Sarah Palin, The “Common Sense” Choice for President
From Sarah Palin’s November appearance on The O’Reilly Factor, via The Atlantic Wire, via This Modern World:
O’REILLY: OK, but is it fair for you to criticize Obama’s lack of experience when somebody could make the same criticism about you on the national stage?
PALIN: If you’re talking about executive experience, I would put my experience up against his any day of the week. I’ve been elected to a local office since 1992 and was the city manager, strong leader form of government, was a chief executive of the state, was an oil and gas regulator. There was some good experience there that could have been put to use in a vice presidential ticket. We have to remember, too, that I wasn’t running for president.
O’REILLY: Now, but that’s the key question because John McCain is up there in years. You had to be qualified to take that office over.
PALIN: Right, but I’m saying I was running for vice president just like Joe Biden in running for vice president. I’ve never once heard you or anybody else question Joe Biden and his experience. He…
O’REILLY: Well, he’s got a lot of experience. Let me be very bold and fresh again. Do you believe that you are smart enough, incisive enough, intellectual enough to handle the most powerful job in the world?
PALIN: I believe that I am because I have common sense, and I have, I believe, the values that are reflective of so many other American values. And I believe that what Americans are seeking is not the elitism, the kind of a spinelessness that perhaps is made up for that with some kind of elite Ivy League education and a fact resume that’s based on anything but hard work and private sector, free enterprise principles. Americans could be seeking something like that in positive change in their leadership. I’m not saying that has to be me.
I get the “common” part, but the “sense” part is not coming through at all.