Yes, it was a great speech, possibly the highlight of the Republican convention. And yes, it was the climax of a big day for the GOP. First Romney and then Huckabee made their effective case against Obama and Biden. Then Giuliani came in as the Mafia Man to rough up Obama, a bruising he delivered with obvious relish. I would not have thought Palin could top these three seasoned veterans, but she did. It doesn't really matter how McCain does; the Republicans are off and running.
Commentators have noted that Palin spoke with aplomb. The liberals had sought to portray her as a bungler and a problem pick, akin to George H.W. Bush's selection of Dan Quayle. But the attacks created for Palin a great opportunity. All she had to show was that she was not the small-town nitwit of Democratic propaganda. Palin also demonstrated that she could mount a devastating attack on Obama--basically a "community organizer" who knows how to talk a slick game--without coming across as mean-spirited. This is a real art, to know how to punch with a smile. As commentator Fred Barnes said later, this is not an easy skill to learn. Palin didn't really learn it; she is a natural.
What struck me most about Palin, however, was not her pungent one-liners or her savoir faire. Rather, it was her girlish innocence, her unexpected candor and small-town charm. Palin came across as a really wholesome all-American, a real contrast with all the men in the race. Both by her words and her style, she contrasted herself with both Biden and Obama. Biden is basically a mediocre fellow (he graduated in the bottom 10 percent of his law school class, where he was found guilty of plagiarism) whose only original ideas have been terrible ideas, like carving Iraq into small pieces. He is also a product of the back-slapping Washington D.C. establishment. Republicans haven't bothered to attack Biden because he isn't worth attacking. By contrast, Democrats are going crazy over Palin because she scares them.
Even Palin's so-called problems highlight her normalcy. So her husband had a DUI conviction twenty years ago. First of all it wasn't her, it was her husband. Second, how does this compare with Obama, who was snorting cocaine twenty years ago? The media, with its familiar one-sidedness, has been commending Obama's "honesty" over his drug use while blasting Palin for her husband's irresponsible driving. Then Palin's daughter got pregnant at 17: apparently the "family values" didn't entirely get through. Even so, Bristol and the boyfriend are keeping the baby and getting married. So responsibility wins out after all.
By contrast, Obama said he wanted to preserve abortion rights because if his daughters got pregnant one day he wouldn't want them to be "punished" with a child. (Let's be glad that Obama's mom didn't think this way because if she had at the age of 18, Obama wouldn't be around today.) Even Palin's alleged action to fire the state trooper who split with her sister and then harassed her is precisely the kind of action that most Americans would take in a similar situation. While Obama is a cunning Chicago pol who has played his rhetoric and his machine connections to rise through the ranks, Palin remains authenticially all-American with ordinary and recognizable problems.
The problem for the Republicans is that many Americans have become jaded about them. McCain's maverick reputation helps, but it doesn't alter this reality. Palin, on the other hand, is a completely fresh face. I predict she will appeal not only to Christian conservatives but also to working-class independents, male and female, who see in her the promise of real reform. Palin offers change, but this does not take the form of warmed-over socialism. Instead, it is change in congruence with traditional American values. I don't know if an unspoiled person like Palin can actually clean out the Augean stables in the nation's capital, but she does seem determined to try. She is the new star of this political race and already she has altered the whole equation.
Reader Comments ( Page 43 of 44)
631. 625. Ryan Anderson
What is the line on the election?
Jerry Brown at 4:51PM on Sep 8th 2008
xx
I wanted to add the line against mcsame surviving eight years in office: 3 to 1 against. That may arouse some concerns.
Clif Kuplen at 6:01PM on Sep 8th 2008
632. Jerry; I'm not a gambling man, so I may get the terminology wrong, but the one I remember was -200 for Obama and +140 for McCain. The rest were pretty similar.
Ryan Anderson at 6:14PM on Sep 8th 2008
633. Now you know rumor Sarah Palin was a member of the AIP was a LIE, now you substitute her husband. What other lies are part of that story??
