Reporters caught on open mike trashing Sarah Palin after her CSU speech (audio, slideshow)
June 26, 1:55 PMLA County Political Buzz ExaminerMatthew Emmer
June 25, 2010.
Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli
Sarah Palin's speech last night at California State University, Stanislaus was preceded by several months of controversy, so perhaps it was fitting that controversy continued after Palin left the stage. Shortly after Palin's speech ended, several reporters were caught on an open microphone giving their opinions about the speech, and the reviews weren't pretty. The as yet unidentified reviewers, who appear to be professional journalists (possibly mixed with one or more student journalists), could be heard saying the following:
* "Oh my God, I feel like I just stepped off a rollercoaster."
* "She didn’t finish a statement."
* "Did she make a statement?"
* "...the dumbness doesn't come through in sound bytes."
* "I don’t know how you’re gonna make a story out of that." "Well, that’s the story."
* "Lots of Reagan."
* "When you’ve got to write a report as a college student and you just try to jam as many quotes in as possible, you know, from as many random ...., that's what I got."
This is not the first time members of the media were caught dissing Sarah Palin on an open microphone. In September 2008, conservative pundit and former President Ronald Reagan's speechwriter Peggy Noonan and Republican strategist Mike Murphy had a conversation caught on mic after a television segment they appeared on was over. In the discussion, Noonan, talking about John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his 2008 presidential running mate against Barack Obama and Joe Biden, said, "[t]he most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political b***s**** about narratives and (inaudible) the picture." Murphy, likewise, stated that McCain's pick of Palin was "cynical" and "gimmicky."
Such strong feelings about Sarah Palin one way or the other are now par for the course. Earlier this week, an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll was released, in which Palin's positive rating was only 29 percent, the same as that of former President George W. Bush. Moreover, a majority of respondents said they would either have "some reservations" or be "very uncomfortable" with a candidate for Congress who had received Palin's endorsement, as opposed to just 25 percent who felt "enthusiastic about" or "comfortable with" a Palin-endorsed candidate. Similarly, Palin was greeted at her Cal State speech last night by both vociferous cheers and loud protests (see slideshow below).
Palin often likes to criticize the pundits who criticize her, by calling them the "lamestream" media. This, despite the fact that Palin is now firmly footed in the maintstream media, with a position at Fox News Channel, the most popular cable television news channel. Ironically, it was a local Fox affiliate, KTXL Fox40 from Sacramento, which provided the live video feed of Palin's speech that captured the reporters' comments. Palin also a regularly sends messages to her followers on Facebook and Twitter, established social media used by millions of people.
No matter. As with many things regarding Sarah Palin, narrative often outpaces reality.
© 2010 Matthew Emmer -- All Rights Reserved |
