Sudha's Snack:
Palin in Comparison

by Sudha Narasimhan

OK- by now everyone has seen that interview of Sarah Palin by Katie Couric.  First off, it was a trial in patience for me just to watch Katie Couric- I have had a long hate affair with her since the media has spun her as the journalistic American Idol.  Katie Couric, in my opinion, is anathema to all that is good and pure in TV journalism.  I hate perkiness in my journalists- make them cerebral and tough and leave the disingenuous plasticity for the popular girls in high school. When Couric left the Today Show, I think I squealed with glee. Anyway, I watched and listened to the Couric/Palin interview with great trepidation and excitement.  I was ready to tear both women apart.

I was trying to fight with all my might to not throw things at my TV. Palin is the devil-spawn, plain and simple. She had absolutely nothing noteworthy or intelligent to say about the most important, impactful and downright timely issues concerning Americans today and in this election. Every word was “ I’ll have to get back to you on that” or some stupid shrug of her padded shoulders. Katie Couric was actually appealing to me in comparison- how frightening! Couric actually pushed and brow-beat Palin to answer many questions relating to the drowning economy, foreign policy, and the many controversial situations that Palin is involved in. Palin answered Couric with the vocabulary of Gargamel from the Smurfs and copied the isolationist babble and rhetoric of her father figure McCain.

The only redemption of this interview was Joe Biden’s postmortem on Meet the Press.  Biden emphasized the simple fact that Palin and McCain are out of touch and are trying to create a Xenophobic, McCarthy-style paranoid America where the “other” is thought of as scary and the rich will stay rich. Biden pointed out that Palin knows nothing about other countries and one visit to the UN does not make a passport stamp, or a substantial cultural experience. Thank you Joe Biden! All I know is that Palin’s name is one letter away from Pain. Enough said.