Saturday, April 10, 2010

Political Catfights

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos interviewed President Obama on Thursday, and in that interview was this gem,

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?

To Stephanopoulos, Sarah Palin’s sound bites constitute “broader issues.”

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

Now, if I were Stephanopoulos, I would have blushed and apologized for asking such a stupid question but, of course, Stephanopoulos and every other media person who viewed this interview read it as Obama “picking a fight” with Sarah Palin.

I read it more as, “Do you have any actual questions to ask me, George, or are we just going to play word games with Sarah Palin's latest sound bites?”

But no, Stephanopoulos felt the need to follow up,

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.

It took three tries for the President of The United States of America to get Stephanopoulos to quit asking idiotic questions based on the opinions of a half-term failed governor of a rural state and ask about actual, real life world affairs. And what the media and its punditry takes away from this is that “Obama picked a fight with Sarah Palin.”

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