Palin Begins Engaging The Broader Liberal Media

Via Hot Air, which also quotes a piece stating that she should have been Time's Person of the Year. I disagree with that part (should have been the Tea Party).

Is this the rollout?

[I]n recent weeks, Palin and her staff have adopted elements of a more traditional media strategy, cooperating with a host of neutral media outlets, notably The New York Times, TIME and ABC News, all of which, at one time or another, have drawn fire from Palin backers for allegedly biased coverage.

That cooperation has resulted in mostly flattering features that broke little new critical ground. The latest MSM piece for which Palin consented to be interviewed is scheduled to air Friday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” which sent co-anchor Robin Roberts to Alaska to interview Palin and follow her around.

The strategic shift, which also included a decision to allow a handful of top staffers to talk on the record to other media outlets, was approved by Palin herself after discussions within her inner circle following some uncomfortable stories this fall.

This is an obligatory post because I've frequently criticized Palin for narrowcasting only to the 20% of the country that's rock-ribbed conservative, which simply is not anything like a majority, and insisted that if she wants to be taken seriously, she needs to start putting herself at risk in possibly (likely) hostile interviews with the media.

I think hostile interviews are important for her for one big reason: She needs to convince people she's capable of handling them. It's relatively easy to answer questions about your ideology from a friendly interviewer; it's tougher to answer them from a hostile interrogator. The public has the idea that Palin is unqualified, thanks to shaky answers during the 2008 campaign, and a withdraw into friendly territory since then; if she wants to cure this, she's going to have to engage the hostiles.

This GMA interviewer was a bit warm and fuzzy with Palin, probably because she didn't want it to look like the media's just slavering to crucify Palin. Which it is. So Palin didn't get rough treatment here, but that's not her fault. That'll come. It's important that she starts rolling out this campaign for the middle if she really does have presidential aspirations.

A start to the process. Nowhere near the end of it.

Oh, and Meggie Mac demands to be heard on Palin's hunting abilities. On MSNBC, of course.

Because that's where Republicans go, MSNBC.

posted by Ace at 03:56 PM

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