No, It wasn't a lie. The current president of the AIP said that Palin was indeed a member. Funny how she suddenly couldn't fing Palins' name on the roster after staing with confidence that it was there the day before. I doubt the woman was lieing, making things up, or just mistaken.
Conservatives will be the death of America at 7:42PM on Sep 8th 2008
634. Vote for less government.
xx
There is no such thing as less government.
Name a large stable nation with a small government anywhere on earth in history. This is earth, not a comic book.
Nature abhors a vacuum.
If you let corporations take over government functions, 'privatize' as republicans,libertarians, neocons and fascists believe in common, you put government beyond your ability to vote it out.
CEO's aren't elected and if you're not a shareholder, you're either a natural resource to exploit or an obstacle, never an ally.
I've lived in this nation since the middle of WWII and we have NEVER been socialist or even close! Are you freakin' crazy? Where does this paranoid crap come from?
Here's something that should concern you if you vote for more republicanism.
The 169 corporate lobbyists who frame the mccain campaign and will frame the mccain administration all profited immensely from 8 years of bush and want mccain to be president too.
Now, think for a second. Why do corporate lobbyists want Mccain to be president? Because he's a 'maverick' and will shake stuff up, or because their corporations will profit just like they did the past 8 years?
Would they back someone who wanted to change that? Why?
On a scale of 1 to 100, how much weight do you think they will get on a legislative issue, and how much will you get?
I know chickens are too stupid not to vote for Colonel Sanders, but republicans are human beings. this should not be difficult.
In case you wondered, Obama has zero corporate lobbyists. Our objective with the democratic party is to return to enforcing government regulations on growth and trade of businesses like we had before neocons. This is the only way that corporations operating under the auspices of the People will actually serve America's interests as well as their own. NO more bear stearns, no more housing collapse, no more usury. Also those who make use of the Commons will once again pay for what they use. Corporations will no longer be able to receive this and other forms of welfare from tax paying americans. That is republicanism, that is fascism and that is neocon sedition. I'm voting for America, not corporations. Obama is the better man and Liberalism equals freedom and Liberalism Patriotism.
Neoonservatism is the governing philosophy of Mussolini, the kings of france and muslim terrorist nations. Enough!
Clif Kuplen at 6:54PM on Sep 8th 2008
635. Per the abortion non-issue. My unwed mother became pregnant by her high school boyfriend in 1955, a young man who I might add, had no intention of marrying her or of being a father to her child. He like many seventeen year olds then and now, split when he found out my mom was to be in a family way.
My mom was the product of a broken home and a high school drop out. Expecting no support from her family (and rightly so) and having no means to support herself or a child, she had a back alley abortion.
Within two years she met and married my father. They had six kids and six grandkids, two of whom are my children. I can't imagine life without them.
See, had my mother not had that abortion, had she put the "rights" of that cluster of cells ahead of her needs, none of this would have come about. My brothers, my sisters, myself, my nieces and nephews, and the lives of my kids would have been forfeited. None of this ever would have been.
So, sorry if I can't get on the "pro-life" bandwagon. The ending of the potential life of my half sibling over half a century ago in no way supercedes the lives of those I know and now love. You can shed a few tears if you will over the loss of a potential life. I on the other hand, am going to go cook my wife and kids dinner, before I take my guys and one of their sidekicks to the driving range.
Tim at 7:08PM on Sep 8th 2008
636. ATHEIST
Reply to: 628 I'm very intelligent and believe that the New Testament is 100% truth. However, since you are blinded by Satan, you think of yourself as wise though you are not.
_______
You are NOT intelligent.
I've spent way too much time explaining this stuff to you.
Demonic possession.... is a STORY they used to recruit gullible dimwits such as yourself.
Paul said, "When Jesus returns.... those of us who are still alive...
If you're so smart, you can find the place where he talks about what will happen to those who are still alive when Jesus appears in the clouds.
