I thought she did just fine. She answered the questions with sincerity and poise, and had a good grasp of the issues presented. What everyone needs to always keep in mind is that Charlie has note cards and Sarah does not. Doesn’t hurt, of course, that I agree with her almost completely.
(the dropping of the “Pray that….” from the ‘quote’ was a particularly cheap-shot, I thought, but again it wasn’t Charlie who wrote the question, it was some Columbia j-schooler who wants to make it big with Disney. And she handled it just fine with “I’m not sure if that’s exactly what I said” (paraphrasing))
What I did notice- and this has been a big selling point for me and many I know- is her “realness”. Her way of talking, her cadence, her syntax, are real-American ways of communicating. Even down to that cute little accent she has. The shores of Lake Erie are populated
almost entirely with folks who sound that same way, God love ‘em.
Sometimes you “coasters” don’t ‘get’ that part.
She connects to middle-America not just in the guns-and-God way, but in the…. what’s the word…. genuineness. She speaks in the way most people (especially those lacking a JD from some ivy-covered
structure) really talk. No parsing, no equivocation, but also not giving away the store. You must be doing something right when the best the “elites” can do is criticize grammar or proffer loaded questions.
The elitism and condescending attitude of the media is blaring through, and it doesn’t go unnoticed in the new media culture. When does Obama get asked these same questions ? Can he do it without umm’ing and err’ing, turning what should be a 30 second answer into a
3 minute snooze-fest ?
She does need some new stump material, as many have said. I’d like to think she’s been a little preoccupied what with still running a state, not to mention sending her oldest child off to war. Once Track gets boots on the ground I trust she will become 100% more involved (does she know any other way ?) in the campaign, and will dazzle for weeks, months, and hopefully at least 16 years to come. Don’t let one small maybe/sorta not-stellar performance diminish your enthusiasm. It certainly hasn’t diminished mine.