No Free Passes

The Republican strategy appears to be to make it unacceptable to ask Sarah Palin the challenging questions that should be asked anyone seeking national office.  That is all any of us need to know to be certain that she should not under any circumstances be allowed near the oval office.

How can it be that a person on a national ticket has to be kept from answering questions?  And asking the tough questions is the only responsible thing to do. 

If candidates cannot answer them, then we learn what we need to know – or what we should need to know.  In Palin’s case, it seems her unwillingness or inability to show command of the issues of the day has not hurt her.

In time it should.

If Hillary Clinton were the Democratic vice presidential candidate, would she be expected to answer questions and demonstrate an acceptable breadth of knowledge that should precede taking the oath of office?

Of course she would.

So why not Palin?

Yes, has agreed to one interview.  One.  And when is the next one?  No idea.

If I were Palin, I’d never have accepted the offer from McCain if I thought I had to hide from scrutiny.  

Then again, if I’d only been out of the country once, I probably wouldn’t think I was qualified.

Or if I had made women rape victims pay for their own forensic rape kits, I probably wouldn’t think I was qualified.

And if my only foreign policy experience consisted of living in state near Russia…well, you get the picture.

This election is too important to have it decided on issues that don’t matter.  We have big problems and we need serious people to solve them.

We need to know much more about Sarah Palin to know if she has what it takes.

And if she continues to refuse to answer the tough questions?  Well, that tells us all we need to know.

Posted by Bernie Campbell on Thursday, September 11, 2008
Permalink: No Free Passes