Palin ready to serve?
Tribune Media ServicesThe following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Thursday, Sept. 11:
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If any of the Republican or Democratic presidential candidates had refused to talk to voters or media during the recent primary contests the way vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin has done in recent days, they would have been dismissed immediately from serious consideration. Not talk to voters while seeking the second-highest public office in the country? Preposterous!
Yet, amazingly, this is the position that John McCain and Palin have taken as they campaign together following Palin's popular acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. After a rally this week in Lancaster, Pa., some of Palin's supporters waited outside for her. "Speech! Speech!" they shouted, hoping she would take the podium as McCain had just done. Palin smiled, shook a few hands and left. Requests for interviews by radio, television and newspaper journalists have been met with the same cold shoulder.
A McCain campaign spokesman said that Palin would "agree to an interview when we think it's time and when she feels she's comfortable doing it." Really? If Palin isn't ready for prime time, ready to talk with people she is asking to vote for her or to discuss the tough issues facing the country, then one has to wonder if she's ready to be vice president.
Palin has agreed to an interview with ABC newsman Charles Gibson, possibly Thursday, at her home in Alaska. This is fine as a scripted interview in comfortable surroundings, but it is no substitute for an honest face-to-face conversation with potential voters. Nor is it acceptable to hide from journalists seeking interviews. Palin's refusal to make herself accessible is unacceptable. At the convention, she delivered biting criticism to her opponents. Now she must show she can have an unscripted conversation with voters and journalists.
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PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): Sarah Palin