30 Responses to “I’ll be on CNN.com/LIVE today discussing Sarah Palin”

1. 1 Paula on July 6th, 2009 9:48 am

   Would they be giving this much attention if a MAN had done this?

2. 2 Jill Miller Zimon on July 6th, 2009 9:51 am

   I think that’s a most appropriate question and I’d actually say that, for example, if it were Bobby Jindal, it’s very possible BUT…I don’t know. On Morning Joe, they said that they believe that they were very tough on Dan Quayle, for example.

   Unfortunately, we have so few women that are at the level Palin has reached (re: elevated to VP candidate status) that it’s very hard to know.

3. 3 T-Steel on July 6th, 2009 9:51 am

   Something tells me that the media would not, Paula. I’ve never bashed Sarah Palin (disagreed with much of her viewpoints and that’s it). Personally I feel what Mark Sanford did is much worse than Palin resigning.

   Nevertheless, congrats Jill. I will be watching!

4. 4 John Hummel on July 6th, 2009 9:53 am

   The one thing I’d be curious about is how the Palin silence is doing more to fuel speculation into wrongdoing than anything else.

   If she had come out and said “This is exactly why I’m leaving – to run for President/work on Fox News/write my book/hike the Appalachian Mountains,” people might still criticize her for quitting her post (after citing examples of how you should never quit) – but at least people would *know*.

   Instead you’ve got the Palin family attorney sending out emails saying “Don’t look over here at Housegate,” which makes people look more at Housegate ( http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/07/05/palin_lawyer_letter/ ). But still, she hasn’t said *why*, and that makes things 1,000 times worse than if she had just said what she’s going to do.

   Of course, this is just my opinion. I could be wrong.

5. 5 Chris Maag on July 6th, 2009 10:11 am

   Palin running for president is great news for Democrats, since she will divert money and attention away from viable, intelligent candidates.

6. 6 Nordette aka Verite on July 6th, 2009 10:14 am

   How is this going to make her any more ready to be president, if that’s her goal? One of the criticisms of Obama during the RNC was he was “just a community activist” and a “governor” who hadn’t even been in office that long was superior. So, is she going to become the very thing she condemned, working at the grassroots level, raising money to make it to Washington or is she no longer interested in the Oval Office? Her resignation speech was odd.

   During the campaign McCain/Palin tried to paint Obama as some mystery man. Palin’s one of the most mysterious political figures to emerge in a while, avoiding the accountability of interviews with the media, rewriting her history and creating her own mythology. I like entertainers’ ability to re-invent themselves, but if you’re a potential political leader, I’d prefer knowing who you really are. And this switching gears seems to be an old trait. Remember how many colleges she went through?

7. 7 Cynthia Samuels on July 6th, 2009 10:26 am

   I think things depend on WHY. When Paul Tsongas left be be more with his family – before his illness returned — there was HUGE attention to a man doing it. I honestly believe that her departure in such an abrupt and “deal-breaking” manner (after all the voters were counting on her) combined with her ambitions, was worth the attention. It’s irresponsible to the voters unless you give a reason and this thing that assumes the base will support her if she’s provocative enough – well that’s damn scary. I wrote about her during the campaign as a cross between Bob Roberts and Willie Stark (http://dontgelyet.typepad.com/dontgeltoosoon/2008/09/sarah-palin-in.html) and I’ve found no reason to change my mind.
   JILL THIS IS SO SO SO EXCITING!!! I’M LIKE A PROUD BIG SIS OVER HERE IN DC BEAMING.

8. 8 Paula Mooney on July 6th, 2009 10:37 am

   Is she really going to sue Shannyn Moore and/or HuffPo?

   And what of HouseGate?

   Did dems go too far in declaring that Sarah Palin was under federal investigation for embezzlement when Palin says that’s untrue?

9. 9 Batya from Shiloh on July 6th, 2009 10:44 am

   Good luck! I’m impressed.
   Unless something really awfully shocking happens re: Obama, nobody has a chance against him in 2012.
   There may be something twisted in the media pressure on Palin for Pres in ‘12, just to get bashed. Rather perverse, I’d say.
   Think out of the box, m’dear girl.
   She can take a sabbatical from politics, spend time with her family and come back fighting ready in 2016. And that’s probably what the media, the dems and the Bushies don’t want.

