CNN: Drew Griffin To Interview Sarah Palin

UpDate: The video just released. (TRANSCRIPT)

Update II:  Part (2) Drew Griffen interview with Palin.

Mark Halperin had this up on “The Page,” entitled “Palin Declines To Call Obama a “Socialist” in CNN Interview.”

The Alaska Governor instead invokes Joe the Plumber and his view of Obama’s tax plan when asked by CNN investigative reporter Drew Griffin whether she would label the Democratic nominee a socialist.

More — including answers on Troopergate, how she squares with McCain on certain fiscal policies — to air on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”

I checked over to the Washington Monthly – Political Animal to see what Steve Benen’s take on this would be and he had some great points about Drew Griffin the reporter doing the interview.

But it is fair to wonder why he was tapped for the first Palin interview on the network. It was Griffin, for example, who went to Alaska and dismissed the significance of the Troopergate scandal before investigators concluded that Palin had violated state ethics and abused the powers of her office. As Griffin told CNN viewers, the controversy was unlikely to “bring down the newest star on the political scene.”

Griffin has also taken a leading role in reporting on the manufactured ACORN “issue,” often with disappointing results.

What’s more, according to his bio, Griffin works out of the Atlanta bureau, and doesn’t normally cover politics or campaigns.

With this in mind, how is it, exactly, that when it came time for Palin’s first interview on CNN, the “best political team on television” gave the gig to someone who isn’t even part of CNN’s “best political team on television”?

I won’t pre-judge either but, if this is another soft-ball interview that Palin basically calls all the shots like she did on Fox, I’m turning it off..  I don’t consider that journalistic intregrity, that is called looking for a ratings boost.

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