Palin Says New York Times "Hardly Ever Wrong"

So she can name a newspaper she reads....

...The New York Times... they are hardly ever wrong....

—Gov. Sarah Palin, GOP fundraiser,
Englewood, Colorado, 2008.10.04.

Well, the Divine Gov. Sarah does have a journalism degree, so let's accept her assessment of the reliability of the Gray Lady:

A review of records of the schools project and interviews with a dozen people who know both men, suggest that Mr. Obama, 47, has played down his contacts with Mr. Ayers, 63. But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called "somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8."

—Scott Shane, "Obama and '60s Bomber: A Look into Crossed Paths,"
New York Times, 2008.10.04

Palin, by contrast, uses a heck of a lot of language to praise herself as a fresh face with new ideas who has “joined this team that is a team of mavericks.” True mavericks don’t brand themselves.

—Maureen Dowd, "Sarah's Pompom Palaver,"
New York Times, 2008.10.04

It is hard to tell from Ms. Palin’s remarks whether she understands how profoundly Dick Cheney has reshaped the vice presidency — as part of a larger drive to free the executive branch from all checks and balances. Nor did she seem to understand how much damage that has done to American democracy....

Any president deserves a vice president who will be a sound adviser and trustworthy supporter. But the American people also deserve and need a vice president who understands and respects the balance of power — and the limits of his or her own power. That is fundamental to our democracy.

So far, Ms. Palin has it exactly, frighteningly wrong.

—editorial, "Dick Cheney, Role Model,"
New York Times, 2008.10.03

This entire election season has been a long-running saga about the rise of women in American politics. On Thursday, it all went sour. The people boosting Palin’s triumph were not celebrating because she demonstrated that she is qualified to be president if something ever happened to John McCain. They were cheering her success in covering up her lack of knowledge about the things she would have to deal with if she wound up running the country.

—Gail Collins, "Talking in Points,"
New York Times, 2008.10.03

In the end, the debate did not change the essential truth of Ms. Palin’s candidacy: Mr. McCain made a wildly irresponsible choice that shattered the image he created for himself as the honest, seasoned, experienced man of principle and judgment. It was either an act of incredible cynicism or appallingly bad judgment.

—editorial, "The Vice-Presidential Debate,"
New York Times, 2008.10.02

Ms. Palin owes voters an explanation. What was the thinking behind cutting the measly few thousand dollars needed to cover the yearly cost of swabs, specimen containers and medical tests? Whose dumb idea was it to make assault victims and their insurance companies pay instead?

—Dorothy Samuels, "Wasilla Watch: Sarah Palin and Rape Kits,"
New York Times, 2008.09.25

Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

—Jo Becker, Peter S. Goodman, and Michael Powell,
"Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes,"
New York Times, 2008.09.13

If he seriously thought this first-term governor — with less than two years in office — was qualified to be president, if necessary, at such a dangerous time, it raises profound questions about his judgment. If the choice was, as we suspect, a tactical move, then it was shockingly irresponsible.

—editorial, "Gov. Palin's Worldview,"
New York Times, 2008.09.12