The public vetting must start now because there is only less than two months left before voters would cast their vote.  The sooner it happens, the better it is for America.  After all, Sarah Palin will be heartbeat away from becoming the president if McCain comes out victorious on November 4 election.
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Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a researcher and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA

 

        

 

 

 

 

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