Was Gibson a Jerk?

Damn! I got busy and forgot that Sarah was on ABC tonight.

So I went on the ABC website and watched the few snippets they offered.

Am I just too biased in her favor, or did Charlie Gibson seem like a condescending asshole?

I was pretty shocked at his demeanor. He seemed, literally, "out to get her". His questions seemed more like challenges specifically designed to catch her in a mistake than to honestly elicit information.

He asked her if she agreed with the "Bush Doctrine". She asked him "in what respect?", signaling that she needed clarification. He refused to give it. He merely repeated the question like he was testing a high school student on history dates.

When she began to answer, he, indicating that she had erred in interpreting the "doctrine" correctly, defined the "Bush Doctrine"—at which, without missing a beat, she gave her opinion on it.

But I found myself disliking him quite a lot for that obvious attempt to embarrass her...exactly as I would any condescending asshole deliberately trying to trick someone else into looking foolish.

Also, I was interested that he seemed only to focus on her grasp of foreign policy. The thing she has least experience in—as does any State Governor. I'd like to remind Charlie that there is an entire United States of America, consisting of 50 (not 57) states that needs to be governed as well. He might have asked one or two questions about that. But of course, that's something she knows about, so perhaps it would not have served his purpose.

(Of course, he may have, but they did not appear on the clips they chose to make available on the website.)

He seemed, like the Left in general, to be demanding that she be ready to go from the Governor's chair to the President's chair...without accepting the reality that she is running for Vice-President, the perfect place for a potential future President to be groomed and mentored.

He, like Obama and the Left, seem to think she is the one in direct competition with Obama. She has frightened them so badly, apparently, they have entirely forgotten that it is John McCain that is running for President.

And finally, when I see Charlie Gibson interrogating Barack Obama and Joe Biden with the same condescension, mocking tone, and "gotcha" tactics is when I'll believe he was being "fair and balanced".

But then, because I like her...maybe it's just my sympathetic eye that thought she was pretty much being ambushed by a hostile opponent.

I'd appreciate your perspective.

The Gunslinger

UPDATE: My friend watched the snippets on ABC's website after I did, and his impression was the same as mine. He thought Gibson was arrogant, condescending and very clearly trying to make Sarah look bad. He thinks that she acquitted herself well, or as he said "better than she needed to" in her first major interview.

He also thinks that the public will see Gibson's behavior and attitude for what it was, and be even angrier at the media's obvious attempts to damage her and promote Obama.