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 5 of 44)
61. When young adults make a baby by accident then compounding the problem further by getting married is the last thing they should do to correct their streak of irresponsibility. How does the act of getting married solve the little accident? How is that anything winning out? Marriage, just like having a baby is a huge step and a decision that requires years of planning ahead. If this kid got my daughter pregnant the last thing I would want to do is chain her to the little dope who took advantage of her in the first place. This poor girl was never given a choice. She has been deceived by all those around her including her parents who did not stress how to keep her body to herself and how to fully enjoy her own childhood. And drunk drivers risk killing people with their selfish acts. I have no sympathy for that screwball father either.
Dinesh D'Souza sucks goat at 4:05AM on Sep 5th 2008
62. Desouza is a far right, Republicans can do no wrong type.
They start a COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY WAR THAT NEARLY DESTROYS THE ECONOMY, so what????
They WEAKEN the US dollar, economy, and military, so what?
They know the US can't stand their President or VP Cheney, they don't show up at their own convention and pretend they barely exist!!!
Yet McCain has SUPPORTED BUSH OVER 90% OF THE TIME, we will get basically the same with McCain, and that's TERRIBLE!
The Republican Iraq War is the Biggest Blunder In US History! Do any of these liers deserve to be elected?
Richard at 8:16PM on Sep 5th 2008
63. Shelby Steele, an African American scholar has the perfect explanation for Obama's appeal...White Guilt. Eric at 11:54 PM Sep 4th
____________________
The perfect explanation for Obama's appeal: Eight years of George W. Bush.
randy at 6:11AM on Sep 5th 2008
64. Shelby Steele, an African American scholar has the perfect explanation for Obama's appeal...White Guilt. Eric at 11:54 PM Sep 4th
____________________
The perfect explanation for Obama's appeal: Eight years of George W. Bush.
randy at 6:11AM on Sep 5th 2008
65.
Atleast Palin's backers are AMERICAN and as such are pro-American.
Obamanation's backers from the MIDDLE EAST give him huge amounts of money and you can best bet will those terrorists will be expecting their Hussein to atleast be a puppet in getting Sharia Law established in the land. Hint, Hint.
Uh, um, unless you enjoy jihads and beheadings and dictatorship and that kind of thing.
Unfortunately, that's the only true way that Barack Osama will be able to cater to the blacks of this country, without looking racist.
Change alright.
American at 7:19AM on Sep 5th 2008
66. a quick personal tale on Sarah Palin shows that her appeal is in her position on ultra-conservative issues.
The excitement generated seems to come from the fundamentalists who finally got a candidate they can stand behind.
That she has a telegenic presentation and a sense of timing is in her favor.
However, I truly feel that if McCain wins this year, it will be thanks to a pregnant teenager and her "hunky" boyfriend; or thanks to the fact that Ms. Palin is a "babe". Ms. Palin's appeal is in her representing all the people who want to dictate to us while they pop out beloved babies. She's a procreator!!! Wahooo!!!!! She's like "us"!!! Yay!
I don't think so.
By the way, why is it that everyone talks about Mr. Obama being the only black candidate, and Ms. Palin as the only woman candidate? Cynthia McKinney is running for President as a Green Party.
abbot at 9:01AM on Sep 5th 2008
67. "Obamanation's backers from the MIDDLE EAST give him huge amounts of money and you can best bet will those terrorists will be expecting their Hussein to atleast be a puppet in getting Sharia Law established in the land. Hint, Hint.
Uh, um, unless you enjoy jihads and beheadings and dictatorship and that kind of thing.
Unfortunately, that's the only true way that Barack Osama will be able to cater to the blacks of this country, without looking racist.
Change alright."
This is an example of exactly the type of people the Republican Party goes after for votes.
When they say that it's not about the issues, this is what they mean.
Botts at 9:17AM on Sep 5th 2008
68. This is what I got out of McCain’s speech last night…
As a Republican he is the best candidate to solve the problems that the Republicans has caused.
ANYONE see the astonishing irony of this?
The Republicans had the Congress, the White House and the Judiciary for at LEAST 6 years, and 2 of the 3 branches for even longer. Yet the economy’s in the toilet, we have historical deficits, we are mired in a war that was supposed to last 6-8 months, the soldier’s we are so proud of, get gypped out of pay, are stop-lossed, and denied their promised benefits when they are lucky enough to return home.
