>>
thanks so much.
>>>
well, consider it must-see tv for conservatives.
sarah palin
signs on as fox's newest commentator.
>>
and if she's going to convince americans that she has what it takes to be a
presidential candidate
in
2012
, she could hardly ask for a better opportunity.
mark mckinnon
served as an informal adviser to the mccain/palin campaign. he's the vice chair of public strategies. and mark, i swear i'm not going to ask you a question about "game change," at least at the very beginning of the book. but i want to ask you this, the importance of talking to fox's
republican primary
, sort of voting public.
mike huckabee
, i've noticed h, has done really well in a lot of these early poll tests of the
2012
candidates and i've had some strategists tell me because he's getting unfettered access to fox viewers, who are, basically,
republican primary
voters. is this how
sarah palin
can talk to the base?
>>
she can. it's the best platform in the world for republican candidates. although, i would suggest that, i mean, what's going to happen here is that
sarah palin
is going to become the equivalent of the political oprah. but i think that, ultimately, being on fox gives her political influence. she'll make a lot of money. it's an easy job, with very little accountability. and i think at the end of the day, she's going to say what, you know, i really prefer that as opposed to being a political candidate, where i've got to be held accountable and it's really hard work. she may just figure out that this is a pretty great gig where she has a lot more influence than she would otherwise.
>>
mark, we'll forgive you for suggesting that television is an easy job and move on.
>>
easier.
>>
easier, okay, okay.
>>
yeah, whatever.
>>
i covered the palin campaign, i was on that plane every day, but i'll be honest, we had
precious little
access to the candidate. you spent some time with her at a crucial moment, preparing for the
vice presidential
debate. i know you've said it was just a few hours, but tell us, what were your impressions of her?
>>
well, it was really interesting, because i saw two sides of
sarah palin
. i saw her at her most vulnerable moment, which was a week out from the debate and she was really terrified about what she was getting into, and that she wasn't prepared. but at the same time, at the end of that three-hour session, you know, she just bucked it up and said, you know what, i'm not going to let
john mccain
down with and i saw that incredible confidence and ferocious attitude that she has, that's so competitive. but it was interesting, seeing that
flip side
, the vulnerable side, which very few people have seen.
>>
hey, mark, you know, there's a lot of -- there's a saying in sports that some athletes are uncoachable. they have incredible talent.
jay cutler
comes to mind. he's the
chicago bears
quarterback.quarterback, is
sarah palin
coachable? i've heard this critique from advisers, she has all this talent and could be an incredible public spokesperson but maybe she's not coachable. do you really think she's coachable in the sense all political candidates have the ability to take advice?
>>
oh, listen, i think the most important thing is she's got what you can't coach which is the inate talent. she's got the dna. she has the chemistry. she has the personality. sure, i think she's coachable. i think that she -- i mean, look how she performed in the
presidential debate
. she wept into a very difficult
high stakes
situation and cleared the bar and cleared it well actually.
>>
come back. we forgive you already for that comment about tv people having easy jobs. that hurt.
>>
yeah, whatever. that's typical of mark, attacking the messenger.
>>
talking to
mark halperin
and heilemann feels like talking to the fbi.
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