Sarah Palin shows that the best defense may be a new television ad

The best defense is not necessarily a strong offense. It may be a new ad, at least in the view of the ad team behind the John McCain and Sarah Palin campaign.

As they did on Thursday, Democrats today are pouncing on Palin’s apparent missteps, contradictions and flubs in her interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson.

As our colleague Michael Finnegan writes in today’s Los Angeles Times, the Alaska governor may not exactly know that the Bush Doctrine holds that the United States can attack another country first.

But Team Palin certainly is proving that it knows how to launch a preemptive ad attack.

The latest spot is entitled “Disrespectful.” Released by the Republican National Committee, the ad opens with a female narrator slapping at Barack Obama, calling him the “world’s biggest celebrity” but saying his star is fading.

Then the ad takes a line from Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, and says the Obama-Biden ticket dismisses Palin as “good-looking.” Taking a line from Obama strategist David Axelrod, the ad says “they” claim she is doing “what she is told.” Then “they” called her a liar.

The ad concludes with a shot of Palin on stage with McCain: “How disrespectful. And how Gov. Sarah Palin proves them wrong every day.”

RNC spokesman Alex Conant said the spot is appearing in some battleground states. That means the only place Californians can see it is on YouTube.

--Dan Morain

Comments

[huh]

This is ridiculous. Palin has no grasp on reality and it's become so bad she has to put criticisms into the mouth of Obama to fabricate attacks against herself to fight.

She is a twisted, stupid woman.

[Newsworthy]

BTW, why the hell are you reporting on a TV commercial like it's news or something. If you want to run a story, run one about how Palin doesn't even know why she's sending her son to war or about Obama's education plan or about what McCain thinks we should do about Georgia.

You are only showing how stupid and lazy you've become - describing a commercial as if it were news.

[Bud]

I think the "calling her a liar" was probably prompted by her lying at the convention.

That doesn't matter, now? Can't call someone a liar for lying.

GEORGE W. BUSH is a LIAR too !!!

Just a coincidence? I think not.

[B. Deily]

Readers might want to see factcheck.org's take on the ad, as well.

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/belittling_palin.html

[Keith Augustus Burton]

Governor Palin is obviously not ready for the task to which she has been called. Charles Gibson was correct in referring to her reaction to her selection as "hubris." I'm not sure if her lack of reflection is seen as a positive for party loyalists, but isn't it a mark of maturity for a person who is presented with an important task to weigh her own preparedness and ability before saying yes? The last thing we need is another impulsive gunslinger in the White House.

[nwkerr2005]

I wish the press corp would leave Palin alone. Maybe Barry Hussien should worry about running against McCain instead of Palin. And the press is nothing more than the Obama spin machine.

[Reginald Selkirk]

"the ad opens with a female narrator slapping at Barack Obama, calling him the “world’s biggest celebrity” but saying his star is fading."

That sounds disrespectful.

[Terry]

For quite a while, B Obama has been praying to his Allah that Sarah Palin would make a terrible blunder in her live interview with C Gibson of ABC News.

This is what the Democrats have been hoping for - a blunder which they may capitalize and criticize Sarah Palin for.

[anthony]

What does team McCain mean by saying that Obama "was the world's biggest celebrity"? Is there a new "world's biggest celebrity"? Is Palin the new "world's biggest celebrity"?

[William Anderson]

Per Factcheck.org
"The McCain-Palin campaign has released a new TV ad that distorts quotes from the Obama campaign. It takes words out of context to make it sound as though the Democratic ticket is belittling Palin:"

[the shag]

www.Factcheck.org: This ad more of the same Rovian BS the Republicans have been throwing up this whole campaign.

[SO]

I wish the Republicans would address issues - like the deficit and out-of-control spending.

What is wrong with them?

[Carolyn Burns]

If America falls for the republican lies again this cycle, they deserve more of the sam and worse .

[Sue Libenson]

A One-Woman Truth Squad

Some of that criticism springs from Alaskans like Sue Libenson, a public relations consultant for conservation and sportsmen's issues.

Libenson used to support Palin. In fact, last year Libenson sent a letter to the editor of the Anchorage Daily News extolling the governor.

"Palin's got us on the right course," Libenson wrote. "Kudos to Gov. Sarah Palin for calling an end to Ketchikan's 'Bridge to Nowhere.' From ditching the jet to revisiting oil taxes, Palin has shown leadership."

Once Palin stepped onto the national stage, however, Libenson says the governor started misrepresenting her positions.

In her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Palin said, "We are expected to govern with integrity and good will and clear convictions and a servant's heart. And I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States."

The governor's actions, Libenson says, prove otherwise.

In that same speech, Palin told Americans she will be an advocate for children with special needs. "In fact," Libenson says, "just this summer she cut funding for Alaska's Special Olympics."

