Sarah Palin's only Chicago area interview, with Jill Zuckman of the Chicago Tribune. Zuckman has since jumped the sinking ship and joined the Obama's Transportation Department.Thomas Sowell writes in his latest column:
Some observers are contrasting last week’s highly successful speech by President Obama to Congress with the lackluster Republican response afterwards by Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.
People familiar with Gov. Jindal have a high regard for him and many think he would make a good president. But Republicans have always had more people who would make good presidents than people who would make good presidential candidates. So long as we have a democracy, that distinction is crucial.
Gov. Jindal made a typical Republican mistake when he began with a “me too” celebration of Obama’s “historic” election. With a very limited time to address some complex issues, he needed to get right to the point and sober up such members of the audience as were capable of being sobered up.
He was, in a sense, defensive, as if he had to establish that he was a good guy. Gen. Douglas MacArthur gave a one-word definition of defensive warfare: defeat.
There can be too many words, as well as too few. Gov. Sarah Palin is doing herself no good by discussing her disastrous interview with Katie Couric. That does not look presidential, or even senatorial. A quarterback has to forget the interception he threw last time, and just make a better throw next time.
It's good for conservatives to offer each other constructive criticism, but my 2 cents is that she really needed to explain that episode, to set the record straight, as Ziegler has been putting it. I think Sowell is underestimating how things can stick with a person unless its answered decisively. There are many who believe, very wrongly I think, that Palin has already been destroyed politically.
I believe the Ziegler documentary will be part of an unprecedented Un-Borking of a person. I suspect Sarah Palin will come back in a way that is unique. And successfully going on the defensive is part of that. The GOP needs to learn to bicker! Stand up and argue back! Playing defense sometimes has to be done.
