Larry King Kept Asking Michelle Obama: 'Attack Dog' Palin Doesn't Make You Mad?

Michelle Obama was interviewed on CNN’s Larry King Live on Wednesday night, and while no one expects King to offer a hard-hitting interview, he seemed eager to underline Republican meanness.The theme was "how can you not be mad yet?"

Network TV producers just plucked out Michelle's above-the-fray Clintonesque quote about people not liking the bickering in these hard times, but some Web sites noticed she said she was not offended by John McCain saying "that one" – which is kind of funny, since it was heavily promoted by the Obama campaign.

Obviously, when the Ayers question came up, King wanted to know if the one he called "the extraordinary Michelle Obama" was mad, and let her simply dissolve the inquiry with the line "I don't know anyone in Chicago who's heavily involved in education policy who doesn't know Bill Ayers." Take a look:

LARRY KING: We're back with Michelle Obama. Sarah Palin has been taking the role of kind of attack dog in recent days.Here's an example, and we'll get a comment.

SARAH PALIN: Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country.

KING: That don't get you mad?

MICHELLE. OBAMA: You know, fortunately, I don't watch it.

KING: Oh, well, now you've seen it.

M. OBAMA: I've seen it.

KING: All right. She said that your husband pals around with terrorists. And she's referring to William Ayers, I guess. Do you know William Ayers?

M. OBAMA: Yes. Yes. Yes. Barack served on the board of the Annenberg Challenge with Bill Ayers and...

KING: That was started by the Annenberg family, right?

M. OBAMA: Absolutely. And Mrs. Annenberg, in fact, endorsed John McCain. So I don't know anyone in Chicago who's heavily involved in education policy who doesn't know Bill Ayers. But, you know, again, I go back to the point that, you know, the American people aren't asking these questions.

KING: You don't think it affects the campaign?

M. OBAMA: You know, I think that we've been in this for 20 months. And people have gotten to know Barack. He's written books. Books have been written about him. He, like all of the other candidates, have been thoroughly vetted. And I think people know Barack Obama. They know his heart, they know his spirit.And the thing that I just encourage people is to judge Barack and judge all of these candidates based on what they do, their actions, their character, what they do in their lives, rather than what somebody did when they were eight or six years old.

KING: When someone calls and says he's running for vice president, that your husband associates with terrorism, that upsets you, I would think.

M. OBAMA: You know, that's part of politics. But...

KING: It doesn't -- it blows...

M. OBAMA: ...the thing...

KING: ...it goes right off of you?

M. OBAMA: You know, these issues have come up before. But the one thing that I'm proud about with Barack is that one of the things he's been talking about is our tone. And it's the notion that he says we can disagree without being disagreeable. And that's, you know, where he's trying to get to in this campaign, the notion that we can disagree on some fundamental issues in this country, but we have to do it without demonizing one another, without labeling one another, because we're in some tough times now.

And what we can see from the fall of this economy is that when we fall, we all fall. And when we rise, we all rise. And whether we're Republicans or Democrats or Independents or black or white or straight or gay, that we're in this together. And that there are times that we will disagree, that we won't share the same policies. But we're going to rise and fall together. And that's the tone that I like. And I think that's where Americans want their elected officials to be.

This line about not "demonizing one another" is also kind of funny, as her husband and Joe Biden suggest McCain is erratic and old and tired. But Larry had his agenda of anger questions:

KING: So you bear her no umbrage?

M. OBAMA: Not at all. Not at all. I mean, that's not where we need to be right now. I mean, we need to be at a point where we're figuring out how to work together, again, whether we agree or disagree...

KING: What do you make...

M. OBAMA: ...so that we can move things forward in this country.

KING: What do you make of her running for a vice president and having kids -- many kids and being a good parent and bouncing all the balls?

M. OBAMA: You know, I think she provides an excellent of example of all the different roles that women can and should play....

Michelle Obama did receive some credit from some reporters for being generous about Gov. Palin's working-woman balancing act. But to underline how persistent King was on the are-you-mad-yet front, these are the questions not already listed above:

– Do you take offense to "that one?" ("No. No.").

– People are talking about it.

– So you think it's the pundits that are more interested in that term and...Did it in any way offend you?

– Do these two candidates, as has been reported, not like each other?

– Your husband appears so cool, though. Doesn't he get angry?

– How about, you and he are together, you're looking at television, and you see a commercial for the other side that really lambastes you?

– The Tennessean is quoting Cindy McCain as saying that your husband is -- get this -- "is running the dirtiest campaign in American history." Now, tell me you have no reaction to that.

-- So it doesn't hurt you?

– So the next time, let's say you run into her, you wouldn't say anything?

That's about 13 anger-management questions in all. The hilarity in this format is that Mrs. Obama would suggest that the American people want to hear about "the issues," when that’s rarely what Larry King (or any other Obama fan in the media) asks about. King only touched on the economic worries by trying to ask Mrs. Obama is the economy has affected their finances, and she says "We haven't had time to really review kind of our financial situation. We're, you know, on the road all of the time," but he asks her to assume she’s lost something, which she’ll buy. That answer would suggest to viewers at home that you’re too wealthy to worry much.