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My day as Sarah Palin: in the line of scrutiny

BY CLAUDIA GRYVATZ COPQUIN | Claudia Gryvatz Copquin of Northport, author of "The Neighborhoods of Queens," writes frequently for Newsday.

October 2, 2008

I was Sarah Palin last week. Someone quizzed me in front of a camera, asking me all sorts of questions - in my case, for an upcoming documentary on Shea Stadium.

Because I wrote a book about Queens, the producers thought I might know a little something about the ballpark. Also I grew up in Jackson Heights, just two miles from Shea. Of course, that proximity to the stadium doesn't make me an expert on it, baseball or the Mets. So I studied up in advance, reading archival newspaper clippings and books on the subjects.

While I perceived myself prepared, just as the camera went on I felt a wave of nervous nausea. But throwing up not being an option, I proceeded to comment on the topic at hand succinctly with, I hope, only a limited amount of babbling.

Still, I woke up at 4 a.m. the following day, rerunning the entire interview and my responses all over again. Was I articulate? Couldn't I have answered certain questions with much more elaboration? Did I sound like an amateur or someone who knew the subject in depth?

Now that I fully appreciate the temptation to blather senselessly in front of a camera when one is on the spot, this hands-on experience led me to reconsider the recent Palin interviews.

While I prepared with newspapers and books, Palin has a team coaching her. And she's had more than a one-shot chance to address issues intelligently on television.

Take for example her chat with Charlie Gibson, when she indicated that Alaska's proximity to Russia served as her foreign policy experience.

This was perhaps one of the most thoughtless assertions in the history of televised politics.

But Palin had occasion to redeem herself with Katie Couric last week by gracefully, perhaps even lightheartedly, backing away from the comment. Instead, she plunged into it further, in a wandering answer that seemed made for the " Saturday Night Live" parody it soon became.

I hope Palin is more eloquent tonight during the vice presidential debate. In fact, I'm rooting for her. That sounds bizarre, as I disagree with her on every issue she stands for. But I hope she is able to come across as smart, articulate and vice presidential. For if people elect her and Sen. John McCain, wouldn't we want a vice president that won't make us cringe with every utterance?

Palin embarrassed herself in those interviews with Gibson and Couric. And by virtue of her having been selected as a representative of arguably our best and brightest leaders, her performance tonight has the potential to disgrace us as a country. So win or lose the debate, what's important is that she convey a sense of dignity.

Let's hope that she blinks before responding and that she expresses herself coherently, as an able candidate ought to do. After all, unlike my own one-woman show last week, Palin has the benefit of a whole lot of smart people prepping her for the performance of a lifetime.