Libenson cites the governor's line-item veto trimming the Special Olympics budget by $275,000. Palin also slashed funding for statewide independent living centers and transition housing for homeless young adults, Libenson says.

Libenson points out that in a state with one of the highest substance abuse rates in the country, Palin squelched funding — some $325,000 — for a substance abuse education and prevention program aimed at young people. And that she also pared the state's financial support of a Fairbanks community food bank, a drop-out prevention program and an addiction rehabilitation facility.

There is a tradition in Alaska, Libenson says, that when people see something wrong, they come right out and say it. "When something happens, you step forward and do something," she says, "especially when someone is going around saying things that aren't true."

[Hendrik]

Sarah Palin is lying and taking things out of context in every sentence she has said. She is a disgrace to every intelligent and honest American !

[Roy]

As a Canadian watching the U.S. election with interest, it seems American politics is way too much about the personalities and not nearly enough about the actual issues. The economy, the environment, health care and your (and our) mess in Iraq and Afghanistan should be getting addressed in detail.

[Bill]

McCain decided vetting his VP wasn't so important, so now she's being vetted by the press and everyone's claiming sexism. How are you supposed to know if this person is competent if you don't ask her questions? The GOP thinks she somehow deserves to be a heartbeat away from the Whitehouse yet doesn't want her put before the public. Palin will be the one who eventually drags down McCain and it's his own fault.

[Richard P. McDonough]

This woman is the result of a cynical act on the part f the Greedy Old Party and the 72 year old man who claimed to put country over victory. Bush Doctirine? What's that, Charlie? Duh.
She is taking the air from the room, just as the GOP wants her to do, thus allowing the old guy to nap
As with Oakland, as Gertrude Stein had it, there is no there there. We hear discussion of the pretty ew baby but, in fact, the bassinet is empty. This whole affair is the result of an unconscionably cynical act.

[Luke]

What a pathetic attempt. Once again the GOP wants to distract us from the truth...she doesn't know anything about the issues! She's just a pretty face! She doesn't deserve any respect from the legitimate contenders in this race, she was brought in as a distraction, and nothing more. When has she earned the slightest ounce of respect?

[saerahpalinfan]

I think its funny that Moms with one kids are the ones freaking out about her being overworked but the moms with 3+ are like go get em'. And I also think its funny they make up sarah palin scandal.

[Thomas from Berkley, CA]

OBAMA NEEDS TO LAY OFF PALIN! MAYBE HE SAW HE WAS LOOSING TO JOHN McCAIN SO HE DECIDED TO RUN AGAINST THE NO#2 ON THE TICKET FIGURING SHE WAS MORE HIS SPEED.

[PulSamsara]

I know we're suppose to walk on egg shells around Sarah Palin.
After all she does eat moose burgers an all.

That being said - Sarah Palin is a joke - and a cynical insult toward the American people.

[Dan]

wow.
so pointing out Palin's flaws is "disrespectful".
haha.
Their lipstick laden pitbull can't handle the pressure of being under scrutiny, she should have blinked when McCain asked her to run as VP.

[basementfrog]

Gibson is a joke, a morning talk show host and a silly womanly program to boot. Put her in front of Ted Koppel, a real journalist. The Gibber is now a journalist. She's ignornant, not bright, but republicans do not elect leaders; they elect people who follow instruction (e.g., George W., Reagan et al).

But something of greater concern to all Americans is the Nazi like tactics of the Evangelical party, the party of the anti-christ. Newt Gingrich is saying an attack against Palin is an attack against Jesus!! You got to be kidding.

VOTING MANIPULATION

State Republicans in Macomb Co, Michigan, though, have a plan to give the McCain campaign an edge: suppress the vote.

The chairman of the Republican Party in Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the GOP's effort to challenge voters on Election Day. "We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses," party chairman James Carabelli told the local paper in a telephone interview earlier this week.

State election rules allow parties to assign "election challengers" to polls to monitor the election. These volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they "have a good reason to believe" that the person is not eligible to vote."

The Michigan Republicans' planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being "true residents."

The scheme would, of course, disproportionately affect African-American families in the area, who are more likely to vote Democratic, and more likely to be in foreclosure as a result of sub-prime loans.

This is just part of a "comprehensive voter-challenge campaign" Michigan Republicans are launching this year, which will coordinate with the regional McCain campaign to train volunteers in challenging those who wish to vote on Election Day.

Asked about the GOP's efforts, Carabelli said, "I would rather not tell you all the things we are doing."

THEY DID THIS TO SOLDIERS SERVING IN IRAQ IN 2004.

[Bill Henderson]

Since when is a liar’s best defense is a video full of more lies?

The woman is an airhead!