This would really frighten me if I wasn't so blinded by surety that Obama will win.

Ugh, that's a lie, I'm terrified.

God.

We need to demand to get her in front of as many media outlets as possible, fast. She's outright refused any interviews up to this point, and it's pretty clear why. Please, please, please visit Keith Olberman, Sarah.

Democratic nominee Barack Obama, speaking in Terre Haute, Ind., said, "These entities are so big and they're so tied into the housing market that it is probably true that we have to take steps to make sure they don't just collapse, because the housing market, which is already weakened, would be in even worse shape if we didn't take some steps."

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080906/mortgage_giants_crisis.html?.v=19

I understand you're pro-Obama, but wouldn't it show some integrity to post his own comments on Fannie/Freddie as well? I don't see any greater economic understanding demonstrated in the Obama commentary, so isn't just a bit disingenuous to attack Palin on hers, if he is our barometer? Or, are we holding our VP and Presidential candidates to different standards?

If this is the best "gaffe" so far, I'd say she's doing OK. Remember that time Obama said there are 57 states?

Gaffe's don't matter. Her credentials don't matter. Her experience doesn't matter. All that matters to the undecided voters is her image. An image that the Republican marketing machine has carefully constructed. She represents the "all-American" mother. Voting against her would be like voting against "all that America stands for." It doesn't matter what those phrases mean... just that the voting public believes those values to be good and right.

Maybe I'm just a pessimist.

@Jana

We always aim for integrity here at TIG, so I will clarify. I didn't post what Obama (or McCain, you know, the guy actually running for President) said about the Fannie/Freddie sitch because they said basically the same thing. Paraphrased, neither are happy about the taxpayers now having to foot the $5 trillion bill (let me say that again. FIVE TRILLION. Shudder), but both agree it's better than ya know, having the (already gasping for air) housing market collapse out from under us.

While Obama's quote above is far from his most eloquent, it basically says just that.

Palin's comment, on the other hand, reveals that she doesn't even understand the very basic concept of how Frannie and Freddie have worked up until now (as private entities, NOT as taxpayer-funded ones). Let me repeat that, with emphasis:

The woman running for Vice President -- one heartbeat (or melanoma) away from the Presidency -- is clueless about one of the key economic crisis facing our country.

This is not an "OK" gaffe. This is a one-off comment that reveals how profoundly ignorant she is about a very real, very major economic crisis that we're going to be dealing with as a country for years to come.

And sadly, we have almost nothing else to go on for Palin other than her scripted campaign speeches, as she has refused to take a single press interview in her 12 days as veep candidate. I'm going to repeat that one too:

The woman running for Vice President -- one heartbeat (or melanoma) away from the Presidency -- can't even handle interrogation from the press.

I repeat -- people, this is scary stuff!

PS ~ The 57 states gaffe does bemuse me. I'm sure we can both agree that anyone running for political office is, in fact, aware that we have 50 states. I can only presume he was exhausted on the road, or perhaps the comment was a joke we're not getting out of context? Does anyone have an answer here?

PPS ~ While we're talking about verbal gaffes, remember back in July when McCain thought Iraq and Pakistan shared a border?

If this is the best "gotcha" that pundits/bloggers/whomever can come up with, than I doubt it is going to significantly affect public opinion regarding the readiness of Gov. Palin.

I worked in the mortgage industry for years before leaving to raise my daughter last August. Many of my coworkers in the industry consider the GSE governmental, and the only reason Fannie and Freddie were ever allowed to grow to their current size is because the secondary markets consider Fannie and Freddie implicitly, if not explicitly, guaranteed by the government. Fannie and Freddie are quasi-governmental, chartered by Congress to provide liquidity to mortgage markets. They are not fully privatized in the sense that Microsoft is privatized. There are few, if any, institutions in American business comparable.

That Fannie and Freddie were "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers" is a line that folks like the guys at Calculated Risk, Econbrowser, The Big Picture have been taking for quite a long time, because there was an understanding and expectation that these institutions are "too big to fail." They were too big and expensive taxpayers, by default, because of their quasi-governmental status. That's why they were the only mortgages consistently being sold on the secondary market since July/August '07. But perhaps I'm getting too deep in mortgage-speak.

It is pretty desperate to use a simplification of the nature of the GSEs as your touchpoint for a contention that Palin is uneducated on the economy. For someone like this Dean Baker, who most certainly knows better, it's pretty shameful, since it stinks of desperation. (Although, as a progressive think tank, I can understand the temptation to play "gotcha.") That's like citing the Hoover Institution to support McCain economic policies.

@Jana, I like you. If you were running for veep, I would vote for you.

If Sarah Palin would step out from her Final Exam Presidential Cramming Session and answer real questions about her own knowledge of national and international affairs -- and say something half as articulate as you just did -- I might feel a ounce less panicked about how potentially close she is to being president. Maybe. :)

Still wouldn't change the fact that she's a conservative- Evangelical- fundamentalist- who- wants- to- teach- Creationism- in- schools- and- doesn't- believe- global- warming- is- man-made- and- wants- to- drill- the- ANWAR- for- oil- instead- of- actually- addressing- the- big- picture- energy- crisis.

