What is up over at One Herald Square? Here's today's Herald's front page:
Wow! A "Palin-esque slip" -- strong words. Must've been terrible. And here's the story:
Rivals blasted the strange foreign policy credentials offered by Attorney General Martha Coakley yesterday after the U.S. Senate candidate - in an answer reminiscent of former vice presidential contender Sarah Palin - counted her sister's overseas home as part of her own international know-how.... Coakley made the blunder in response to a question about her lack of international experience and her travels abroad during an interview on WCVB's Channel 5's "On the Record" program yesterday. "I have a sister who lives overseas, and she's been in England and now lives in the Middle East," Coakley said, adding she has traveled but declining to say where.
The remark struck political observers as a stretch to bolster her credentials - similar to Alaskan Gov. Palin's widely parodied claim that she had insight into Russian relations because, "you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska."
Now, I confess that I was initially fooled by the Herald's story, not having seen the interview. But, at alert reader LynPB's suggestion, I went back and watched the whole thing. (It's available here - search for "coakley" in the search box to bring up both segments.)
And, as it turns out, the Herald's "interpretation" is a total hatchet job. Coakley did mention her sister who lives overseas -- but that was in response to Janet Wu's overly long, multipart question. Here's the actual Q&A. Wu seemed most interested not in "foreign policy experience," but rather in overseas travel. And in that context, I think you'll agree that Coakley's response was entirely appropriate and not even remotely "Palin-esque."
So shame on me for assuming that the Herald wrote a legit story. But really, shame on the Herald for wrenching a single quote entirely out of context and trying to make it into something that it clearly was not. This episode also doesn't reflect all that well on Scott Brown, Pagliuca spokesman Will Keyser, and BU prof Bruce Schulman, all of whom bought into the Herald's take on this -- it's unclear from the article whether any of them actually watched the interview. (Capuano spokeswoman Alison Mills is also quoted, but she didn't take the Herald's bait, instead touting Capuano's foreign policy experience.)
