Palin Stumbled in Interview, But Made No Big Mistakes

How did Sarah Palin do in her much-awaited interview with Charlie Gibson? Everyone’s got an opinion:

• Palin “looked like a student trying to bend prepared answers to fit unexpected questions,” offering statements far too general for Gibson’s liking, writes Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times.
• Kenneth Baer of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas agrees, saying Palin looked like a “political consultant’s dream, but a citizen’s nightmare,” thanks to her astonishing ability to “parrot back talking points.”

• Palin was light on substance, writes Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post, but even her detractors must admit she “handled herself well for someone who three years ago was worried about the books in the Wasilla library.”
• Jonah Goldberg, in the National Review, thinks Palin should have dodged more questions, because that’s what responsible foreign-policy experts often do. He expects her performance to improve “once she figures out how this game is played.”