Nothing was done to address the abortion issue, that so many Rep. claim to be such a priority. We have more illegal immigration, we have more people claiming unemployment insurance, more people needing welfare resources. They promised cheap oil, and now we have record high gas prices. They promised good paying jobs-where are those? They promised a return to values, and Abramoff just got 4 years, oh and let’s not forget Ted Stevens from the great state of Alaska. We now endorse torture, we now allow judges to be chosen for their party affiliation. Bush lied about the cause of the war, the Taliban in Afghanistan is even stronger, and we have created 2.5 million pissed-off Iraqi refugees, refugees we don‘t let in OUR country so they go… ANYONE? Yes Syria and Iran!
But Obama gains support because he’s a well-spoken BLACK MAN? Are you people HIGH? The Democrats should have an easy win this election, but there is a good chance Obama will lose because he IS a BLACK MAN, and we fail to address the racism that still pervades our country.
fed up at 9:20AM on Sep 5th 2008
69. Let's face it, Palin's REAL appeal for women voters is that she is a woman and her REAL appeal for male voters is that she has the whole "naughty librarian" thing down pat! Okay, we get it...sex sells but geeez!!!
Keith J. Mohrhoff at 2:29PM on Sep 5th 2008
70. A) You actually thought Romney did a good job?
You blew your credibility with that one! He made no sense: throw the liberals out of washington and replace them with conservatives? Havent the conservatives been in power since the new millenium?
B) Why are you no longer praising Bush?
C) I don't care about Mr. Palin's driving habits...but I do care about his association in a group that hates much of the US and wants to secede from it. Imagine if the Palin's were YOUR color, dd, and had the loose association with that fringe Alaska party that they have.
THEY WOULD BE DONE FOR, AND LABELED AS TRAITORS!
D) You are hopelessly blinded by your ideologies and cannot render a reasonable on any political subject.
Oh, and BUY MY BOOK, AMERICA'S MOST GANGSTA.
It is a scathing indictment of the Bush Administration.
America's Most Gangsta at 9:55AM on Sep 5th 2008
71. William, if Catholics are just so dumb, why are you so threatened by them? From your place of intellectual superiority, you should be able to laugh at them good-naturedly as one might laugh at small animals running around.
The point of the story you reference in Mark 2 is that Jesus was greater than the powers of hell and was in fact God. Satan's mission is to twist the truth and make people believe lies, yet neither he nor his demons could deny the ultimate truth and reality of God incarnate. Elsewhere in Scripture it is written that on hearing Jesus' name, every knee shall bend in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father, "Jesus Christ is Lord."
Go ahead and mock me if it makes me feel better about yourself. A true liberal is tolerant of belief systems radically different from his own. The universe is infinitely larger than your personal experience.
Denise at 9:46AM on Sep 5th 2008
72. Oh, dd, you putz....I, and many other supporters are not scared of Palin. I am amazed at how pathetically desperate and selfish it is, on mccain's part. Of course I am nervous: not cause of Palin, but cause Obama is black, and there too many people of your ilk in this country, and they are scared of Obama.
Here is what I wrote moments after the old man selected palin:
(scared? F.U.)
Introducing President Sarah Palin
Let’s face it: nobody in their right minds wants Sarah Palin as the president of this country, as she is, at best, arguably unqualified for the vice president position.
And her presidency, under John McCain, whether for 3 hours duration while President McCain is under anesthesia for some necessary medical procedure, or President for real, in another event – is unfathomable to most reasonable Americans. I believe McCain is in relatively good health, however he suffered greatly when he was young, he has had multiple melanomas, countless scans and medications, and his health is a fair question when Sarah Palin is his veep.
Let the clamor for John McCain’s medical records begin, and not stop until we are allowed a clear, unfettered, in-depth look into the senator’s health.
We must demand to see what chance we have of seeing a President Sarah Palin in these most troubled times.
The American people deserve nothing less!
My gut: McCain just blew the election.
