Simple question: Can Palin get away with not taking press questions

[cali]

from now until November? By that I mean not holding any press conferences and not appearing on MTP, etc. I don't know that that's their plan. They may simply be trying to delay it for a few weeks until they feel she's well enough prepped, but still her unavailability is pretty remarkable.

[WeDidIt]

1. Nope

She won't get much further than Monday.

Sunday talking head shows will be awash about ehr ducking reporter's questions.

[skooooo]

6. Ok what happens Monday?

I mean what will ultimately happen if she keeps ducking the press??

[WeDidIt]

11. She will be excoriated in the press

Beleive me, if John McCain expects to win this thing by making the press the enemy, he's toast.

The press has the power to make or break a candidate and they have done it in the past. When the press feels like they have been dissed, they go after that candidate with a veangance. Percieved slights by Gore were detrimental to his relationship with the press in 2000.

[skooooo]

15. Making the press and community organizations your enemy....

...doesn't sound like a winner, does it??

:rofl:

[scheming daemons]

2. They'll get away with it for a few days.... then she'll appear on "Fox and Friends"

[SheilaT]

3. Probably.

They'll try to get away with anything and everything they can.

The "debate" with Biden will be interesting. Unfortunately, debate formats are really stupid and don't allow the kind of back and forth that should really be happening at these things. She'll get away with re-framing questions the way she wants to answer them. And there's almost never any meaningful follow-up or attempt to make the debater actually answer the question that was asked.

[beac]

18. No kidding. Gwen Ifill is a TERRIBLE moderator and NEVER holds

anyone's feet to the fire, especially the GOP Veep candidate.

[Gabi Hayes]

28. smug, preening repug enabler, when she's not outright lying:

this is typical of her disgraceful attempts at posing as journalist:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200605250007

PBS' Ifill failed to identify Competitive Enterprise Institute as conservative, energy industry-funded


Summary: In a segment on Al Gore's global warming campaign, PBS' Gwen Ifill noted that "critics have called Gore 'alarmist,' " before airing a clip of an ad produced by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which she identified only as a "Washington think tank." But Ifill did not mention that CEI is a conservative institution largely funded by the energy industry, which has a financial stake in opposing policies that seek to combat climate change.


In a May 24 segment on former Vice President Al Gore's current campaign to raise awareness about climate change, PBS' The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer anchor Gwen Ifill noted that "critics have called Gore 'alarmist' " and aired a clip from a recent television advertisement produced by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which she identified only as a "Washington think tank." But Ifill did not inform viewers that CEI is a conservative institution largely funded by the energy industry, which has a financial stake in opposing policies that seek to combat climate change. Moreover, Ifill ignored that, in the ads, which downplay the threat of global warming, CEI misrepresents several scientific studies.

As Media Matters for America has noted, CEI has received substantial funding from the fossil fuel industry, including more than $2 million from the Exxon Mobil Corporation since 1998. As a March 19 Washington Post article reported, "The Competitive Enterprise Institute, which widely publicizes its belief that the earth is not warming cataclysmically because of the burning of coal and oil, says Exxon Mobil Corp. is a 'major donor' largely as a result of its effort to push that position."

On May 18, CEI released two 60-second television ads "focusing on the alleged global warming crisis and the calls by some environmental groups and politicians for reduced energy use." NewsHour uncritically aired a clip of the first ad, titled "Energy," which suggests that environmentalists have falsely labeled carbon dioxide as a pollutant when, in fact, it is "essential to life." But the ad ignores that it is not C02 itself that is inherently harmful, but it is excessive discharges of the gas that scientists argue is harmful to the atmosphere.

The second ad, "Glaciers," claims that recent scientific studies have proven that "Greenland's glaciers are growing" and that the "Antarctic ice sheet is getting thicker, not thinner." But as the weblog Think Progress noted, the Greenland study found increased snow accumulation only on the island's interior, while separate studies conducted during the same period found significant melting among the coastal glaciers. Further, the author of the study on Antarctica, Curt Davis, a University of Missouri-Columbia electrical and computer engineering professor, has issued a public statement accusing CEI of a "deliberate effort to confuse and mislead the public about the global warming debate." He stated that, actually, "he fact that the interior ice sheet is growing is a predicted consequence of global climate warming."

