To House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio: "What in the world are you people doing?"
To House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland: "Why weren't you able to deliver more Democrats, so you could prevent this major failure of American government today?"
But it was Palin many tuned to see last night, following Couric's interview last week in which the candidate's already-legendary feistiness and self-confidence (how quickly we illuminate our stars these days) got sidetracked.
It seemed last night as if McCain were called in to right the ship, but his performance did his running mate no favors. He couldn't help interrupting a question asked to her, and he went on a bit before realizing the boo-boo: "I'll let Gov. Palin speak for herself."
When she did, she said this: "Not only am I ready but willing and able to serve as vice president with Sen. McCain if Americans so bless us and privilege us with the opportunity of serving them, ready with my executive experience as a city mayor and manager, as a governor, as a commissioner, a regulator of oil and gas."
She has not been performing recently with the aplomb evinced in her few earlier national appearances. She began well, with a sensational nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention and a credible performance at her home in Alaska under the withering stare, if reasonably straight-ahead questioning, of ABC anchor Charles Gibson.
For a post-convention vice presidential candidate, her sequestration from the news media is virtually unprecedented: Between her nomination and the Gibson sit-down, the New Yorker's Steve Coll reported, Palin gave no interviews or news conferences, while Democrat candidate Joe Biden participated in 54.