Alaska is admittedly as far from Washington politics as you can get. Governor Palin is an outsider to Washington Politics. That’s supposed to be a good thing. Unfortunately for John McCain she is as out of touch with the issues as she is an outsider to Washington. She may know more about the unique problems of Western Canadians than she does about the common problems facing most Americans these troubling times.
This move, choosing Sarah Palin for veep, smacks of desperation. It was obviously hatched not long before, if not during, the Democratic Convention. Possibly she has been hastily vetted – not properly vetted? After all, she is currently under an ethics investigation. Regardless of its magnitude, it is an open investigation regarding an ethical issue, and the decision is due just days before the election. This makes the move a desperate shift in strategy to go after the far right of the party, and however many women they can sway with their nonsensical campaign.
The Republicans have abandoned all hope of logic now, and the remaining 60 days will be filled with the ugliest and most disingenuous of statements and press releases from their campaign.
To be kind, McCain was never particularly known for his elevation of women to positions of power, and this move is most assuredly a move made to try and win the election, and not based on pragmatism and the quality of governing the American people need and deserve.
John McCain’s first executive decision was to choose Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate, based on nothing more than his personal desire to be president. John McCain just put his personal ambition before our country’s needs.
John McCain just blew the election.
America's Most Gangsta at 9:56AM on Sep 5th 2008
73. I laugh at your previous blog from months ago titled: "Obama's Imperiled Candidacy"
A regular Nostra-dumb-ass you are, dinesh.
Now you say the Repubs are off and running...ok...
By the way, the only chance they have is to run on a platform of extreme change....why? Change from whom? Hmmm, that would be your hero, dinesh.
No mention of George W. Bush today? Why am I not surprised?
America's Most Gangsta at 9:56AM on Sep 5th 2008
74. I am neither a woman, a fundamntalist Christian, nor a Republican, but if I were any of these.....
I would be appalled (as apparently certain movers and shakers in the Republican hierarchy were caught saying when they thought they were off microphone) by Mc Cain's blatant political choice in Mrs. Palin.
If I were a women, I would consider it a slap in the face that McCain would think that his choice of an unqualified woman as his running mate would cause me to vote for him only because of her gender. He certainly had several other, much better qualified women in the Republican camp (Condeleeza Rice, for one example) he might have selected, but did not because they would not resonate with the fundamentalist, one issue voters in his party whose support up till now has been luke warm at best.
If I were a fundamentalist, one issue voter, I would consider this choice as a false effort to convince me that McCain really believes that Roe v. Wade must be changed and that any type of birth control, gay marriage, etc. must be outlawed at the national, constitutional level (which he clearly does not).
If I were a main stream, conservative republican, I would see this choice as pandering to the extreme right wing parts of our party, the attention to whose demands has led our party (and, incidentally the country) into a steep decline during the last eight years of the most devastating and unpopular presidency, such that our party had to divorce ourselves from as much "support" and contact with the incumbent as possible, if we hoped for any chance not to be totally swept out of office in the coming election.
Harvey at 9:59AM on Sep 5th 2008
75. Botts: "You described Kennedy to a tee my friend...
Now if you're going to come back and say you said "background", which you did, I had to really look past that a bit, because the chances of a pure White guy coming from a black African from Kenya isn't likely. You know what I mean."
No, I didn't describe Kennedy to a 'tee.' Kennedy distinguished himself in the military where he served his country and risked his life to save others; Obama has said that the most difficult decision he ever had to make was to oppose the Iraq war while he was a politician in a very blue section of a blue state. Come on, any intellectually honest person would admit that there's simply no comparison here. Then there's their respective experience in office: Kennedy had fourteen years on the national stage, as opposed to two for Obama. Kennedy had a number of actual legislative accomplishments to his name; one cannot say the same about Obama. Obama wrote a best seller; Kennedy won a Pulitzer. I'm sorry, there's no comparison. And your silly reference to a white man being born to a black man is obviously nonsensical, and was not at all implied by my thought experiment. However, I would add that Richard Dawkins was born in Kenya, though obviously not to a black man. Again, your attempt to compare the two, and claim that they are exactly the same, sans the 'racial' background (you did say I described Kennedy to a 'tee'), is obviously ludicrous. It not only insults Kennedy, it demonstrates just how ingrained your bias is with respect to Obama.
Eric at 10:02AM on Sep 5th 2008