[Lucky 13]

4. She can get away with it as long as the corporate lapdog media lets her.

We've seen the Rethugs get away with much much much worse.

[cali]

7. but we've never seen a vp candidate get away with no press availability

[HooptieWagon]

5. No, if she doesn't give press something to write about

they will write anyway... and campaign may not be happy with results.

[butterfly77]

8. Also McCain is always throwing out the lie that...

Obama doesn't do townhall meetings since he is in love with townhall meetings he needs to take his partner out to answer questions from the real people preferably community organizers and no prescreened format with a mixture of people not just caucasian and a sprinkle of others.

[CK_John]

9. With 2 or 3 hurricanes lined up. they will be able to waste the next 10 or so days of 60. n/t

[terrya]

10. If people buy into this crap, sure.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/rasmussen/20080904/pl_rasmussen/palinmedia20080904

But of course, it's Rasmussen, so we know what a load of right wing crap that is.

Otherwise, if people seriously begin to believe that reporters have it in for her, than she can feel justified in avoiding press conferences.

[protect our future]

12. The GOP will keep her from being exposed to

REAL scrutiny as long as they can.

They want the only glimpse into the real Palin to be the one and only VP debate.

Looks like Palin may have to be "interviewed" on Fox.

I want her on Countdown.

[Booster]

13. If you know anyone sitting on the fence, ask them this simple

question. If McCain dropped dead on Nov 3rd, would you vote for Palin on Nov 5th. I really doubt that anyone would say yes.

[SheilaT]

21. The sad truth is

that by now a lot of the base are convinced that Palin actually does have more executive experience than Obama or Biden. And they are so convinced that being liberal is being in league with the devil -- keep in mind these people really do believe in the Devil -- that she would be a far better president than Obama or Biden or any other devil-worshiping liberal Democrat.

While I think it's reasonable that Obama will win, the overall vote totals will be a lot closer than they should be.

[Booster]

24. Then that would prove to me that these people really don't

care what happens to this country and that is really sad. Do these people also think that all the problems this country is facing right now is the fault of Clinton - that poor widdle Bushie inherited all these problems? What a fucked up country this is.

[VolcanoJen]

14. Well, the names of the Sunday talk show guests have been released...

... and there's one glaring omission.

[Alpharetta]

16. The more she limits access, the less "embedded" the press

If she doesn't give access, it gives them incentive to give her a better vetting than the primary contenders got.

[wileedog]

17. Its not a matter of November, they are just in "coach her up" mode now

She has to be able to competently answer off the cuff questions about foreign policy (and mitigte her lack of knowledge thereof), two dozen scandals, family pregnancies, and extreme RW positions while still managing to stay on message enough to appeal to Independent voters.

That would be a tall order for someone extremely experienced, and she is has never ever faced media pressure like this.

[texanwitch]

19. Thats right.

Hide Sarah hide.

Her keepers are afraid she will be another Bush.

[rvablue]

20. They media will give her a pass this weekend....

and after that, if they continue to keep her off limits, it will be "the get" of the year.
What I'm worried about is that she books with Barbara Walters or Ann Curry on Dateline or some soft shoe thing, where they can make it look like a big deal but it will be totally scripted and controlled.

Kill me, if you must, but I watch the View......BW was about to make some point this morning about her speech and before she did, she said, "This will probably cost me an interview."

They will all be kissing ass for the next few days/week, and if the hold off continues they will start lobbing questions from the rope lines (at least the networks) and then running tape of her breezing by with an analysis of how she is afraid of the press.

[asdjrocky]

22. With the media we have in this country?

Very possible.

[Gabi Hayes]

23. Obama and Biden should refuse to talk to the press til she does

why not?

[geek tragedy]

25. With our stump-trained press, of course.

That, and voters don't care if people talk to the press.

[Sho nuff]

26. I just hope someones hold her feet to the fire on "The Bridge to Nowhere" that she originally suppor

[DeschutesRiver]

27. No. But they might try to and McCain will go down in flames.

I think he is in an ambien-induced other reality, and it is affecting his judgment.

[Willo]

29. Sure why not? The media will complain and whine

like they are doing about not having access to McCain.

They will still receive their talking points and campaign issued statements and peddle it on the air as usual.

Show 'em how it's done, Noonan.