Take That, Charlie!

Smug. Pretentious. Presumptuous.
That's what I thought as I watched the first part of the Charlie (now known as CHARLES) Gibson interview with Sarah Palin last night on ABC's World News Tonight.
Gibson sat upright in a jacket layered over a tweedy sweater, a dress shirt and a tie. As he looked over his half glasses and posed questions to Palin he seemed to be saying: "How dare you assume you are up to the challenge you face? What gives you the right to even think you can play with Big Boys like me?"
Gibson never cracked a smile as he rolled out his questions one after another in a bad imitation of Professor Kingsfield from the Paper Chase.
The result was that Gibson came off as hopelessly pompous -- sort of like some judgmental, constipated old aunt. At the same time, Palin remained Palin: the savvy gal around the corner who played basketball with the guys and always knew she could outwit them.
Palin never hesitated. She never flinched. Her answers were crisp, direct, self-assured.
I love the way she kept referring to Gibson as "Charlie."
If he had actually remembered when he was "Charlie" he might have cracked a smile; he might have understood; he might have been seduced - and he might have actually enjoyed it.
But Charlie left all that behind when he became Charles, The Anchorman.
And Palin? Well, with Charles so hopelessly aware of himself and so distracted by his own staggering significance, Palin was able to make her appeal directly to the viewing audience. And there she once again succeeded on all counts.