Saturday, September 27, 2008

HUSTLER

by the Sandwichman

Wikipedia: Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising one's skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling (or gambling for higher than current stakes) with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick.... A skilled hustler may pretend to be intoxicated, unintelligent, or otherwise impaired (that is, until it is time to run the table or make a game-winning shot).

What if Governor Palin has been coached to deliberately low-ball her interview performances with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric so that she can pull a stunning reversal during the vice-presidential debate and come off as (comparatively) sharp, knowledgeable and articulate?

Bets?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

expectation management. bush mastered it and got elected :(
get peoples expectations so low, that simply living through the debate will be a SUCCESS!!

Peter Dorman said...

So I have a thought experiment for you. Suppose that, in the next several days, McCain suffers a stroke, and the diagnosis is such that he has to withdraw from the race. The Republican party leaders have an emergency conference, where they go through a list of names for a potential replacement candidate.

Question: Where, if anywhere, on that list is the name Sarah Palin?

Anonymous said...

I am not gonna lay odds on that one. On the other hand, I think that's how the President won several debates.

Sandwichman said...

Exactly -- low expectations. The other factor is that Sarah Barracuda is probably being coached almost exclusively on offense (not to mention smear).

In the interviews, Palin was all lipstick -- acting girly. In the debate, what you'll see are those pitbull canines. If you look at her past performance, Palin is at her most 'articulate' when wielding a stiletto.

Sandwichman said...

Peter,

The answer is: not on the list.

Anonymous said...

Do you mean stilleto heels or a stilleto knife? Or, better yet, both.

Sandwichman said...

Both. But I like my spelling better.

Anonymous said...

While your spelling is the correct version, my spelling is that of the iconoclast who in this day and age is likely to be right (correct, that is) regardless of the specific issue.

I'd guess that that Palin can spell stiletto correctly.

Anonymous said...

Hey Sandwich,
Your niece Lucy wrote a scathing editorial against Palin in her school paper last week. You will love it. Send me your new address, so that I can mail you a copy.
By the way both Lu and Phoebe went to Sen Obama's speech this morning in Reno. Their faces were redacted by the MSNBC logo on live tv, but I am hoping to see some video online in the next few days showing them sitting right behind the next president.