RAM PRODUCTIONS INTERNATIONAL
  • Home
  • How We Can Work Together
  • About Michael Russnow
  • Actor/Personality
    • Sample Reel
    • 2014 Sample Reel
    • Michael Russnow Does Stand-Up
    • Water Into Wine
    • The Time Tree - Older Alex
    • Actor's Slate - One Minute Version
    • Actor's Slate - Four Minute Version
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part One
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part Two
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part Three
    • Interview on Stanley Dyrector Show - Part Four
    • Michael Russnow Speaks Out Episode 1
    • Michael Russnow Speaks Out! - Episode 2
    • Commentators Shouldn't Say Trump Has Pulse of America
  • Huffington Post Articles
    • Business >
      • Abolish Tipping
      • AIG Reverse Stock Split
      • AIG Plummets: Stock Split
      • Asus Computers
      • AT&T Doesn't Communicate
      • Bernard Madoff Swindled Everyone
      • Citigroup Reverse Split
      • Citigroup to Reverse Split
      • Horrible Banking Experiences
      • Is Shelly Sterling Channeling Lurleen Wallace?
      • Los Angeles Parking Meter Signs
      • My GE Dishwasher Tragedy
      • State Controller Has Your Money Available
      • Windows 7 Not As Great As Advertised
      • You Can't Feed Parking Meters
    • Media >
      • Abolish the Electoral College
      • BP Chairman Choice of Words
      • British Nurse Suicide Overblown By Media
      • Ed McMahon's Money Problems
      • Is Media Keeping Trump Alive
      • Los Angeles Times Backtracks on TV Grid
      • Lou Dobbs and His Ilk are Wrong
      • Media Downplays Hillary 3 Million Victory
      • Media Headline Biases
      • Media Inflames Comey Letter Re Hillary
      • Media Mischaracterizes GOP Win
      • Media Props Trump Up, Even When Hillary Wins Debate
      • Media Says Hillary's Not Transparent
      • Media Scare Tactics
      • Media Sensationalizes Obamacare Premium Rise
      • Memo to the Media: Maybe It's Time For a "Spartacus" Moment
      • Obama Asks Pundits Not to Skew Words
      • Obama Gym Workout No Big Deal
      • Obama Promised Change - From Bush and Cheney
      • Obama Would Be Citizen, Even if Born in Kenya
      • Palin Accuses Letterman of Seeking PR
      • What's Happened to the LA Times?
      • White House Gate Crashers
      • Why Does Trump Get More Face Time Than Hillary?
      • Why Media Normalizes Trump
    • Politics >
      • 2012 Iowa Caucuses: Shakespeare Was Right About the Masses
      • 2012 Vice Presidential Debate: Biden Blew Ryan Away
      • 25th Amendment Might Rid Us of Trump
      • Calling for Al Gore
      • Debate 2: Hillary Held Firm, While Trump Lied
      • Donald Trump Comportment: When is Enough Enough?
      • Donald Trump Supporters Are Deplorable
      • Donald Trump Supporters Must Be Stupid
      • Electoral College Support Because Founders Created it
      • Europeans are for Obama
      • French Choose President By CItizenry
      • GOP Senators Continue to Support Trump
      • Has Hillary Given Up in South Dakota?
      • Hillary Beat Trump in Popular Vote
      • James Comey, Legal Moralist or Fool?
      • John McCain No Longer a Hero
      • McCain's Nervous Breakdown
      • McCain/Palin Debate Spin
      • McCain Pulls Out the Heartstrings
      • Obama Accepts Super PAC Money
      • Obama & Clinton Forces, Can't We Get Along?
      • Obama Becoming First Wimp
      • Obama's Decision to Go to Copenhagen
      • Obama First 2012 Debate: Gotta Do Better
      • Obama Has Every Right to Replace Scalia
      • Obama: It's Time to Play Hardball
      • Obama Must Stop Postponing Health Care Law
      • Obama Needs Marc Antony to Get it Right
      • Obama Nobel Peace Prize
      • Obama Second 2012 Debate: Romney Overmatched
      • Obama Third 2012 Debate: He Gives Romney Presidential Seminar
      • Obama Won, But GOP Doesn't Seem to Recognize it
      • Patriotism Not a Republican Virtue
      • Pence Won Debate, Not By Much
      • Political Leaders and Journalists MUST Discuss Popular Presidential Vote
      • Politician/Media Rarely Discuss Americans Preferred Hillary
      • Popular Vote Must Choose Presidency
      • Primary Ballots For Party Members Only
      • Proposition 8 Backlash
      • Redo in Michigan and Florida
      • Religion in Politics
      • Romney Acceptance Speech
      • Rudy Giuliani's Screaming Convention Tirade
      • Ruth Bader Ginsurb's Contempt for Donald Trump
