In (So Very, Very Qualified) Defense of Sarah Palin

I don't have particularly positive things to say about Sarah Palin, and she is certainly one of the least articulate politicians on the national stage, but folks who are snickering about how silly she comes across in quotations would do well to remember that a decent amount of the incoherence can probably be chalked up to unsympathetic reporters and transcribers.  Consider the passage, from an interview with Wolf Blitzer, that has most recently caused people to chuckle.  Here's how it was transcribed by CNN:

BLITZER: Does that mean you want to come up with a new Sarah Palin initiative that you want to release right now.

PALIN: Gah! Nothing specific right now. Sitting here in these chairs that I’m going to be proposing but in working with these governors who again on the front lines are forced to and it’s our privileged obligation to find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes or voting present every once in a while, we don’t get away with that. We have to balance budgets and we’re dealing with multibillion dollar budgets and tens of thousands of employees in our organizations.

Pretty bad, huh?  Now here's my version, based on the video and what I think she's trying to say.

BLITZER: Does that mean you want to come up with a new Sarah Palin initiative that you want to release right now.

PALIN: Nothing specific right now, sitting here in these chairs, that I’m going to be proposing.  But in working with these governors -- who again, on the front lines are forced to, and it’s our privileged obligation to, find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day -- being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes, or voting present every once in a while.  We don’t get away with that. We have to balance budgets, and we’re dealing with multibillion dollar budgets and tens of thousands of employees in our organizations.

The "Gah!" in the CNN transcript is totally gratuitous.  And although she doesn't have much of a point the way I've rendered it, she doesn't sound like a total buffoon.  Cleaning up quotations is routinely done by journalists -- except in cases where your subject has a reputation for being inarticulate and you maybe want to have a little fun at her expense.  Just something to keep in mind.

Full video below the fold.  The relevant exchange is at about 14:00.

Comments

[Stephen]

I still think it's her own damn fault for playing up that awful fake accent - you'll notice it's nowhere to be found in this interview - and intentionally mangling language in an attempt to appear "folksy."

Media outlets should be consistent in the way they transcribe and quote what people say. But Palin, whatever her natural speaking style, intentionally sold herself as a fake country dummy with a thick accent. Just because she's learned that after 8 years of a fake country dummy with a thick accent Americans don't want another one, doesn't mean we have to help her come up with another fake persona.

[Lisa Simeone]

As the NYT reports today, that business about her supposedly thinking Africa is a country instead of a continent is totally bogus. Like everyone else here, I don't want to be put in the position of defending her, but the Africa thing was made up out of whole cloth by a fake adviser to John McCain from a fake think tank. The hoax is outlined in this article called A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html?em

[Ankush]

Stephen: Lots of politicians change the way they speak based on where they are. Both Clintons did it, and Obama did it too. These people, as well, were being "folksy." Also, there's no evidence she ever "intentionally" mangled her speech. She can't speak well -- I don't deny that (not even sure she does!) -- but I'm basically with Lisa. I don't want to necessarily be defending her, but some of this has become a bit much.

[Victoria]

Being a journalist, I can tell you that I get LOTS of transcripts (of people I've interviewed, no less) that have terrible punctuation like this. That's because we usually use transcription services or interns -- and they're basically just typing as fast as they can, not expecting it will be seen by anyone but the reporter who's writing the script. If it's going to a website where it will be read by many, punctuation should be cleaned up.

Reminds me of that lesson from elementary school:
"Let's eat, Grandma!" versus "Let's eat Grandma!"

[Stephen]

Lots of politicians change the way they speak based on where they are. Both Clintons did it, and Obama did it too.

ISTM we're talking about different things. When Hillary, for example, was speaking at Ebenezer Baptist, she didn't put on that accent for her entire speech. It was done deliberately and, in the context of a church pulpit and quasi-sermon, appropriately.

That's far different than pretending that Mr. Andover/Yale/Harvard George W. is a good-ol-boy rancher, or that the utterly ruthless warmonger Ronald Reagan was just everyone's favorite grandpa. Whatever Palin's actual intellectual abilities, she deliberately presented herself as a dumb-as-shit Alaskan hillbilly. She shouldn't be allowed to reinvent herself as a thoughtful, serious governor just because Americans grew tired of being insulted.

It's funny to me the way things come full circle; the press learned to pigeonhole and mistreat politicians at the hands of the GOP. At the GOP's behest they savaged Al Gore for (not actually) reinventing himself. Now that a GOP politician actually is trying to rewrite her own narrative, they press is just doing what they've been trained to do.

[Matt Weiner]

As the NYT reports today, that business about her supposedly thinking Africa is a country instead of a continent is totally bogus.

I'm with Steve Benen on this; that NYT story doesn't mean that the original story was bogus, it means that the later story in which "Martin Eisenstadt" claimed to be the source of the original leak was bogus. But the leak probably still happened, it's just that the person who leaked hasn't come forward (though "Eisenstadt" pretended to be the leaker).

I would say it's an open question whether the original leaker was telling the truth, but given that Palin has complained that the leaker was taking something she said out of context, that sounds like an outright admission that she said it.

Anyway, even repunctuated, she sounds like a buffoon to me. She's asked about new ideas for the GOP, and she can't come up with anything that even sounds like a specific. Instead, she goes on about "present" votes. Earth to Sarah: The election is over. You lost. Obama kicked your ass. Let it go.

[Lisa Simeone]

Aha, this gets more interesting all the time! I see what you mean about its possibly still being true, which adds a whole new wrinkle.

In any case, I do still see her as a buffoon, utterly lacking in self-awareness, and out of touch with reality.

[Matt Weiner]

We can all agree on that!

[SAM]

Thank you! I don't agree with her politics, her accent drives me up the wall, and I don't think she has much knowledge of the world outside Alaska. But the media filter of her does have a negative bias or distortion. [Not that she needs much help looking like a buffoon.]

I believe the "Africa is a continent" meme was a distortion of a comment where she misspoke, but in the original context there was no evidence that she actually THOUGHT Africa was a continent.

[marc sobel]

This is a very dangerous woman. She gets away with lying more often than Bush. She is corrupt, hostile to women, a religious fanatic, racist, and beloved by the people buying all the assault rifles because Obama is going to put them into concentration camps. Treating her with kid gloves is dangerous.

Correcting the punctuation, what does the statement mean ? After reading it five times, I can come up with:
a)I have no new suggestions
b)Governors have a different role than legislators
c)State budgets are big
d)States have lots of employees.

These statements are true, trivial and simplistic.

It also contains a gratuitous implied attack on Obama (voting present)

So the statement is true, trivial, simplistic and malicious. Yep, that's our Palin. When she tells the truth. Often her statements are false, trivial, simplistic, avoid the issue or invent a strawman and malicious.

[rk]

I'm not sure an argument (valid as it may be) about how transcriptions and quotations can modify perceptions of what is said actually does anything to change the fact of how she actually SAYS things. If anything, the CNN transcription makes her sound more intelligent, "Gah!" or not. It's as if she just throws words up on the canvass to see if they make sense, and then she stresses the wrong words, pauses awkwardly, and throws in the "also too"'s that just drive me up the wall.

This has nothing to do with transcription - the video doesn't help her at all.

[late arrival]

This,

But in working with these governors -- who again, on the front lines are forced to, and it’s our privileged obligation to, find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day -- being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes, or voting present every once in a while.

... has no subject, verb or object. I think the cleaned up version shows even more starkly how inarticulate she is. It's like she learned English from reading tag clouds.