ABC: No Joy in Mudville

ABC's 20/20 came out with fangs bared. The introductory summary of Sarah Palin’s life leading up to the 20/20 Palin interview didn't have one celebratory statement about Gov. Palin in it. There was no joy in this Mudville.

The introductory piece raised all sorts of “gray” issues, and didn’t once sound happy about Sarah Palin–not even for her being the first woman governor of Alaska or the first woman GOP candidate for Vice-President of the United States.

There was no praise for her single-handedly taking on Alaska corrupt politics and forcing powerful government figures to resign. There was mostly grit and grime except for the begruding admission that Palin has more than an 80% approval rating as governor--a job approval rating none of the other presidential and vice-presidential candidates have. But, who cares what the public thinks.

ABC found a group of Palin friends who said she was honest, but one friend wasn't sure she was going to vote for Palin for VP. Given Palin's amazing popularity, what percentage of Alaskans are likely to vote for Palin? Assuredly a sizable percentage above 50% but, apparently ABC couldn't find one of them. They could only find one woman on the fence. That was the tenor of ABC's Palin story.

One of ABC's areas of concern was that Palin went to four colleges to get her college degree. Horrors! It makes one wonder if anyone at ABC ever had to work and pay for their own college education. Working class students don't have silver spoons so they don't always go straight through, and often do change colleges. The piece seemed to sniff in disgust at anyone who doesn’t follow the rosy path of scholarships or parents paying the way.

Obviously, there's a place to ask questions about someone's life. Though one would think that a governor with a more than 80% approval rating, who has taken down key political figures for corruption, and may be the first woman U.S. VP, might get a little praise. Maybe ABC could have taken the time spent on the deep question of Palin attending four colleges to say something really important about Gov. Palin.

Don’t hold your breath to see ABC's equally hard hitting examination of the “gray” areas of Sen. Obama’s life–with only a glancing note of praise and no celebration about how far he has come.

ABC accolades are only for their favorites. For all the rest of us low class types, there’s only sneers and slice and dice if you get in the way.