To Palin and McCain the Issues are Gotcha Questions

Last updated on August 11th, 2014 at 12:00 am

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In their joint interview with the CBS Evening News, John McCain and Sarah Palin described an issue question about Pakistan as gotcha journalism, which now goes to show that Palin and McCain now consider the issues gotcha questions.

Here is the video:

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To her credit, Katie Couric defended the question as not a gotcha, but as a question from a voter, but McCain jumped in and tried to save his overmatched running mate by saying, “No, she was in a conversation with a group of people and talking back and forth. And …I’ll let Gov. Palin speak for herself.” Notice that he realized that answering for Palin only made her look weaker so he stopped himself and decided to let Palin answer the question.

So if I understand this correctly, a question from a voter is a gotcha question that should be avoided. The problem is that all the questions about issues appear to be tricky for Palin. She has not displayed a single area of policy expertise or knowledge yet. The campaign will never admit this, but Palin has become an anchor around their neck. While Joe Biden is out there campaigning for Barack Obama alone, Sarah Palin can’t be trusted to do even the most basic of television interviews solo.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with questions about the issues from anyone to a candidate, especially a candidate like Palin who is both widely unknown, and potentially only one 72 year old heartbeat away from the presidency. If Palin can’t handle questions about the issues, then how is she qualified to be vice president? In the shorter term, if she can only talk about the issues in terms of talking points, how will she debate Joe Biden on Thursday? The McCain campaign looks to be sinking under the weight of its own poor decision making, and Sarah Palin is a walking monument to their mistakes.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association