Episode 16: Interviewing Tips 101

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A quick Google search for “Job Interview” would reveal 659,000 hits for relevant info on how to impress your potential boss. Some tips include “know some information about your employer” or “research your job position” or “dress to impress.” Let’s see how Sarah Palin fares in our little test.

Know Some Information About Your Employer

For anyone running for high office, the people of the United States is the employer. As I have written in previous posts, I feel with far stronger conviction, that Palin’s message does not extend beyond the base – she’s preaching to Wasila, Alaska, and places of the like. Far worse, she has effectively alienated us city-slickers by referring to big towns as “anti-American.” In every TV interview, she proves she is completely out of touch with the needs of the American public, repeating her rehearsed talking points like a parrot. What’s worse, she has a knack for contradicting the agenda on her own campaign, be it telling people at a food stand that we should fire over the Pakistani border if we have bin Laden in our sights, to denouncing robo calls, to misquoting how many former secretaries of state endorsed McCain.

Grade: F

Research Your Job Position

Dennis Kucinich famously carried the Constitution in his pocket. I happen to have the Constitution app on my iPhone. Anyone who has been in 6th grade has the Constitution in their history book. Anyone with internet access can Google the Constitution. So why is it the Vice Presidential nominee has failed to understand her duties as VP? Keith Olberman hit the nail on the head with his “Campaign Comment” which you can watch below.



Very simple job description… break ties in the Senate, and play backup Quarterback. That is precisely what the role of backup QBs is – know the playbook, and sit on the bench unless the starring Quarterback is injured. Not sit in the coach’s room and make plays, not getting in there and making policies whenever she felt the need to do so. The sad thing is it only takes a library rental, or internet search, or the council of a high school senior to find information on what exactly her job position entails.

Grade: F

Dress For Success

If there is one thing about Sarah Palin to like, she has pretty incredible fashion sense. I’m sure Rich Lowery would agree. I always thought to myself “she is sporting some really nice clothes!” and was rather impressed with the business professional attire. When she takes to the stage, like her or hate her, you can’t help but feel a… certain connection… a certain energy, a confident gate that shimmers across the screen like a shooting star. Turns out however, elegance pays, as the RNC spent over $150,000 for her wardrobe from top fashion designers like Sachs New York. So much for the hockey mom image… I wonder if her standing in the polls would be better if she took to the stage in a sweatshirt and jeans.

Grade: A+

Why is it I rag on Sarah Palin so much? I will be blunt – the thought of her as my Vice President offends me. I know I’m only an ideological political Blogger, a rookie one at that, but I never thought I’d see such a desperate ploy to win over the hearts and mind of Americans. Women should be offended as well. Hilary Clinton is incredibly intelligent, understands the needs of the people, and knows how to effectively communicate her ideas. Sarah Palin doesn’t even qualify as a cheap imitation. Palin, in comparison, is the embodiment of cliché, innuendo, and awful sentence structure. I ask you fellow Americans, if the Presidency was a job interview, and you were the boss, would you seriously hire Sarah Palin?

Besides her woefully inaccurate interpretation of her job, she lacks intellectual curiosity, and possesses are narrow world view. The latter to no fault of her own, as she was pretty much born and raised an Alaskan, leaving her home state only for college. She tried to go to school in Hawaii for a bit, but the warm weather wasn’t her scene and she went back to Alaska. As the governor of that state some years later, she was perfectly equipped to service the wants and needs of her people.

Now the McCain campaign has her on a tight leash, spoon feeding her agenda and not letting her out to talk to the media unless Daddy McCain is around to supervise. Women, where are you?? Recent polls do show an increasing unfavorability for Palin among women voters, but why isn’t this number closer to 100%?

I really can’t help but feel awful for Palin because I think I would like her if she wasn’t the VP nominee. She was thrust into this spot and she can’t get out. Should the republicans lose, she will return to Alaska with a tarnished reputation. She will be remembered in the history books as the single biggest mistake of the Republican party. No pundit, surrogate, campaign staffer, or candidates themselves, will ever admit that she is ill-equipped for the job, as that undermines their message and will certainly spell the end of the campaign. We can only hope that 12 days from now, her bid for the white house comes to a close. She certainly, has great skill, cunning, and instincts for her governor role in Alaska, but I want her nowhere near the red button.