      • Sarah Palin's Appeal is That She's Annie Oakley
      • Sarah Palin's a Right-Wing Gidget
      • Sarah Palin, A Stepford Wife
      • Sarah Palin Is No Dan Quayle
      • Scalia Should Recuse on Gay Issues
      • Senate Refusal to Vote on Scalia Replacement a Sham
      • Should Anthony Weiner Resign?
      • Super Delegates Caved to Obama
      • Trump Is No Populist
      • Trump Name Calling: Why Hasn't it Backfired?
      • Trump Paris Pull-Out, Time To Elect Popular Vote President
      • Trump Performance as President Might Be Best Solution to Change Presidential Election System
      • Trump's Problems Aren't Going Away
      • We've Finally Got Health Care
      • When Does Political Correctness Go Too Far?
      • Will Hillary Have Last Laugh?
    • Show Business >
      • Movies >
        • A Most Violent Year
        • Black Swan a Must See
        • Boyhood: An Engaging Film
        • Che The Movie
        • Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino
        • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
        • Deborah Kerr, Rhymes With Star
        • Defiance
        • The Fighter
        • Good
        • The Hateful Eight Bloated But Intriguing
        • Honorary Academy Awards Ceremony a Travesty
        • Inception
        • Jackie Chan Should Not Get an Oscar
        • Leonardo DiCaprio Deserves the Oscar for "Wolf of Wall Street"
        • Michael Moore"s Where to Invade Next: Documentary or Propaganda?
        • Minority Report and the Oscar Controversy
        • Mitch Reinholt of American Teen
        • Movie Theatre Etiquette
        • Nicholas Hoult of A Single Man
        • Jackie Chan Gets an Oscar?
        • Quentin Tarantino Afraid Aging Will Make Him Out of Touch
        • The Reader
        • Revolutionary Road
        • Seven Pounds
        • Texting in Theatres Is A Blight
      • Television >
        • The Amazing Race
        • Big Brother: Danielle's Stupid Decision
        • Big Brother: Frank Eudy's Ouster
        • Celebrity Apprentice 2011
        • Charlie Sheen's Rant
        • Conan O'Brien's Pissed
        • David Letterman's Apology to Palin
        • David Letterman Gag Didn't Work
        • Do We Need Intrusive Network Logos
        • Glee Message of Tolerance Misguided
        • Golden Globes 2010
        • Golden Globes 2011
        • Golden Globes 2012
        • Golden Globes 2016
        • Hell's Kitchen's Gordon Ramsay
        • I Can Die Now, I've Met Betty White
        • Lost Finale
        • NBC's Decision to Bring Back Leno
        • Political Correctness on TV
        • Racial Advancement on TV
        • Survivor Caramoan: Why Was Erik Reichenbach Ignored by Jeff Probst?
        • Survivor Nicaragua 2010
        • Survivor Redemption Island 2011
        • Survivor: Samoa 2009
        • Susan Boyle I
        • Susan Boyle II
        • Susan Boyle III - The Finals
        • The Amazing Race: Amazing that Brooke and Scott Made the Top 3
        • The Emmy Awards 2014
        • The Oscars 2010
        • The Oscars 2011
        • The Oscars 2012
        • The Oscars 2013
        • The Oscars 2013 Afterthought: Why MacFarlane's Lincoln Joke Didn't Work
        • The Oscars 2014
        • The Oscars 2015
        • The Oscars 2016
        • The Oscars 2017
        • TV Cops Get Away With Murder
        • TV Shows and Films Shouldn't Screw Talent
        • Young Actors in TV Roles
      • Book of Oded Review
      • Chekhov Alive in Hollywood
      • Cutting Meat in Movies and TV Shows
      • Hal Kanter Memories
      • I Never Cried For My Father
      • Perceptionism is the worst "ism"
      • Robert Anderson Has Died
      • SAG Actors Must Remain Strong
      • SAG Negotiations Marred by Clooney and Hanks
      • Ted Lange's Lady Patriot Onstage
      • Trump Bails Out Ed McMahon
      • WGA Strike For Dummies I
      • WGA Strike For Dummies II
      • WGA Strike For Dummies III
      • WGA Strike For Dummies IV
    • Travel >
      • Airline Fees Are Chintzy
      • Airline Service Is a Sham
      • Bitching Can Be Effective
      • Morocco Can Be Intriguing
      • Volcano in Iceland
    • It's Not Easy to Become a Juror
  • My Novel
  • LA Fitness Has Terrible Customer Service
  • Political Correctness Should Be Challenged
    • Contact
  • Sarah Palin Says She's Not Responsible
  • Remedies When You've Been Cheated
  • The Iguassu Falls
  • Getting to Rio
  • Rio de Janeiro
  • São Paulo
  • London Film Award Certificate