10. 10 TimFerris on July 6th, 2009 10:49 am

    There’s a treasure trove here. Ask something like–
    “Ms. Palin, people in our social circles have started noticing similarities between your speech patterns and Yogi Berra’s. Is this something you’ve done intentionally, or is it just a gift, a certain entertaining way with words?”

11. 11 Joel Libava on July 6th, 2009 10:57 am

    Jill,

    Break a leg.

    JL

12. 12 Tracey Z on July 6th, 2009 11:04 am

    Sarah Palin comes across as very scattered anyway and this really didn’t help her any.

    I’m very pro woman but she was not the best example of an intelligent woman in politics, in my opinion.

    Can’t wait to see you, Jill!

13. 13 Tracey Z on July 6th, 2009 11:07 am

    Personally, I am a big fan of Tina Fey and I sure wish Republicans would learn how to say “nuclear.” lol

    I like the ones who know how to say it right better!

    xoxo ~T~

14. 14 Kathy Leb on July 6th, 2009 11:11 am

    Jill,
    Congratualtions-so sorry I am in a meeting from 12-1. Break a leg!

    Kathy Leb

15. 15 Stephanie on July 6th, 2009 11:31 am

    Great job Jill!! Keep representing our Cleveland area in a positive and intelligent manner:)

16. 16 Paula Mooney on July 6th, 2009 11:32 am

    I just watched it — good job jumping in there Jill, when they kept calling on Matt.

    Glad the woman with the beautiful proper English accent gave you the last word, though.

    I kept trying to look at the stuff in the background in your house.

17. 17 Paula Mooney on July 6th, 2009 11:33 am

    Oh yeah, I liked the LeBron James point guard analogy.

    You betcha!

18. 18 Tracey Z on July 6th, 2009 11:43 am

    They had some other woman on here, Jill. Maybe because I’m in CT?? (

    Is it on youtube or do you have a link with a clip?

19. 19 Catherine Morgan on July 6th, 2009 12:08 pm

    Hey Jill. I watched on the east coast at 12:15pm but there was another woman talking about the Palin controversy. I’m sure you did a great job, and I would love to get a link to the video.

    Best,
    Catherine

20. 20 Jack on July 6th, 2009 2:53 pm

    I don’t think that Palin’s treatment is any different from what would have been done to a man. I really wish that we wouldn’t focus on gender.

    She is a polarizing figure just as Bush was. There aren’t too many people who are neutral about her.

    Congrats on the CNN gig, that is very impressive.

21. 21 Jill Miller Zimon on July 6th, 2009 3:16 pm

    Thanks everybody!! Your input is so intelligent, and varied, great to have a variety of POVs.

    About the feed of the video: it is only shown on Cnn.com online – you go to http://cnn.com/live1.

    I will be sent a link to the show eventually and will post that once I get it.

    About the point guard point – yeah, you know – I could not let that one go. I’d been thinking about it since I heard it last week. Yes, LeBron knows when to pass, but to be allowed this kind of decision to change directions and “pass” the ball? You need to be a crazy one of a kind WITNESS great point guard. Not just a “good point guard” who is passing because of the pressure after only 2 1/2 quarters (aka years) of play, versus being in there, hanging in there, for all four.

    Just my O obviously.

22. 22 LilaTovCocktail on July 6th, 2009 3:43 pm

    Congrats, Jill, That’s very, very cool.

    My thoughts on Palin’s resignation are more inklings than hypotheses, but I think there are clearly deeper gender politics going on.

    Palin said that when she asked her family if she should resign, they said something like “Yeah,” “yeah,” “yeah,” “yeah,” and “Hell, yeah!” (The latter, I presume, was her husband.)

    That anecdote, and its public retelling, obliquely points to traditional gender roles as the rationale for her resignation. Being at home with family is a better, more obvious choice (hell, yeah) than being in the governor’s office.

    Strange that none of her kids or her husband said, “But what about your proposed blah-blah legislation? Don’t you want to stay until that gets passed?” Aren’t they aware of, or don’t they value, her political goals? I would they could hardly have lived with her for all this time without being very aware of her agenda.

