AOL Crowd Turns on Sarah Palin
When Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was first selected to be Republican US Presidential candidate John McCain's running mate, readers overwhelmingly approved. More than 65 percent believed she can handle the job.
But it seems that an interview with CBS News Katie Couricmay have shifted public opinion rather dramatically.
In a survey of over 190,000 people, 53 percent said their opinion of Sarah Palin was mostly negative. 53 percent of the more than 182,000 people asked said that their opinion of Palin had gotten worse. But perhaps the most telling of all - 69 percent of nearly 153,000 people surveyed believed that Palin was not ready to become the next President of the United States in the event something were to happen to John McCain. The AOL political blogs are among the most popular on the Net.
The response comes as conservative columnist, Kathleen Parker, who welcomed Sarah Palin's entry in national politics, now says she's proven to be a dud and should step aside as John McCain's running mate.
The National Review Online writer, says her "cringe reflex is exhausted" after watching the Alaska governor stumble through TV interviews and it's become clear to her that Palin is out of her league.
"No one hates saying that more than I do," Parker writes. "Like so many women, I've been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I've also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does."
Palin had initially boosted the morale of the Republican party and was met with a positive response from voters and pollsters. The ticket had pulled within even odds of taking the White House come November at online bookmakers like Bookmaker.com. Following Friday night's debate, McCain's odds were expected to be around 2/1 or +200 compared to Obama at over -200, though odds were not immediately available Saturday evening. Obama had rebounded back up to -180 odds prior to the debate after being around -120 odds just two weeks prior.
Tony Fabrizio, a GOP strategist, told Politico.comthat Palin's recent CBS appearance with Katie Couric was alarming, though not disqualifying. "You can't continue to have interviews like that and not take on water."
"I have not been blown away by the interviews from her, but at the same time, I haven't come away from them thinking she doesn't know s-t," Chris Lacivita, a GOP strategist, told Politico.com. "But she ain't Dick Cheney, nor Joe Biden and definitely not Hillary Clinton."
