Everyone who is a big fan of Sarah Palin, or who thinks that she was the perfect choice for John McCain to make as his running mate should be concerned about this.  I quote from Jeff Tompkins’ blog:

“On September 7, eight days after Gov. Sarah Palin was announced as McCain’s running-mate and three days after the Republican convention ended, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said Palin would answer no questions until the media treated her with ‘some level of respect and deference.’”

Respect and deference?  Does anyone believe that McCain would make such a demand about Obama or Biden?  Does anyone think that McCain thinks anyone else should be treated with “some level” of respect and deference?

But wait.  It gets better.  Quoting Jeff’s blog again:

“At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

“McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.”

It was McCain who made experience such a major issue by comparing his experience, including his vast experience as a Prisoner of War, which is somehow supposed to make him ready to lead from Day One, to Obama’s.  (Yes, this “Day One” thing has been made to sound so dire by both sides that it only seems appropriate that we capitalize it!)

When McCain then selected relative unknown Palin as his running mate, he insisted that she was more experienced than Obama.

So…

Why isn’t Obama demanding a similar style for his debate with McCain?  If he has less experience than Palin, and Palin can’t handle a “real” debate, then you’d think Obama would be making the most demands.

If Palin is the perfect choice as a running mate, ready to lead from Day One, and so much more experienced than Obama is, why can’t she handle the same kind of debate Obama himself is headed towards?  Why limit anything?  Why not turn her loose on Biden and watch the proverbial bloodbath?

Sounds like a double standard to me.  And when it is focused on the politician labeled “one heartbeat away from the presidency,” that should give everyone pause.

The public deserves answers from those who want to lead the nation.  The public deserves answers to questions that aren’t “softballs.”  And the public deserves candidates who aren’t afraid of facing the press to answer its questions.

If the questions are unfair, we’ll know it.  But we can’t judge a candidate by his or her answers if the candidate won’t provide any.  And any candidate who isn’t willing to step up clearly isn’t ready to lead from Day One.  The pressure coming from the press corps is nothing compared to the pressure of leading a country and making decisions that affect people’s lives on a daily basis.

If you can’t handle the former, how can you seriously be expected to be able to handle the latter?