A little about Sharron Angle’s mainstream media “coming out” party this evening.
By appearing on Face to Face with Jon Ralston, Angle dispelled the notion that she’s afraid to do interviews with anyone but friendly, conservative press.
As far as her actual performance, I have to say she stood her ground and gave as good as she got in the to-and-fro. She didn’t back down or get that deer-in-the-headlights look. That said…
On substance the interview raised some serious new questions and failed to answer others.
On Social Security, I think it was a wash. She explained her position, sort of – but I doubt the complicated explanation will trump the soundbite attacks from Camp Reid.
And she never really answered the direct question about her position on armed insurrection and the Second Amendment.
On unemployment…WTF was that?
As best as I can understand her position, if someone making $36,000 a year as a clothing store manager loses their job and has to take a job in a fast-food joint paying $18,000 a year, Sharron would continue paying the unemployed person an unemployment check to subsidize the difference in pay the unemployed person took by taking a job paying less than the unemployed person was making before they became unemployed.
Again…WTF?
And why in the world did SHE bring up Scientology when the host didn’t and said he hadn’t planned to? Talk about an unforced error.
That said, Angle was correct in pointing out that the term “separation of church and state” is not in the Constitution, but came from a letter Tommy Jefferson inked to a church in which he supported the concept as a way of protecting religion from government, not the other way around.
However, in my opinion she bungled badly her answer to the question Ralston raised about Angle not making an exception for abortion in the case of a 13-year-old girl who gets pregnant after being raped by her father.
When efforts are made to paint Angle as an extremist, THAT one is gonna stick a lot more, especially among Democrats and independents, than privatizing…er, I mean personalizing…Social Security or closing down the Department of Miseducation.
As for screen presence, Sharron has got to stop with the bobble-heading and that Cheshire cat grin when discussing serious issues and answering serious questions. She just doesn’t look…well, serious. She’s running for the U.S. Senate, not Miss America.
All in all, I’d say Sharron helped herself at least in ending the criticism that she’s ducking serious questions from mainstream media, but probably raised more questions and concerns than she answered with her answers.
Overall, I give tonight’s performance a “C.” Not bad – but not good enough to beat the Senate Majority Leader. Sharron really needs to step up her game in future interviews. They’re only going to get harder.
