During her question-and-answer session at the National Tea Party Convention this weekend, former Gov. Sarah Palin blasted President Obama for his over-reliance on teleprompters…then quickly stole a few peeks at her hand to read the notes she’d scribbled there. Among the short notes were “energy,” “tax cuts” and “lift American spirits.”
Although the incident is receiving coverage on a certain televised news network, some claim the press is intentionally passing on the story to fit into part of an overall narrative of Republican resurgence.
The spark that lit a flame under Media Matters bloggers is a recent ABC news lede: “President Obama is trying to regain momentum on health care overhaul, but the push comes as Democrats seem dejected and Republicans like Sarah Palin grow increasingly confident.”
Writes the liberal watchdog group:
Good to know. Palin is feeling increasing “confident” and may even take on Obama in 2012, we learn. What ABC is careful to never mention is that recent polling shows Obama would demolish Palin in a head-to-head match-up.
And that’s way the press prefers to play the Palin game. Her God-awful polling numbers, even among Republicans, must never, ever be mentioned or put in context.
But pollster Nate Silver says the incident perfectly plays into the Palin-is-stupid narrative that the press has pushed since she arrived on the national stage and that she’ll need to change course to avoid media crucifixion if she decides to run in 2012:
Sarah Palin needs help. So does almost every politician — but Palin needs it more than most. She is young. She is inexperienced. She’s not especially well connected. She’s strong-willed and a little impulsive. And call me a hater, but the woman just ain’t that bright.
For his part, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann said the incident reveals that Palin is a disturbing, condescending, mean-spirited, hypocritical, and opportunistic woman who is also quite poor at counting.
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, incidentally, seems to have tried to force the Palin scandal to fit his own narrative. Short version: Charisma for Republicans bad; charisma for Democrats good.
The full video of the Q&A question that triggered the outrage is here.
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