Winks & Twinkles & Tenacious “P” - The Debate That Ain’t
By Roberta Rosenberg on Oct 3, 2008 in Occasional Rantings
Popcorn and Sleepy Time tea at the ready, I thought I was going to be watching a debate. He talks, she responds, and the moderator breaks up the fist-fight ugliness.
Instead, I heard this (direct from the transcript):
… I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I’m going to talk straight to the American people …
Hmm. I got to wondering how a client might react when having handed over a set of guidelines for a new campaign heard “I don’t really care to follow the guidelines you’ve just given me. I’m just going to write it straight to your customers.”
I think we’d be quickly shown the door, if not forcibly removed due to fear we were completely wacky and might cause someone great harm.
I wonder why the moderator didn’t step in with a “Governor Palin, this is a debate between you and Senator Biden. Not a stump speech. Please respond to the Senator and step lively. We only have XX minutes left in this segment.”
But that’s me. I like keeping people and projects focused and on track.
No wonder interviews give Palin the yips. She doesn’t like the format. I have to admit tho, it would be intriguing to watch her in a typical, free-for-all press conference — all perky poses and talking points that don’t quite connect to the questions being asked — but I’ll leave that to Tina Fey and the SNL comedy crew to sketch out that scenario.
I know, I know. Like you I was a little sad we didn’t get at least one “Sir, you are no Jack Kennedy!” moment or major foul-ups. (I did like her “O’Biden mash-up. That was fun.) But as political performances go, it was reasonably good theater.
Back to what ‘tackling the task’ means … if we treat last night’s debate as an actual debate, well, you just can’t give her a passing grade. Even the third grade kids in her shout out last night know what happens when you fail to follow the directions of an assignment.
You get an F no matter how gosh darn cute you are. Period.
The Copywriter Underground | Oct 3, 2008 | Reply
I can’t quite get past the image of a client asking me a pointed question about a sub-par response rate, and my waxing lyrical about the really, really cool blue used in the header graphic.
The Copywriter Underground’s last blog post..An Open Letter to Washington Mutual Bank (From the Financial Equivalent of a Brainless Squid)
Roberta Rosenberg | Oct 3, 2008 | Reply
@Tom - ‘zactly. Or the client asks you a pointed question about that same sub-par performance and you respond with, “Say it ain’t so, Joe. There you go looking backwards…”
As my mother used to say, “How stupid do you have to be to [FILL IN YOUR OWN VERBIAGE HERE.]
::wink::
Amanda | Oct 4, 2008 | Reply
This is the nicest, sweestest, dead-on criticism of Palin yet. You know how to make your point, Maven.
XX
David Leland | Oct 4, 2008 | Reply
It makes my heart soar like an eagle to hear that the east coast is as disturbed as we on the west coast with Sarah Palin’s performance.
All everyone asked was “that she have a basic understanding of the issues.” Even at that low bar she failed.
Roberta Rosenberg | Oct 4, 2008 | Reply
FAIRNESS RESPONSE … I think Palin did NOT hurt herself with her supporters, but I don’t think she brought many indy’s as yet to the McCain camp. I also like the fact she wears glasses instead of contacts. I do, too.
And Joe? He needs a tweak with a new plastic surgeon. His current eye work is sub-par.