10 Questions for Sarah Palin What ABC News anchor Charles Gibson should ask the candidate.

Slate ^ | Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008, at 6:17 PM ET | Jack Shafer

[nikos1121]

ABC News anchor Charles Gibson's forthcoming interview with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin—her first since being hoisted onto the ticket by John McCain—will give a national audience an unvarnished look at the candidate. Because Palin is telegenic and the interview will be shot against scenic Alaskan backdrops, the only thing to prevent the interview from turning into sweet Republican syrup will be tough questions from Gibson.

Gibson and his team got knocked by Washington Post columnist Tom Shales as "shoddy," "despicable," and "prosecutorial" after they hosted the April 16 debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

1) What Bush administration policy do you disagree with most, and what would you have done differently?

Then how much smaller would the McCain budget be and where precisely should he cut?

2) How are you like Hillary Clinton?

3) You're running as a reformer, a crusader against the special interests and politics as usual. Setting aside for a moment Sen. Ted Stevens' legal problems, should Alaska return to the Senate this Republican who has delivered more pork to his state than virtually any other elected official? Yes or no?

But in the past you had no problem with asking Alaskans to vote out a standing Republican. You challenged the incumbent Republican governor, Frank Murkowski, on a pork-slaying, reformist platform and beat him in the primary. Isn't Stevens as antithetical to your views on good government as Murkowski?

4) Unique among all U.S. governors, you lead a state that shares a border with Russia, a sometimes hostile nation with a nuclear arsenal and new geopolitical ambitions. Given that, how do you evaluate Vladimir Putin?

[ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY]

There's one more, maybe two: she's an American citizen, and she has Caucasian genes.

[Right Cal Gal]

"her first since being hoisted onto the ticket by John McCain

I would appreciate the DriveBy Media compiling a list of stories published in the Fall of 2004, when John Kerry selected John Edwards, a slip and fall trial lawyer nwith approximately 17 months' experience of holding public office, in which the words "hoisted onto the ticket" are used.

I would similarly appreciate a list by the drive-by's in which Edwards' trial tactics were scrutinized and called into question.

[GOPJ]

The good parts could fall on the cutting room floor ( so to speak) and the bad parts could be aired. You know that - and I know that... It's why Bush-the-father wouldn't give that nut case Dan Rather an interview unless it was live.

The vultures in the MSM don't play fair. And it's easy to lie with how a tape is cut - and what hidden tapes are sitting in the back room...

[Former Dodger]

Ok, then I have one question for the Great O: (though the MSM will NEVER ask it)
Senator Obama, you are proud of having been against the war "from the beginning", does that mean you think Iraq and the world, would be better off with Saddam Hussein still in power? Yes or no?

I know it's a dream, the only ones who would ask him are the ones he will not do interviews with.

[rtsimon]

true but hopefully the US Weekly and Oprah effect comes into play here. Hopefully they are scared of backlash because they better be.

[skeeter]

He should ask the same type of softballs he’d give HRC or BHO, such as:

Who does your hair? How much does it cost?

Whats on your Ipod?

[GOPJ]

The backlash is real - might be permanent.

US magazine is offing 5 free issues if irate subscribers (who complained) will stay with them. Soon that won't be enough...