Palin criticizes news media, says there was double-standard in coverage of her family and Obama's

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: January 8, 2009 - 8:58 am

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From David Hulen in Anchorage --

There's new video interview online with the governor, who talks at some length about media coverage during and after the campaign. (See coverage by CNN, Politico.com and local Democrat/liberal blog Blue Oasis.)

The interview is by conservative broadcaster John Ziegler, who is producing a documentary, "Media Malpractice ... How Obama Got Elected."

It was done at her Wasilla home on Monday, with clips posted on YouTube yesterday.

A big chunk of the YouTube clip is Palin teeing off on media coverage of her family. She talks about a double standard between coverage of her family and Obama's, and suggests a double standard between scrutiny of her and Caroline Kennedy (who's pursuing a New York Senate seat) because of her social class.

"When I heard Barack Obama state in one of his interviews on national television that his wife was off limits, meaning, family's off limits -- you know, 'Attack me, I'm the public official, come after me, I can handle it and we'll duke it out if need be, but family's off limits' -- I naively believed, OK, they respected that in him and his demand for that to be adhered, naively believing that must apply to all of us, right? But it didn't apply."

On Kennedy: “I’ve been interested also to see how Caroline Kennedy will be handled and if she will be handled with kid gloves or if she will be under such a microscope also. It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out and I think that as we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy versus, say, the scrutiny of what her candidacy may be.”

As Biegel points out in a long dissection on her site, the interview seems targeted at Palin supporters in the Lower 48. Excerpt:

Ziegler: What do you say to people who really like you, who want to support you in the future, but who might be influenced by the media that says, "This Sarah Palin is incompetent and not qualified, maybe not even that smart." What do you tell those people to hang their hat on?

Palin: I wish that there was opportunity, especially for those in the Lower 48, to look at my record...at my administration's record...our administration wanting to shrink government again so that families and private businesses can be the ones growing and prospering, not government, not people having to look to government to solve their problems. But, those things we've done in our administration, our record there, I wish that people in the Lower 48 who, perhaps, would be tempted to be influenced by this media thing...that we're just incompetent or ill-intended up here...I wish that they could just see our record, let it speak for itself and perhaps believe the facts there versus being sucked into believing what it is that too many in the mainstream media would want them to believe.

From Ziegler's Web site:

Largely because of absurd claims by Democrats that she was violating ethics rules by answering campaign questions on state grounds (one of several ways in which the Democrats there, who used to love her, are now totally invested in the “take Sarah Palin down” industry), we did the interview at the Palin home. At 9 a.m., without a security guard or handler within sight, Bristol Palin, eight days removed from giving birth, politely answered the door and Governor Palin, not yet fully put together, rushed out to tell me and our crew to make ourselves at home.

...I also know now, with morally certitude, that the media assassination of her, her character and her family was one of the greatest public injustices of our time and I am totally justified in devoting my life to correcting the historical record in my forthcoming film

Elsewhere in Palin world, Fox News Channel host Greta Van Susteren, who did long interviews pre- and post-election with the governor and husband Todd, took to her blog this week to blast CNN for including Palin on its year-end list of "Politicians who made headlines for the wrong reasons" (including Stevens, Blagojevich and Spitzer). Her beef: CNN removed Palin from the list and issued an apology privately to the governor for including her, through a producer, but didn't deal with it publicly.

Van Sustern: "A producer? Why did she get stuck doing the dirty work on this one? Why didn't someone higher up the corporate food chain send the message of apology if CNN really means it? The job stature of the person making the apology can mean much. This IS the governor of the largest state...a former candidate for VP...and the trashing went worldwide and was really lousy."

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