hatepalin.com

The latest in the McCain campaign’s desperate attempt to shield its Vice Presidential pick Sarah Palin from press scrutiny and possible embarrassment? They tried today to eliminate all press coverage of any of her meetings with world leaders during their visit to the United Nations, including the “pool” television coverage. After the networks threatened to pull all coverage of the day, the campaign relented.

Excuse me, what was that about openness in government?

This would be amusing if it didn’t come on the heels of eight years of a manipulated press – have you EVER seen any images of caskets of brave soldiers arriving the US after the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq or Afghanistan? That’s because the Bush administration forbids it.

So, we have to ask again: What is the McCain camp so afraid of?

See Los Angeles Times article: Sarah Palin’s U.N. meetings begin with media flap.

Update:  Apparently I wasn’t the only one getting frustrated at the lack of press exposure to Palin.  CNN’s Campbell Brown calls out the McCain campaign for restricting press access to Sarah Palin, and calls the treatment sexist:

I suppose it should be no surprise that the McCain campaign is afraid to put Palin out in front of the media when it is likely that she would embarrass herself.  A press conference?  Horrors!  Yes, here we are only a few short weeks away from the election, and Palin has not yet held a press conference.

I guess the only way her handlers are comfortable with exposing her is through ghost-written speeches (or should I say speech, since she has hewn so closely to the same speech given at the Republican convention) or closely managed friendly press interviews (like Sean Hannity).  After the initial bruising from Charlie Gibson, I guess it’s clear why.

Is this how participatory democracy is supposed to work?

The fact that McCain chose Palin to be his running mate after meeting her twice, and spending no more than an hour and a half with her continues to boggle my mind.

A friend of mine told me that McCain has a 33% actuarial chance of dying in his first term, but that I shouldn’t worry – the Congress and political establishment wouldn’t actually let her RUN anything.  So he is planning to vote for McCain.  Sorry, but in my book McCain’s poor judgement in choosing Palin disqualifies him for the office of President in my book, and claiming that Palin wouldn’t really be in charge is no salve.  Palin would be Vice President, one heartbeat away from the Presidency.  She’d better be ready to take over.  But she’s simply not, as even my friend would admit.

The stakes are high, the choice is clear.

And Palin is just plain Wrong for America.