Palin accuses Couric of "Badgering" her

By Michael J.W. Stickings

In her soon-to-be-released memoir of self-congratulation, self-aggrandizement, and victimization, Going Rogue, Sarah Palin apparently writes -- or takes credit for writing, given that she didn't actually write the book, a right-wing ghost-writer did -- that Katie Couric, in that famous, defining interview last year, was "badgering" and biased.

This took me back to the five-post "Painful Palin" series I wrote on the Couric-Palin interview:

-- Not to belabor the point, but...;

-- "Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah";

-- Mocking Biden, lying, and spewing crap;

-- SCOTUS cluelessness; and

-- Tearing down Jefferson's wall.

Palin can blame Couric all she wants -- and, of course, Palin is nothing if not full of blame -- but it was that interview that finally broke the repulsive Palin myth that had ruled the media narrative pretty much from the time she stepped onto the national scene as McCain's running mate. Remember, she was spun well by her admirers on the right. She seemed to be charming, a breath of fresh air, just what Washington needed. But none of that was true, of course. The Couric interview revealed her to be a fool, thoroughly unprepared for national politics, unprepared for public life generally.

To Palin, though, anything tougher than the softballs the bedazzled likes of Sean Hannity lobbed at her must have been seen as "badgering." With Couric, she couldn't even answer simple questions about politics. Was she put on the spot? Maybe, but isn't the ability to deal with pressure part of the test? In flunking that test -- with Couric and then with Charles Gibson -- it became clear why the McCain team had sought to keep her out of the media spotlight, refusing to answer any questions at all for much of the campaign, and why it sent her off instead to rally the mob, with occasional stops to be idolized by those infatuated with her on the right.

She's a twit, you see, and the Couric interview proved it. And instead of accepting responsibility for failing, she resorts to lashing out, as usual, against her perceived enemies, against all those who dare challenge her. That's the story of Sarah Palin, a nasty, vindictive thug who plays the victim and hen tries to push her weight around. And if it's biased to challenge her, to ask a few tough questions (if not all that tough), to present her with the truth, then all she is is a lie, both to herself and to the world. Which pretty much sums it up.