why is ABC using an idiotic quote from a dimwitted former half-term governor...?

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_04/023270.php

WRONG QUESTION, RIGHT ANSWER.... President Obama sat down with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive interview in Prague yesterday, on the heels of the president signing in a new arms treaty with Russia. The interview, portions of which were aired this morning on "Good Morning America," covered quite a bit of ground, and the transcript is well worth reading for thoughts on Iran

There was, however, one exchange that stood out for me.

STEPHANOPOULOS:I want to get to some of those broader issues . Because you're also facing criticism on that. Sarah Palin, taking aim at your decision to restrict the use of nuclear weapons. Your pledge not to strike nations, non-nuclear nations, who abide by the nonproliferation treaty. Here's what she said. She said, "It's unbelievable, no other administration would do it." And then she likened it to kids on the playground. She said you're like a kid who says, "Punch me in the face, and I'm not going to retaliate." Your response?

OBAMA: I really have no response. Because last I checked, Sarah Palin's not much of an expert on nuclear issues.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But the string of criticism has been out there among other Republicans as well. They think you're restricting use of nuclear weapons too much.

OBAMA: And what I would say to them is that if the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff are comfortable with it, I'm probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But not concerned about her criticisms?

OBAMA: No.

The president's response was the right one. When dealing with issues of counter-proliferation and the nuclear threats of the 21st century, he can listen to credible and knowledgeable experts, including secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, or he can listen to the bizarre rhetoric of a dimwitted former half-term governor of a small state, who appears to have no working knowledge of this or any other subject. It's not a tough call. Why on earth would anyone give a damn what the clownish Sarah Palin thinks about arms control?

Which leads to the larger point: why is George Stephanopoulos using an idiotic quote from a dimwitted former half-term governor of a small state as the basis for a question to the president?

In effect, the "GMA" host was saying, "Some conspicuously unintelligent right-wing media personality said something stupid about a subject she knows nothing about. Mr. President, how to you respond?"

Here's a thought: why should he be expected to respond? When doing an interview after a key development on international affairs, why not stick to the perspectives of grown-ups?

—Steve Benen

[Oceansaway]

1. STEPHANOPOULOS=DICKHEAD...n/t

[LiberalFighter]

25. Steph doesn't have an intelligent thought in his head

Especially when he gives Palin credibility.

[Cha]

30. STEPHANOPOULOS= DICKHEAD= MEDIAWHORE.

[myrna minx]

2. K&R n/t

[CBGLuthier]

3. "also facing criticism on that"

Oh for fuck's sake when will they admit that he faces criticism for EVERYTHING HE DOES.

They complain about everything. They started before he got into office and they have not shut the fuck up since.

[rurallib]

4. I laughed my ass off when I heard that question

Jesus ABC, how blatant do you have to be.
"Now, Barack, Sarah Palin says this is bad. She represents what must be 25% or less of the country. How about them apples!"

[Orsino]

5. And why didn't Steph even *pretend* to do his homework?

"No other Administration would do it"?

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Lecture/President-Reagans-Legacy-and-US-Nuclear-Weapons-Policy
Many views that Reagan held in the mid-1940s changed as he evolved from liberal Democrat to conservative Republican. But he never abandoned his hatred of nuclear weapons and his desire to eliminate them. Reagan's "dream," as he himself described it, was "a world free of nuclear weapons." He pursued that dream as a personal mission.

Palin is intellectually lazy, and Stephanopoulos decided to be no better.

[Deep13]

6. He's pursuing Reagan's dream of nuclear disarmament. nt

[Turbineguy]

7. It sounds to me like complimenting with faint praise.

Palin criticized you.

She's an idiot.

You would not take her advice?

I have people who know something for advice. She's an idiot.


Sarah Palin is the one who brought this whole thing up. I'm pretty sure if Mr. Obama wants to know about moose hunting, he knows were to look for advice.

[deminks]

8. The MEdia has to prop up somebody, otherwise

no one will buy hideous hatefilled ads, no one will come and sit at their pundit desks, no one will say outrageous things about one side or the other if there is only one side.

Propping up stupid worked with the Smirk for two terms.

The MEdia is in full dress panic right about now.

[cilla4progress]

19. DING DING DING!

Remember "yellow journalism"? It sells. And with our national religion being CAPITALISM, of course, stoke conflict, strife, even idiocy if you must: everyone loves a train wreck! And THAT describes epicfail Palin perfectly!

[deminks]

9. dupe

[Clio the Leo]

10. And why is this the only part of the interview we're focusing on....

... which is a general statement, not a slam against you Babs.

I triple dog dare anyone to quote back to me ANYTHING else the President said in that interview.

If he does one of these interviews, we might have one or two threads commenting on it, this time we had SEVERAL hooping and hollering about the President's "smack down!" of that Palin woman!

Politics is simply pro-wrestling for the intellectual set (and George and the rest of the MSM knows it.)

[babylonsister]

11. To be honest, I haven't seen the interview. Guess I need to go find it. nt

[Clio the Leo]

12. Here...

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/exclusive-president-obama-nukes-palin-confederacy-iran/story?id=10324813

Transcript...
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/george-stephanopoulos-interview-president-obama-transcript/story?id=10321834

It's telling that the normally verbose Obama confined his answer to George's follow-up about that Palin woman to one word. ;)

Here's one of MY favorite parts..

But I think that there are going to be a whole host of measures that we put on the table, that they put on the table, that they think are effective, and that we think are effective, and we're not doing this in isolation. We're doing this with the other P-5 Plus One members. So, China is entering in negotiations in New York. We've got Germany, and France, and Great Britain. All of us are going to be sitting and crafting, shaping a sanctions regime that we think is actually going to be effective in changing Iranian behavior.

