Sarah-Speak II

I've already had my problems with Sarah Palin's campaign statements. Yesterday, I also had a bit of a problem with Tony Knowles. Today, the ADN criticizes Palin for the same thing I criticized Knowles for yesterday:

No candidate can be all things to all people. Ms. Palin's answers on some key issues show she is perhaps trying too hard to tell people what they want to hear.

Alaska is a small enough state that people can get to know their candidates pretty well. It's not unreasonable for a reasonably interested voter to expect to meet even the gubernatorial candidates. As we do meet them, I'd have a lot more respect for the candidates who tell us what they think, rather than what they think we want to hear. In a television or radio or newspaper ad, it's easier to try to be all things to all people. But this campaign is less mediated by those strategies than others. Just tell us who you are and stop pandering.