    But at the moment, SHE’s pretending she doesn’t have an agenda, and the press is letting her. If Palin were male there would be more pressure on her to answer those “Why are you really leaving?” and “What are you going to do with your time/energy/ambition/power?” kinds of media questions.

    Instead, the media coverage has accepted Palin’s own crypto-conservative implication that it’s natural for a woman to want to relinquish her right to wield power. As Palin is she’s saying, “You guys were right; all this governing is too much for little ole me.”

    But as we all saw during the election, Palin has more than her share of megalomania and will-to-power. And that makes her attempt to gracefully retire from public life seem like a sham, a subterfuge for some other motive. But what?

    Media speculation has been that she was under investigation (apparently she’s not) or planning to run for the presidency (but wouldn’t her candidacy be stronger if she ran as governor rather than ex-governor?)

    I don’t have a clue. But I do have the unshakable gut feeling that she is being very disingenuous about the whole thing.

23. 23 Maria Niles on July 6th, 2009 5:11 pm

    Great job, Jill!

    One thing I noticed was that Matt brought up an analogy that was prevalent from conservatives during the ‘08 campaign that essentially Palin was running against Obama and that her experience and choices should be weighed against his. It’s almost as if in their minds she already has run for president (since they didn’t really support McCain) so perhaps that makes it a bit easier to envision this as a strategic move for 2012 (though clearly Matt, does not).

24. 24 Nordette aka Verite on July 6th, 2009 5:31 pm

    You were wonderful, Jill. I like what you said about welcoming the FBI’s announcement that it is not investigating her. No need for people to live under a cloud of speculation, even people like Palin.

25. 25 Anastasia p on July 6th, 2009 7:09 pm

    Here’s the issue I have with speculation about whether Palin would be getting all this attention if she were a man: of course she would if she were the radically underqualified surprise vice-presidential choice who went out and ran the kind of campaign she did, helped lose the election for her ticket and still was annointed the party’s future star — and then quit with her resume mostly still empty. The country would be buzzing.

    And here’s a further issue: Palin was selected to be McCain’s running mate BECAUSE she is a woman. No man with her background and resume would have been picked. So it’s definitely something you have to consider in the mix.

    oh, and as for the “speculation.” No one has said for a fact that she is udner investigation and her lawyer threatened to sue a blogger for saying “There are rumors out there.” In fact, there are. And her lawyer did the worst thing possible by acting like a bully, and by giving a way too long protest-too-much detailed breakdown of the so-called Housegate scandal which, given Palin’s many apparent ethical lapses, may not even be the issue.

    Amd Nordette, there’s a very simple way Palin could have disccolved any “cloud of speculation” : she could have given an actua REASON for quitting.

    I wish I had gotten to see you, Jill, but I just found out about this when I got home. I will look for the link. That’s great, and congratulations.

26. 26 lilatovcocktail on July 7th, 2009 5:57 am

    Oh, Anastasia, I’ve missed your insight and wit!

27. 27 Jill Miller Zimon on July 8th, 2009 10:30 pm

    Lila in #22 – that is a great pick-up, wow, re: the VERY gendered-response/rationale she gave. Interesting. HOWEVER – couldn’t we say that we would hope that all PARENTS might use such a rationale? What do you think?

28. 28 Jill Miller Zimon on July 8th, 2009 10:31 pm

    Maria – that’s also a great catch re: have they “run her” already? Very interesting. I objected to that last year when she clearly was the VP, but still…good thought. Thanks for watching and commenting.

29. 29 Jill Miller Zimon on July 8th, 2009 10:32 pm

    Nordette – thanks for watching and commenting. Yeah, you know – I think she has gone overboard with the suggestion that people shouldn’t even be filing ethics violations – I mean, she’s trying to play the victim AND be the bully at the same time, lol. But, whatever – as a lawyer, I know – the laws are there and people can and will use them. She’s really shooting blanks.

30. 30 Jill Miller Zimon on July 8th, 2009 10:34 pm

    Thanks, Anastasia – here’s something you really should read, an NPR oped written by someone I know, called, “Hot and Bothering: Media Treatment of Sarah Palin”:

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106384060

    It really covers/emphasizes how inappropriate the media has been, but not only to Palin.

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