Palin v Gibson/MSM 2

Some additional thoughts on Palin interview with Gibson this past week as well as with Hannity this comming week.

Bush Doctrine. All head-of-states believe in pre-emption when you have good info that you are about to be attacked (unless you believe the conspiracy that FDR let Pearl Harbor get bombed in order to enter WW2). The difference with W is two fold. Firstly, "if you harbor those who attack us, we have a right to attack you." This is a much more aggressive stance than pre-emption alone. This was his doctrine in his first term but this was a reactive doctrine. Secondly, W's doctrine now also includes support of Democracy as the counter for islamofascist radicalism. He amended it in his second term to include a proactive arm. Whether Palin knew this I cannot say with certainty, but it was clear that Gibson did not.

Gibson. He was likely chosen from the big 4 (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN) because he might have been viewed as the most fair. There has been suggestion that Gibson was chosen by the McCain camp because he was a Republican. Whether he is a Republican or not is irrelevant, or at least too simplistic. Two things should be considered. Firstly is that he is a Washington insider and well entrenched in MSM. Even if he was conscious of elistism from being both I doubt he could counter it. I thought he was more elitist than biased. The fact that Palin is an outsider has rattled the establishment on the right and the left. The Left is just more shrill about it. Secondly, there was significant editing of the interview and what complete transcript is available so far, the broadcast edit clearly suggest bias of the producer, which may not have been clearly anticipated by the McCain camp.

Hannity. I don't think he interviews. He either confronts or re-inforce his own bias. But this interview is not meant to inform the independent voters like the Gibson interview (which was more an introduction to the voters). The Hannity interview is more about rallying the base again as well as reassure the hold out on the right that she is still better than Obama. Both really are just warm up for her real interview which will be against Biden in the VP Debate.