Last night I watched some Republican strategists attempt to defend Sarah Palin, repeating her charge that she’s been victimized by “gotcha journalism.”
Does this qualify?
COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this — to stay informed and to understand the world?
Straightforward, right?
PALIN: I’ve read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media —
COURIC: But what ones specifically? I’m curious.
PALIN: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.
COURIC: Can you name any of them?
PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where it’s kind of suggested, “Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?” Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.”
If I understand the notion of a “gotcha” question correctly, it is a question to which the interviewee has no reasonable expectation of having the answer, and so is asked with the intent of making her appear foolish.
“What do you read” is the exact opposite of a gotcha question — it’s a question that only the interviewee has the answer to!
This is becoming so painful, so scary…love how she was compared to Quayle somewhere and a Republican strategist said that remark was insulting to Quayle! Let us hope she is just a footnote, a punchline, a non-entity by the time January rolls around…
[...] include the National Enquirer and US Weekly? Based on Palin’s lack of reading material, ATLmalcontent hopes that it all turns out to be a bad dream come [...]