Media Pundits Bash Governor Palin

I'm watching a cable news reporter who is reporting from Lafayette, LA, where the husband and I lived for about a dozen or so years before moving here. Our son was born there. Looks like the approaching Hurricane Gustav may hit the area harder than originally thought. That's what happens with hurricanes.

Some of the Sunday morning chat shows provided interesting commentary of the pick of Governor Sarah Palin as the VP on the McCain ticket. Suddenly the issue of experience has entered into the thought process of the Obama cheerleaders within the media. On CNN, anchors like Campbell Brown, who hasn't shown concern that Senator Obama is in possession of a tissue thin resume, is now voicing concern that Governor Palin doesn't have enough experience.

There was an appearance on the McLaughlin Group, according to NewsBusters,of Eleanor Clift on the panel and she stated the following: "This is not a serious choice. It makes it look like a made for TV movie. If the media reaction is anything, it's been literally laughter in many places." When asked by the host where? Clift replied, "In very, very many newsrooms."

And, from Andrea Mitchell on Meet the Press, "Well, they think now that they have a story. They have a story of a working mom, she is a colorful character, an Annie Oakley...you know, Annie get your gun. They love her story, but when she tried to talk about Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, in Western Pennsylvania, yesterday at a rally with conservative Republican voters, Hilary Clinton was booed. So, she can use the Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro analogy if she wants to in interviews, she cannot use that at Republican rallies. She is not appealing to the same women who were really voting or supporting Hillary Clinton on ideological issues but they think that they can peel off some of these working class women, not college educated, who the blue collar women who were voting for Hillary Clinton and may be more conservative on social causes."

And, in an article on YAHOO! News, four 'Presidential scholars' are asked about the choice of Governor Sarah Palin. Examples: "So unconventional was McCain's choice that it left students of the presidency literally "stunned," in the words of Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University law professor and scholar of the vice presidency. "Being governor of a small state for less than two years is not consistent with the normal criteria for determining who's of presidential caliber," said Joel Goldstein. "I think she is the most inexperienced person on a major-party ticket in modern history," said presidential historian Matthen Dallek." "If she had been around for two terms as governor - or been a senator- it would have been an incredible choice," said historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. "The first thing that hits me," said Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution, "is that it suggest that John McCain is a gambler. This is a high-roller decision."

The 'historians' say if you are from the largest state in the union but less populated than Illinois; if you have been a mayor of a small city for 10 years and the governor of the State of Alaska for 2 years, you have less experience than a Senator with 3 years into his first Senate term who has been running for President for 2 years of that term; and John McCain is a gambler.

We have three Senators running in this race. Did we need a fourth? Isn't the whole point of reform and change the willingness to stick your neck out for what you believe in and 'gamble' on success? Joe Biden has been in the Senate longer than John McCain with no record of anything other than politics as usual, including setting up his son as a highly compensated lobbyist.

The McCain campaign issued the following statement, "The authors quote four scholars attacking Gov. Palin's fitness for the office of vice president. Among them, David Kennedy is a maxed-out Obama donor, Joel Goldstein is also an Obama donor, and Doris Kearns Goodwin has donated exclusively to Democrats this cycle. Finally, Matthew Dallek is a former speech writer for Dick Gephardt. This is not a story about scholars questioning Gov. Palin's credentials so much as partisan Democrats who would find a reason to disqualify or discount any nominee put forward by Sen. McCain."

And, to further belittle the pick of Governor Palin, Senator Joe Biden said, "There's a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent," Biden said at an outdoor rally Sunday, getting ready to hit the GOP ticket for their economic policies. "She's good-looking," he quipped." That from CNN's Political Ticker.

How much time in the U.S. Senate did John Edwards have before he began running for President and then picked as Kerry's VP, when his resume was that of a trial lawyer? Hillary Clinton had no elected or executive experience of her own before running for the U.S. Senate as a scorned woman, cherry picking the state in which to run. The only 'executive' task on her resume was a failed national health care reform initiative. Governor Palin is more qualified using those benchmarks. And, as Governor, she has been commander-in-chief of the Alaskan National Guard.

In the minds of inside the Beltway media pundits and partisan Democrats, Governor Palin is a nobody. She is from a small town; a huge state with a low population number; 'only' 2 years as the state's governor; she knows how to use a gun; and she's good looking. Why, she's never even made an appearance on "Meet the Press."

Who are they to set the agenda? Who are they to say the 'inexperience' claim is off the table now? And since when do they dictate what is and isn't said at a Republican political rally?

They are the nobodies in this debate. They are the cheerleaders for the ticket of arrogance and inexperience as well as business as usual.