THE McCAIN/PALIN DEBATE SPIN:

We Won Because She Wasn't a Dithering Idiot

                                                                                                         The Huffington Post, October 3, 2008


At the end of the veep debate, CNN showed a poll indicating 84% felt Sarah Palin did better than expectations.  Had
they polled me, I would have been one of them.  After her interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric how could
she have sunk lower?

So, she wasn't a total fool and managed to exude a certain charm during the first half-hour.  However, with the exception of those wanting their leaders to be just like they are -- read that to mean uninformed -- Sarah Palin in her match-up with
six-term Senator Joe Biden proved woefully inept.

After that first, "Aw shucks," "Let's hear it for real people," barrage augmented by a winning smile and a hushed voice that's meant to convey sincerity to the 25th power, it was clear that what I indicated in an earlier HuffPost piece about her has
become patently clear.  What Gertrude Stein said about her hometown Oakland could also be said of Sarah Palin.  "There
is no there, there."  Sarah Palin is simply without substance.
 
She was hard pressed to answer questions directly, preferring to restate her old standbys about energy, her love of country
and that she is a real person, the latter apparently because her career wasn't based in Washington.
 
She even tried to humanize her image, saying that despite her views against same sex marriage she didn't judge people
and had a diverse group of friends.  However, when moderator Gwen Ifill asked Palin if she was in agreement with Senator Biden, who'd said he was against all forms of discrimination against same sex couples but did not support gay marriage,
Palin would only repeat what Biden said about gay marriage.  Perhaps because she realized that her key supporters
-- the evangelical right wing -- might already be choking on their fried chicken wings because of her attempt to say
something pleasant about a group of people they consider an abomination.
 
For his part, Senator Biden started off a little slow -- I thought he had a cold.  His voice wasn't as animated as hers and
I worried her style might trump his substance.  However, he quickly got his stride just as her folksy persona was wearing thin.
It became so clear in the last two thirds of the debate that his facts and figures, delivered with gravitas but without condescension, were hitting their marks.

I understand why his coaching team told him to treat Palin with kid gloves, to not appear cocky and exemplify the image
of a Washington insider.  There was also concern that since he was a man and a lot older it might appear he was bullying
a likable opponent, who, in spite of her inexperience, was clearly trying.  But I sure would love to have seen Biden get a
couple of personal zingers in -- just as he masterfully did about McCain on a number of occasions.  Especially when
Palin callously smirked that his call for an end to the Iraq war was akin to waving the white flag of surrender.
 
How dare this incompetent twerpette use such insulting language to the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee,
who'd supported our interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo and argued for an international force to possibly stop the genocide
in Darfur?  What does this woman know about anything when she can't even get the name of the commander in Afghanistan right, even as she kept injecting the difficult to pronounce name of the Iranian president, which she'd clearly rehearsed.
Pity she didn't know, as Biden pointed out, that, despite the Iranian leader's caustic and reprehensible comments about Israel, he was not the head honcho in Iran -- that it is a theocracy led by an Ayatollah.

But back to the "wave the white flag" crap spewed by Palin, more incendiary buzzwords that have nothing to do with fact,
as we were never in danger from Iraq under Saddam Hussein.  It is an unfortunate, though sometimes successful, tactic displayed by the GOP right wing when they have a lot to defend.  They deflect problems created under their watch with emotional garbage, not unlike George Bush I's acceptance speech when he led the convention in the Pledge of Allegiance.
 
The GOP tries to make the case that they are the heroes, just as they besmirched a real Vietnam War hero, Senator
John Kerry.  This, even as he ran against a man who had it pretty easy as a stateside National Guard Member and a
vice presidential candidate, Dick Cheney, who dodged the draft five times.
 
That's why I wished Joe Biden slammed her on that one, as if Democrats are cowards and the country needs to be rescued
by the Republicans, a party which screwed up the past eight years on fronts domestic and foreign.
 
But it's probably best he didn't, because he kept his cool and had his best moment when he gently put the hockey mom down after one of her all too many "I'm just a mom sitting around a table with my family just like you" comments.  He reminded
people in a choked up, trembling voice that he'd raised two sons after the death of his wife and daughter and that fathers
are no less capable of sitting around a table with their families, too.  It was his finest moment, and I'll bet there were even
some Republicans -- maybe not the most fanatical -- who had some tears in their eyes
 
Okay, so Palin's not an idiot.  How could she be, having become a governor, even of a tiny state?  But did she match Biden
or prove that she was qualified to be president?  Not by a long shot.

                                                   Follow Michael Russnow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kerrloy

                                                                                                                                                                   Contact Us
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.