Observer Beijing correspondent Tom Scocca, via IM, on what this might have looked like if Sarah Palin had stuck with sports TV:
PALIN: “The Jets, well, in what respect? In respect to playing football? With the east? It’s important to remember that they’re in the American–the American Conference, and, um, not only that but in the East, and one thing I know is that in America, in the Americans, you can do anything if you stay with it, as I, as I see the Jets–you know, New York! It’s a big city and a city that can make champions, in anything, let alone–you know, football, Katie…”
COURIC: “Do you think Brett Favre will make a difference?”
PALIN: “Brett–well, what I am talking about here is football, and how it is played, and by the Jets–a great football team, and one with a history of–I’m not sure, you’re asking about Brett Favre, who I know is proud to play football, even when there are people who–who are against football and the freedoms it represents, and the Jets are a great example of that, of–of the freedoms and America at its best, on the football field, in, in the city of New York–“
COURIC: “But they’re 1-2, even with Brett Favre starting.”
tomscocca: PALIN: Well, Katie, some people see the wins and losses, and you say Brett Favre is starting–with the Jets–which I don’t know if he was starting those losses, with the Jets, starting the losses, but you see, there is a win in there, where I’m pretty sure Favre was starting too, and all the winning he’s done with the Jets–gosh, you know, I call him a Hall of Fame quarterback, you know, Katie, and when you’ve got a Hall of Fame quarterback, halfback, who’s done what he’s done with a great team like the New York Jets for so long, I’m not going to second-guess that, he, his track record, and I’m not one of those people who’s going to second-guess the Jets and say, the Jets–say it’s about losing, because I think it’s about winning, and the winning that Brett Favre has always–has always done with the Jets, Katie, because the kind of–this man is a winning man, and all these people who want to talk about scoreboards or whatever, I keep my eye on the ball, Katie, my eye is on the ball, and I’m not second-guessing anybody about that.”
tomscocca: STEVE SCHMIDT: “Clearly, the governor was talking about the preseason, and about Brett Favre’s popularity with the fans of the New York Jets, who have embraced him for his greatness, and any insinuation that Governor Palin was unaware that Brett Favre had–weeks ago–joined the Jets from his old team, the Green Bay Packers, is simply absurd. As for the losses and the starting, it was obvious to anyone who listened that she was saying that Brett Favre was not on the field when the Jets STARTED to lose those games, which is true, because it’s the defense that gives up points. And to suggest otherwise is the lowest form of personal attack against a woman, where the presumption is that a woman shouldn’t dare to know anything about football, let alone to know more about football than the self-styled ‘sports media,’ the people who won’t even cheer for a team when they’re watching a game, because they are so out of touch with real Americans.”
