How many people has CNN sent to look at the Annenberg files?  How many have they sent to Columbia to find out why Obama won’t talk about his years there?  How many reports have they filed on the FEC investigations into Obama’s fundraising?

Probably zero, but I don’t have the patience to fact check that.

However, CNN made sure to fact check Palin — on the fact that Russia can actually be seen from Alaska.  OMG!

Sarah Palin had another interview with Katie Couric.  She did pretty well today, I think.  Better than the previous sit-down that was fodder for SNL.  She was asked about her social views, something she’s much more familiar with than, say, McCain’s reform record in the Senate.

I thought Palin gave an excellent answer to one specific question, although given her previous performance, others might criticize.  Hot Air has the video here.  Couric tries to pin Palin down on newspapers or magazines she’s read to create her “world view” as she Couric likes to call it.  Palin gives a non-specific answer, probably because she didn’t want to get trapped by whatever magazine name popped into her head first.  Palin should have messed with Couric and said Knitting World or something. 

Anyway, Palin knows it’s a stupid, gotcha question, so she keeps evading.  Couric presses, and Palin tells her that “Alaska isn’t a foreign country” and that they have access to news from D.C. just like the rest of the world.  Fantastic!  She should have given that answer after the first time Couric pressed her, not the third, but that’s the Sarahcuda we need to see!

Man, I hope so! 

On the heels of the Couric interview, with more embarrassing answers to come, it’s hard to believe that she’s that obtuse after all of the footage of her from Alaska interviews and debates I’ve seen. 

How would you deal with this issue?  Palin is brand new on the scene.  She knows Alaska, but not much else.  She’s smart, she’s witty, she’s attractive, and she’s being skewered by the press just after her introduction to the world.  Expectations are really low, with reporter after reporter traipsing out of NY / LA for the first time in his/her lives to find any and all dirt on her (something no one did when Obama announced his candidacy). 

The media are calling for her to talk to them just after writing scathing articles and spreading vicious rumors.  Meanwhile, she’s taking crash courses on foreign policy, domestic issues, and probably leaders of the world.  But, she has to do something.  Her handlers tell her to stay on message, and she does, but she looks robotic (with Charlie Gibson).  He made his own gaffes, and that, along with bad editing, gave her a small wave of forgiveness.  Her statement on Alaska was taken out of context with the edit, and it made her sound idiotic (and gave fodder to SNL). 

So what do the handlers do now?  She does an interview with Hannity, but she still sounds robotic, and he didn’t challenge her.  More bad press.  More clammoring for interviews and reporters bitching that she doesn’t do press conferences, either.  There’s a debate coming up.  She’s visiting the U.N.  There’s the Couric interview coming up, and Couric of course has her own agenda to make herself look like a serious news reporter. 

So why not make her even MORE robotic?  Lower the expectations even further.  Give Katie what she wants (I think Katie came off a bit like she had some disdain for Palin).  I have seen rumors out today that some McCain campers are seriously worried about her (source is Andrew Sullivan, to whom I will NOT link), questioning what they are going to do with her because she seriously failed a mock debate and mock press conference.  More lowering?  Then, they pulled the top two McCain campaign people, Schmidt and Davis, and took Palin on a debate retreat to Sedona.  More lowering with the appearance of circling the wagons?  Some big political game to make her performance at the debate look stupendous and reenergize the campaign again?

Man, I hope so.

During her interview with Sarah Palin, Katie Couric asked about meeting with Iran without preconditions.  Palin chided Obama as “so off base” and “beyond naive” because he wanted to meet with Ahmadinejad without preconditions.  Couric interrupted to ask Palin if she was calling Kissinger was naive also.  Palin said she never heard Kissinger say with no preconditions.  At the end of the interview, Couric said she checked with Kissinger, he confirmed his position was to meet without preconditions. 

Either she misunderstood him or she flat out lied.  Megyn Kelly on Fox News Channel spoke with Kissinger at about 5:15 PM (eastern) by phone and he confirmed that no President should NOT sit down with Ahmadinejad without preconditions, partly because it would legitimize him.  He says high level statesmen, such as Secretary of State, could and should meet with counterparts.  Couric’s comment made Palin look foolish, but Palin had it right.

Here’s Couric’s interview plus some video added by the member that shows this.  This particular question appears at 5:04.

This was also covered in last night’s debate.  Obama didn’t understand Kissinger, either.  Hot Air has the wrap up.