An invite to "stump the candidate" becomes "gotcha journalism"

At her first town hall meeting, Palin invited voters in attendance to play “stump the candidate.”

Asked about her credentials, she said skeptics are free to quiz her.

“If you want specifics with specific policies or countries go ahead and you can ask me. You can even play stump-the-candidate if you want to,” she said Wednesday evening.

Last weekend, a voter took the opportunity to ask Palin about how she would address the “Pakistant situation.” CBS reported the exchange, and here’s the salient bit.

“So we do cross-border, like from Afghanistan to Pakistan, you think?” Rovito asked.

“If that’s what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should,” Palin said.

The conversation probably annoyed McCain to put it mildly because he had just put the screws to McCain for a similar stance in a debate several nights early.

In a follow up interview with Katie Couric, the Dynamic Duo cite that exchange as an example of “gotcha journalism.” (emphasis mine)

John McCain: Of course not. But, look, I understand this day and age of “gotcha” journalism. Is that a pizza place? In a conversation with someone who you didn’t hear … the question very well, you don’t know the context of the conversation, grab a phrase. Gov. Palin and I agree that you don’t announce that you’re going to attack another country …

Couric: It wasn’t a “gotcha.” She was talking to a voter.

McCain: No, she was in a conversation with a group of people and talking back and forth. And … I’ll let Gov. Palin speak for herself.

Palin: Well, it … in fact, you’re absolutely right on. In the context, this was a voter, a constituent, hollering out a question from across an area asking, “What are you gonna do about Pakistan? You better have an answer to Pakistan.” I said we’re gonna do what we have to do to protect the United States of America. . .

Couric: What did you learn from that experience?

Palin: That this is all about “gotcha” journalism. A lot of it is. But that’s okay, too.

So now when voters ask policy questions of candidates, it’s because they’re trying to trip the candidate up, not go on fact finding missions to determine who they want to vote for.   Since this election is supposed to be about issues, you’d think the candidates would welcome inquiries about their stances on a variety of domestic and foreign policy platforms.

You’d think a candidate would be especially welcoming of those questions after encouraging voters to play “stump the candidate.”  Yet, she’s done her darnedest to avoid answering questions in a free-flowing format so that voters can get to know her.

I guess Palin made a rhetorical, rather than literal, invitation at her first town hall event with McCain.

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