I predict!

In recent media coverage, there has been suggestion that Palin's weaknesses could be exposed in the upcoming days in interviews. It seems from this report that the McCain camp realizes that the media have smelt blood and are keeping her under wraps.

Others in media suggest that Biden will rip her to shreds. Let me make a prediction - he won't! And, the more the media hypes that Biden will annhilate Palin, the more likely it is that after the VP debates, McCain will get a huge bump.

So, why do I disagree with the media?

The issue is that the debates are not really debates. They are just an espousing of talking points juxtaposed against one another. There are about 20 topics of national importance ranging from economic issues, social issues and national defense issues. or controversies surrounding the candidates. Each speaker gets to speak for between 2 to 5 minutes on these. You can choose to speak less. That means you need to memorize about 5 points per issue, about 3 attack points refuting your opponent and about 3 to 5 memorable lines. All these are crafted in advance, and you just have to deliver them.

Its very tough to do this if you are in the primaries. The reason is that you have to come up with the policies with your team in a way that will be consistent with your views, consistent with the party base, and yet separate you from the pack. Most importantly, in the primaries, the candidate has to make these calls.

In Sarah Palin's case, she doesn't have to make a single call. All the points she has to parrot are already developed as part of McCain's platform. She has almost no record to speak of, so there are no inconsistencies to explain. Biden has a much harder task. Also, with no pronouncements of her own, she has only to defend McCain, whereas Biden has to defend himself and his record as well as Obama's.

So, the question is, can Sarah Palin memorize about 100 minutes of content in three weeks? If she can, then the only chance the media has to throw her off is by intimidating her,by asking a question that the Rove camp has calculated would never be asked, that is, the media person should ask her a question like, "Ms. Palin, you say your ticket is for family values, but McCain is a former divorcee who had an affair while still married, and now there are revelations and rumors about your own infidelities." The commentator would be crucified as inappropriate, but the net impact would be devastating for Palin. My guess, the media won't go there, so be prepared for Palin to be hailed as a hero.