Paul was a Pharisee. His opinions on resurrection had NOTHING to do with Jesus, and follow the previous beliefs of the Pharisees.
friggin' idiot. Some tells you the RIGHT ANSWER, so you don't even have to think, and you still get it wrong.
William Hays at 7:32PM on Sep 8th 2008
637. Kathy at 2:07AM on Sep 8th 2008
xxxxx
Here's one for ya.........
Once upon a time the neocons descended on Washington. They decided that having it all for themselves was a great thing. So, under a slow witted but avuncular leader named Ronnie Raygun they started to privatize the governemnt. Over the next thirty years, under what was primarily a republican rule, they expanded these policies, while deregulating industries, and giving themselves a host of tax cuts, so that not only could they earn ungodly sums of money, they could keep and invest and then reinvest with impunity. Their mostly feckless democratic counterparts in DC, did little to stop their self serving actions.
With the aid of their water carrying dem sidekicks, they started wars that did nothing but enrich defense contractors who sought and were rewarded with no bid contracts. They stood by as major industries fell into ruin, while cities collapsed, and while oil, pharmacy, and other psuedo government agencies gorged on the carcass of a guileless, fractured, and easily duped citizenry.
Then along came a doddering old Washington insider and his vitriol spewing but telegenic sidekick, both of whom were bought and paid for by the same corporate interests that had bought and paid for the legislative, executive, and the US supreme court for some thirty years hence.
American rightwingnuts wet their pants at the prospect of putting the Maverick and the MILF in the Whitehouse. Why you ask? Becuase they believe these two to be the agents of change in Washington. They say this without thought because it has been their party that has corrupted Washington and now they wish to send a corrupted old man and his pretty but corrupted cheerleader to Washington to fix the problem they helped create.
I tell ya, republicans don't get irony but they do it well (courtesy of St. Brian)
Tim at 9:51PM on Sep 8th 2008
638. Ryan post 624 - yes we could enforce our laws. Rewarding illegal activity will not stop it. Taxes are to high as they are.
Man_in_Wilderness at 8:01PM on Sep 8th 2008
639. Clif post 631 - You are right there is no such thing as less government for the socialist party. Oh I mean the democrat party, well same thing.
Man_in_Wilderness at 8:02PM on Sep 8th 2008
640. Socialism will be the death of America...
Man_in_Wilderness at 8:03PM on Sep 8th 2008
641. WH post 632 - You atheist, anti-Christian can't say anything near the truth about the Apostles. Paul penned 13 of the NT books. He accepted Christ on the road to Damascus. You will find that account in the book of ACTS.
Man_in_Wilderness at 8:06PM on Sep 8th 2008
642. MIW: Migration has been part of human life for millions of years. Because we deem it illegal doesn't mean it's wrong.
The farm subsidies that drive the illegal immigration, now those are wrong.
Ryan Anderson at 8:07PM on Sep 8th 2008
643. Ryan Anderson
Appreciate your update on the betting line. I will take this over the poles any day. Sounds like our guy has the best of it at this time.
Jerry Brown at 9:03PM on Sep 8th 2008
644. I'm curious to read what you think of this St. Brian. Or anyone for that matter. Personally, I find it disturbing. It's a little to arbitrary for me. Yes, this person will have special needs but are they "less worthy?" Is it really out of concern for the person with Down's or is it really saying more about us? What if this way of thinking becomes common? Doctor, what do you mean my son is only going to be 5'2''? I wanted him to be at least 6 foot. Brown eyes, brown hair!!! Not blond-haired and blue-eyed? Just a thought.
If one believes life is God given, you won't be having abortions over sex, hair color, health, or convinence. If one believes life is nothing special, one would go way beyond the above questions without so much as a pause.
thomas J gassett at 3:35PM on Sep 9th 2008
645. From the New York Times
William Hays
>>>
Please keep posting. Every time you spew your ugly crap, and let us see your dark dead soul the republican party grows.
thomas J gassett at 3:46PM on Sep 9th 2008