Couric - Palin Interview!

Key moments:

0:00 A pre-interview statement by Katie Couric noting that John McCain's campaign manager has been receiving payments of $15,000 a month from Freddie Mac up until last month. Freddie Mac, of course, just received a $200 billion taxpayer bailout.

0:30 Sarah Palin's response, in which she not only refuses to address the question put to her, but then has the audacity to use the question as a rhetorical jumping off point for the need for a good clean Washington. Palin starts to sound less pained in trying to come up with an answer when she can click back into the "we're going to clean up Washington" section of that one speech she has been giving since the Republican convention.

Her claim is preposterous. A total of 115 lobbyists are working on the campaign of John McCain, including campaign manager Rick Davis, who - you might of heard - was being paid $15,000 a month by Freddie Mac right up to the completion of the bailout, when they took him off the payroll. Mission accomplished, thanks very much for a job well done!

No one in their right mind can possibly believe that John McCain is going to run the lobbyists out of Washington if lobbyists are literally managing his campaign and profiting - right now - from the crisis that we are in.

1:52 Don't miss this - its the first escalation of the price tag of the bailout in the public spotlight, when Palin notes that this is probably more likely to be a $1 trillion buy-out. Watch to see this new number eased into the conversation once people have swallowed the initial $700 billion price tag.

I don't think anyone has any idea what the real number will be, but before you believe even the brand new $1 trillion estimate I would remind everyone of what happened the last time the American People were asked to write a blank check. On October 1, 2002, the Congressional Budget Office told the nation that the War in Iraq would cost between $9 and $13 billion. Cost to date: $646 billion and no end in sight.

3:11 Lately the news has been filled with a lot of facts and figures where "since the Great Depression" was cited. Now the language has suddenly moved to a Depression all our own. Is this our financial 9/11, or is this Wall Street's version of the WMD's?

4:10 Palin has made it clear that this Wall Street bailout package must be passed or the world will end. Without a trace of irony she then goes on to make it clear that there is no reason to protect average Americans from losing their homes, noting "decisions that have been made poorly should not be rewarded". Unbelievable! Sarah Palin is ready to step up to bat for Wall Street, but not a dime for the one million Americans who have lost their homes in the last two years.

4:26 Another red flag shoots up when Palin notes that it needs to be a "comprehensive, long-term solution". Hide the checkbook! Its the rebranding of Iraq as the "Long War" all over again!

4:43 Couric asks Palin to cite an example of John McCain's leading the charge on reform over the course of his 26 years in Congress, aside from supporting the 2006 Fannie/Freddie regulations. Couric dismisses her "he's done a heckuva lot more than the other Senators" rebuttal by noting that his legislative record has been consistently in favor of less regulation. Like a doll that will recite random statements when you pull the string in its back, Palin announces "He's The Maverick!" Pressed again, she cannot come up with a single example.

Well I've got an example of John McCain's track record of success in the area of regulation of the financial industry! In the late 1980s and early 1990s McCain was one of five US Senators who received a total of $1.3 million in contributions from Charles Keating, chairman of Lincoln Savings and Loan, with the express purpose of shielding them from regulation. Freedom from government oversight led directly to a debacle that included the failure of 747 Savings and Loans Associations and a taxpayer bailout of $124.6 billion. McCain would eventually be cleared of legal impropriety by the Senate Ethics Committee, but would be condemned for poor judgement.

Just as Palin promised, John McCain has a track record of experience that directly applies to the current situation!

WAKE UP PEOPLE!