Sarah and Katherine

The ladies entered the room decorously, proceeding at a modest pace whilst the gentleman indicated the appropriate seats, upon which they were to recline gracefully during the whole of the interview. The first lady, indeed, was all smiles and amiability, nodding to one and to the other as she surveyed the room and took notes of which cameraman might be disposed to present her at the most beneficial angle, and she favored him with a nod, aware that her entrance from the left of the stage presented her figure to great benefit. The second lady presented a visage more inclined to the sedate, not serious to be sure but yet reluctant to compose such smiles as wreathed the face of her more amiable companion. Indeed, it seemed to the cameraman that she had perhaps, much at stake, and that her reserve, though modest, indicated a sterner mental faculty than her partner, which perhaps would bode ill for the first lady.

The gentlewomen were seated. The first, the most honorable Governor, Mrs. Palin, made certain that her spectacles were aligned most becomingly and demonstrated her prepossession with another smile and nod at the assemblage. The second, the elegant and reserved Mrs. Couric, found her focus not upon the opposite lady’s countenance, but upon her hairstyle, which elevation and contrivance seemed most amazing.

Mrs. Couric opened their intercourse with a condescending query as to her companion’s experience with foreign nations. “My dear Mrs. Palin, I have heard you state that your proximity – in your fair home of Alaska – to other nations – contributes to your experience in the areas of foreign policy with these nations. Would you take the trouble to explain what you have meant by that?”

Mrs. Palin tilted her excellently coiffed head. She reflected but briefly on what she was to include in her response, preferring more to rely upon the goodwill of her companion than to any wit or intelligence which might be required of the answer. “Why, Mrs. Couric, to be sure! I was merely indicating that Alaska – my home state, which you are of course acquainted with – has quite a narrow maritime border between itself and a foreign country – which is Russia. On our other side the land, the boundary you might say, that we have with Canada. I found it rather startling and not so very amusing that my comment was ill treated by the uncouth reporters who rather . . .” she hesitated, confused either of how to reprimand said reporters or of which syllables were most appropriate to include in her pretty speech.

Mrs. Couric courteously rushed to provide a word for her amiable companion. “Did they mock you, my dear Governor Palin?”

“Yes, mocked. I suppose that is the word. Indeed.”

Mrs. Couric delicately cleared her throat and proceeded upon this line of questioning, which object though pointed had yet to reveal any definite danger to the fair respondent. “If you might explain to me why that position – of Alaska – enhances your refinement and credentials in the arena of foreign policy?”

Governor Palin’s smile drooped but little as she perceived the less than generous vein of her companion’s inquiry, “It most certainly does! Of course! Our neighbors – the very neighbors that adjoin to our state in the location next door – they are foreign countries. They are in the fair state that I am currently the executive of. And there, in Russia . . .”

“Have you, yourself, ever had the occasion to be personally involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?”

“Well, we have trade missions back and forth. We – we do! It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as that rogue and ill-mannered scallywag, Mr. Putin, rears his head and enters the air space of the fair United States of America – I ask you, where, where do they go? I tell you, good Mrs. Couric, it is Alaska. It is just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to – to our state.”

The fair governor had some difficulty in responding and hoped that some change of subject would avail. Mrs. Couric allowed herself to reflect for the briefest moment how the interlude may reflect fairly on her networking career. For in some aspect of her adept mind she had recognized that this interview would be in a fair way encourage the offer – to her – of broadcasting’s most honorable prizes. It put her in mind to retain quite a good temper.

**Based on transcript of the actual interview from www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/24/eveningnews/main4476173.shtml