Gibson Pwned by Palin

Much hype was spewed about ABC World News scoring the first full interview with Sarah Palin following her nomination as John McCain's vice presidential running mate. They chose long-time anchor Charles Gibson to go to Alaska and interview the governor one-on-one.

Big mistake.

Everyone loves Charles Gibson - or Charlie as he was known for the 19 years he appeared on Good Morning America. I do too. It's impossible not to appreciate his longevity, his sincerity and his integrity. But his interview skills - at least in this circumstance - fell way short of what we needed in this important first meeting of Sarah Palin with the American media.

First of all, for some reason, he totally swallowed his voice and spoke in an almost inaudible whisper. He tipped his head way down, pulled his reading glasses down to the tip of his nose, and just looked totally uncomfortable and out of his element. How strange for someone who has been in this business for such a long time.

But worse was the manner in which he questioned Palin. It's almost as if he had never interviewed a politician before and didn't know what to expect. He kept asking - actually demanding - a "yes" or "no" from Palin on questions that really do not have that simple of an answer. He should have known better. I don't blame Palin for being a bit frustrated by his repetition of questions that she had already answered to the best of her ability. True, she didn't say "yes" or "no" but a detailed question about a hypothetical world situation cannot be answered this way. He looked foolish.

Palin did not waver. She maintained her cool, called him "Charlie" and stood by her answers. Gibson eventually had to back off because it was obvious he was not going to win.

I hope the next few interviews go better, but Gibson did a horrible job on the first of these sessions. ABC put a lot of trust in him, and rightly so, but so far it has been severely misplaced. I'm very disappointed.