Conservative columnist: Palin 'clearly out of her league,' should quit race RAW STORY

Published: Friday September 26, 2008





Print This Email This After a series of fumbling interviews, Sarah Palin's sheen is beginning to fade, even among some Republicans.



National Review's Kathleen Parker laments that the hockey mom turned PTA head turned governor actually might not be ready to be a heartbeat from the presidency. Palins recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.



No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, Ive been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. Ive also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted. In her column on the conservative magazine's Web site Friday, Parker notes Palin's life story sets her apart from traditional feminists, but she realizes that those superficialities alone aren't enough to prepare her for the White House. Unfortunately, as Palin's recent appearances reveal, she doesn't have much else to offer. Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and theres not much content there. Heres but one example of many from her interview with Hannity: Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that were talking about today. And thats something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.



When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obamas numbers, Palin blustered wordily: Im not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see whos more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and whos actually done it?



If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself. Palin's CBS Evening News sit-down may have been her worst performance in front of a camera to date. Fortunately for her and GOP nominee John McCain, it seems to have garnered relatively little notice from a press and public paying closer attention to the ongoing economic meltdown and McCain's ill-fated attempt to sweep into Washington to fix it.



Parker says the fact that Palin is a woman makes observers "reluctant to say what is painfully true," and she urges the Alaska Governor to drop from the ticket. McCain can't fire Palin, because that wouldn't look good, but the vice presidential nominee can cite personal reasons to leave of her own accord -- perhaps she needs to spend more time with her infant son or wants to be there for her pregnant teenage daughter. Whatever the reason, she needs to retreat from the national stage.



"Do it for your country," Parker concludes.



