PBS's Mark Shields on Friday said Sarah Palin's decision to resign as the governor of Alaska is "like Ted Kennedy's Chappaquiddick."
This astonishingly came moments after he called Nancy Pelosi the most effective House Speaker in his lifetime on the most recent installment of "Inside Washington" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
MARK SHIELDS, PBS: I will say this about Nancy Pelosi: the great CBS commentator Eric Sevareid said the boys run for high office to be something, the men run for high office to do something. I’ll change that to adolescents and grown-ups, and Nancy Pelosi, whatever anybody says about her, she has done, she has accomplished as Speaker, she has been a more effective Speaker than anybody in my lifetime. Forget, I mean, Newt, Newt Gingrich, nothing compared to her. This is a woman who rivals Tip O’Neill, Sam Rayburn, the great speakers of the House, but she became the face and the poster child to run against in 2010, and Republicans ran very effectively against her. And I think that is worth a study as to why she became such a lightning rod.
Imagine that. Pelosi just suffered one of the biggest Congressional election defeats in history, and Shields is praising her like she's a God.
To put the icing on the absurdity cake, Shields, when the subject of Palin came up, said:
She did have a pretty good night, and I certainly defend her, and anybody, endorsing a candidate not on the pragmatic grounds that they are going to win, but because you believe in their positions and don’t believe in her opponent's positions. That is why she presumably endorsed Christine O’Donnell against Mike Castle, a moderate to liberal Republican. But on the subject of Sarah Palin in 2012, one of the unspoken problems that she does have is her quitting as governor midway through her first term. It is like Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick. It was not a problem among Democrats. It will be a problem when she runs for president because it is a higher threshold for the office.
So resigning as governor to pursue other political endeavors is in the same league as drowning a woman and fleeing the scene of the crime?
That nobody laughed in Shields' face when he made this staggeringly stupid comment is beyond me.
Readers are also advised of the differing election results enjoyed by Palin and Pelosi this week.
Palin-endorsed House candidates went 37 and 15, her Senate candidates pending the outcome in Alaska went 6 and 4, and seven of her gubernatorial candidates also won.
No matter what anybody says, that's pretty impressive.
By contrast, Pelosi took one of the biggest drubbings of any House Speaker in history. And yet, Shields had nothing but praise for her and scorn for Palin.
Liberal media bias? What liberal media bias?