But at least we'd know how much she really knows about national and international issues. The fact that we're debating whether she knows it or not is pretty ridiculous.

@imaginary dana

Thanks, I like you too. That's why I read the blog!

I don't know how Palin will perform before the media; I guess we'll find out...is it Friday? I agree that we need to hear more from her, and that she should be subjected to all the slings and arrows that would be thrown at any candidate.

It's just sort of disturbing to see these media outlets attempt to cut her off at the knees before she has an opportunity to stand up. As Peter Viles put it (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/09/did-palin-make.html), "Give her time, and a few one-on-one interviews. I'm certain she's as capable of the other three of a real screwup. This is not it."

Jana and IDana:

I love a good, respectful debate. Thanks you for providing it here. I think I like you both, too.

When I saw, the post, my first reaction was (1) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are GSEs, and most commentators, especially on CNBC, have been referring for weeks to the implicit guarantee provided by the federal goverment to these companies (Ginnie Mac is the one that is still a government entity); and (2) many stories yesterday in fact mentioned this massive bailout as a manifestation of this implicit federal government guarantee. I don't think there is as much mileage here as Dems think because not too many people will want to argue that these companies are private like Microsoft, but taxpayers may be on the hook to bail them out to the tune of billions to trillions. It seems incongruous, and it would be.

This post reminded me of a conversation that I had this weekend with an woman in Seattle. She said something along the lines of, "I can't believe McCain picked her instead of someone more qualified like [blank]." I responded, tongue-in-cheek, "Yeah, then at least you could consider voting for the McCain ticket." (I don't think she got the irony either because she went on to tell me why she would never do that). My point is that left-leaners getting excited about reasons not to vote for McCain-Palin doesn't really accomplish anything since they are not voting for that ticket under any circumstances. I must admit, I never get it when partisans spend time telling other partisans why the other party's candidate is evil or stupid.

My last thought (really): Spiro Agnew was grilled by the press and had an awful VP campaign in 1972. Nixon won 49 states. Dan Quayle was grilled by the press, had an awful VP campaign and one of the worst VP debate performances ever. Bush 41 won 40 states. The point: if the Dems spend their time on Palin, they are falling for a rope-a-dope strategy. In the end, they will have run a campaign whose most noteworthy success will have been lowering the approval ratings of the VP-elect.

Yes, her first interview is later this week, though the fact that "Palin to give first interview" is actually a news item is frankly, horrifying. It's like saying "Surgeon to pick up scalpel" or "Guitar player to use a pick."

Those slings and arrows should have started on day one. This is a woman running for the second most powerful position in the country -- the world, really. The fact that she needed two weeks to Cram For Presidential Final Exams before facing the press is inexcusable.

I profoundly disagree with Pete Viles -- she doesn't deserve time to study for her one-on-one interviews. We are at two months and counting till the election!

GOP strategist Todd Harris even admitted on MSNBC late last week that Palin isn't ready for interviews because "she might make a mistake." I pulled the video and quote from DailyKos.

"If she goes out and makes a mistake, that is something that [voters will] care about, and that's something that will haunt [McCain] for awhile, so I think this is a smart move."

This makes my brain hurt. Voters won't care if she doesn't talk to the press, but they will care if makes a mistake... so she refuses to speak to the press. For TWO weeks! And ya know, he's right. Look who picked up the story -- only the liberal blogs. If this had been Obama's veep who refused interviews because s/he wasn't ready, FOX News et al would have annihilated him. And rightfully so.

Everyone else on the tickets has been vetted in the public eye for years (especially Obama, campaigning under the brightest lights of public scrutiny for the last 1.5 years). McCain brought an unknown to the table, and it is the proper job of the press to ask her really hard questions, to educate the public.

I hope Gibson really digs in with some tough questions, but I gotta admit I'm not optimistic.

Phew. I gotta go listen to some music and get back to my dayjob now... :)

The point: if the Dems spend their time on Palin, they are falling for a rope-a-dope strategy.

Yes, yes, yes, Seaprog. I was actually talking about this to one of my friends today. Palin's become a lightening rod for the left, and the people who are going to support her -- Evangelicals and other way-right nutters -- aren't going to care about what we bring up about her. She's just there as a sacfifical lamb or human shield, if you will, for McCain.

Instead of worrying about Palin, we need to focus on the truth: McCain is unfit to lead. His moral compass points in whatever direction the winds of public change blow it. He adopts policies to curry approval of the voting public. We've seen it again and again and again. He'll say whatever it takes to perform in the polls. He has no backbone, no moral fortitude and no vision for our country. He's a man seeking the presidency for the position, not out of a sense of patriotic duty or whatever. For this reason alone, we should be scared to death of the idea of a man with no agenda, no substance and no sense of purpose to be elected.

@The Grim

Yes, yes, and yes. What you said. Brilliant.

I agree with the seriousness of this situation, Grim, but I also just found a great song on MySpace, lampooning this lovely lady: http://www.myspace.com/cariboubarbi A very amusing song! (some serious quality pop, also)