But if the question is, do we have a guarantee as to the sanctions we are able to institute at this stage are automatically going to change Iranian behavior, of course we don't. I mean, the history of the Iranian regime, like the North Korean regime is that, you know, you apply international pressure on these countries, sometimes they choose to change behavior, sometimes they don't. Part of that may have to do with their internal political dynamics. But if that pressure is steady, and applied, and consistent, and there's a unified international effort, over time, you can see changes in behavior. And we saw that in Libya for example, which had pursued ... (George interrupts)... I don't think you have seen the degree of international unity that you've seen in this effort. Now, we've got to explore a whole range of other options. And I've been consistent about that. But I think the important point is if that we came in a year and a half ago, close to a year and a half ago, saying that we would approach the Iranian government, give them an option, and we would move on parallel tracks, not because we were naive that the Iranians would automatically accept an open hand from us, but rather because we understood that by taking ourselves off the table as an issue, by showing that we would be willing to engage if, in fact, Iran was willing to act responsibly, what we would be able to do is to mobilize the international community much more effectively than we have in the past. And I think you're seeing the results of that bear fruit today.

[HughMoran]

13. No kidding - we always get sucked into the 'Palin game'

Even in laughing at her, we're still guilty of promoting her and her idiotic moronic thinking that is destroying reasonable discourse in this country. I HATE lowest common denominator politics as the more intellectual Dems will always lose at this game. WHy can't we break the addiction?

[sad sally]

32. My husband sez' it's the old fingernail rasping down the blackboard

pitch of her voice that gets to us. We hate it, but we listen until it stops hurting our ears (and brains).

[mod mom]

14. FORMER. HALF-TERM. GOVERNOR.

It should be repeatedly used until it sticks!

[TwilightGardener]

17. I prefer "failed former governor". She did indeed fail to complete her term.

[political_Dem]

15. Short Answer? White Privilege.

Everyone knows Sarah is dumb as a sack of hair. But simply because she is who she is, her answer is taken as if it was made by a member of MENSA.

In that same guise, even though Mr. Obama is a brilliant and rather erudite thinker, in the eyes of white privilege he is seen as "less than Sarah". Therefore, even as POTUS (and a Black one at that), a person of color must be talked down to and assumed "lesser than" anyone white.

Realistically speaking, Obama should tell Stephanopoulos and Caribou Barbie (not to mention the rest of the Teabagging, RNC ilk) to go to hell.

(and I would love to see that broadcast if it would ever happen).

But, Mr. Obama is too much of a gentleman to do so. Instead, he took a diplomatic way out of this caustic situation on air. That's why he is the way he is.

[Dr Morbius]

16. Perhaps because that dimwitted former half-term governor

is the leading voice of the Republican party!

Now, perhaps we should ask why a dimwitted former half-term governor is the new face of conservatism, but the answer for that has to come from the right.

[eppur_se_muova]

18. 'Cause it's the best they've got?

Without, you know, actually disagreeing with their assumptions.

[onenote]

20. would you rather have the meia promoting huckabee or romney?

One can only imagine how annoyed other repubs who are vying for the national spotlight must feel that no one cares what they think. Hard to build momentum when you can't get your face on TV. All in all, better for us, not so good for them.

[Beetwasher]

21. Someone Needs To Give Steph A Wedgie

Just for having the gall to ask Obama the question in the first place.

[Supersedeas]

22. Stephie-Snotnose-Afits is all about concern for Palin criticisms.

[Phx_Dem]

23. Steph asks Obama about the dimwitted quitter, then the media claims Obama is

"going after Palin."

The only ones who act like "little kids on a playground" are Palin and the media. Jesus, grow up.

[Sheepshank]

24. I think Stephanopoulos opened the door for Obama

It almost sounded too good to be true. While some may rail at Stephanopoulos as a Palin-boy, in this case it clearly seems that the question was designed to let Obama say his piece and at the same time give Palin a bit of a tweek. Personally without the question we would not have had the response that is making most of us smile today.

[Raine1967]

26. That should not be a reporters job.

Nope, I don't buy it for one minute.

There is nothing clear about the motives you are assigning to Stephanopoulos at all. He defended what he did. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/09/stephanopoulos-defends-as_n_531535.html

"Whatever Steve thinks of Sarah Palin," he wrote, "she's a former VP candidate -- and potential challenger to President Obama -- with a strong following in the GOP. She made a pointed critique of a new Presidential policy. By asking the President for his response, I was doing my job."

So no -- he wasn't playing jujitsu, he knew what he was doing. It was wrong.

[livetohike]

27. The media created Sarah Palin and is trying so hard to

convince viewers that Palin's opinion should be heard and respected. She is a nobody. She has knowledge of nothing, inparticular policy decisions. Her intelligence can be measured in a thimble.

[Sebastian Doyle]

28. Because ABC is more FAUX-ish than CNN?

And Judas Snuffalupagus is a fucking cowardly traitor?

[glinda]

29. Media needs to quit being lazy and help stop destroying this Country. Am sick of all the time these

stupid statements get on the Media.

[treestar]

31. Obama should answer to me personally before he has to answer

to the former half-governor.

The media keep giving the former half-governor the credit that what she says matters.

If they were serious media, they would at least find credible critics.

They are a bunch of idiots and no credit to this country.

[troubledamerican]

33. ABC = Disney = Ultra-right-wing.

You apparently don't remember ABC's "Road To 9/11" which invented "factual history" about the Clinton Administration inviting 9/11.