Before the governor of Alaska quit her post to join the media, Sarah Palin became famous by getting eaten alive hard hitting journalists like Katie Couric. To excuse her poor performance in interviews, she started a crusade against "gotcha journalism," or as most people see them, "softball questions." She certainly would not approve of her current colleague at Fox News, Greta Van Sustern, for her line of questioning for Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Randy Brogdon.
First, though, there were a few portions of the interview I wanted to point out:
- Brogdon refers to Governor Brad Henry as a "Very liberal Democrat." Henry has been, by far, the most fiscally conservative governor in the nation. When he was elected in 2002, the state's "Rainy Day Fund" was practically empty. During the budget crisis, the fund was as large as the state constitution would allow. What a liberal!
- He has a talent for inserting his focus group approved catch phrases, (i.e. "unconstitutional") but he does a bad job of not changing his expression to show he is excited that the interviewer gave him an opening to insert that catch phrase. He looks like me prior to the NBA playoffs when someone left me an opening to bring up the Lakers' record down the stretch.
- For a guy who thinks Drew Edmondson is unfriendly to the Constitution, Brogdon is sure proud of his plan to override the popularly elected Attorney General.
The best part of the interview, though, is that Brogdon gets pwned by Van Sustern. To be clear, Greta was not hired by Fox News because of her stroke-survivor good looks. She is a dyed in the wool conservative who has no qualms weighing her stories to aide the Republican Party. So, the fact that she destroys Brogdon in this interview is completely an accident.
Watch her expression when she asks for clarification for what Brogdon means when he falsely claims that "ObamaCare" mandates where people can purchase their insurance. While Brogdon completely ignores the question, you can see the thought bubble over Van Sustern's head reading, "Damn it, why did I ask that?"
Then, later, Van Sustern gets into a debate in which Brogdon basically admits that his desire to join in a frivilous, class action law suit (and, my Gary England, has the state legislature been all about tying up the legal system this session...they need to pass tort reform on creating legislation passed specifically with the intent of forcing legal challenges). Paraphrasing, "Isn't the Florida suit exactly the same thing?" Brogdon: "Yes."
And just think, either him or Mary "I use your tax money for my gubernatorial campaign" Fallin is bound to be the next governor. This state is so screwed.
