It’s been suggested that Sarah Palin hasn’t had much media training. On the contrary, she had plenty enough as a sports reporter. Check this out:
In that video, from her days reporting for an Anchorage TV station, she’s clearly not Major Market. But you can see how her persona today is a combination of aw-shucks-doggone-it hockey mom, smart political operator and TV personality. And the latter cannot be discounted.
I don’t think that being a reporter qualifies you to be interviewed by a reporter. That would be like saying that being able to shoot qualifies you to be shot.
Oooh, it’s like Nicole Kidman in To Die For, in which, now I come to think of it, she is very much like a pitbull with lipstick!
But it does train you to play to the camera and make yourself look the best infront of the nation. I agree with Doc that you cannot discount the appeal of personality in Main Street USA.
Russ, I see you’re talking about another kind of media training. Point taken. I also think that Palin is more at ease with cameras — and using them to reach past intermediators and talk directly with ordinary folks — than anybody we’ve seen in a long time. Certainly more than Biden, McCain, and even Obama, all of which are to some degree mannered and uncomfortable.
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