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 7 of 44)
91. "How anyone can be proud of being a Roman Catholic in this day and age is beyond me."
William Hays,
This woman is VERY PROUD to be a ROMAN CATHOLIC!!! I chose to convert. I wouldn't be anything else. You are a hate filled, angry, condescending person! You come on this blog with nothing good to say about anyone. A person that is content does not feel the need to belittle others; it only reflects the lack of meaning in your life and low self-esteem. I pity you and those like you!
janesophie1 at 10:51AM on Sep 5th 2008
92. And God bless Sarah Palin, as she said - she did not accept the nomination for the position of Vice President of the United States of America to win brownie points or the good opinion of the media, nor of the long-standing Washington beltway crowd - she accepted the position to fight for change for the American people...and here are two people McCain and Palin who actually possess a record for doing just that.
I invite everyone out there to change your channels, watch a movie - for just one week...show the liberal idiots in the media that it is the PEOPLE in America who will elect the next President...and we aren't going to do it from their wish list! One week of no media spin on the election - and that will have the networks licking our toes - begging for forgiveness for trying to twist the truth in this election.
Lord, you must really have needed Tim Russert, but I sure wish you could have left him behind - at least until the election concluded...I sure smiss the man for his honesty and his ability to get to the heart of the matter without sexism, without racism, and without mockery. The media would do well to try and behave in the dignified and respectful manner of the great Tim Russert!
Dorothy M. at 11:10AM on Sep 5th 2008
93. You are a hate filled, angry, condescending person! You come on this blog with nothing good to say about anyone. A person that is content does not feel the need to belittle others; it only reflects the lack of meaning in your life and low self-esteem. I pity you and those like you!
janesophie1 at 10:51AM on Sep 5th 2008
---------------------------
Some of that IS true, jane.
You engage in the judgemental crap as well, telling folks they are evil, murderers, going to hell and such.
WE all do it !!
mac at 10:58AM on Sep 5th 2008
94. "SHE IS NOT A TREATHEN SOCIALIST" - pet
-----------------------
can someone please explain to me what exactly a "treathen" is?
is this supposed to be some sort of new conservative term to describe a traitor who is also a heathen?
wow, what a zinger.
this person must have collaborated with that commenter with that cutesy little "lat" accronym.
or, could it possibly be... they just don't know what the hell they are talking about? could it be a bushism?...
yeah, i think that's it.
Richelle at 11:02AM on Sep 5th 2008
95. Why anyone still supports this party is beyond me. Blatant corruption.
Botts at 2:34AM on Sep 5th 2008
Oh come on Botts, what about Massachusetts ?
M2D5 at 11:04AM on Sep 5th 2008
96. Hey Bart; it's bad enough you reprint old news; but do you have to post each article twice?
fanman at 11:03AM on Sep 5th 2008
97. "Oh come on Botts, what about Massachusetts ?"
What about the United States of American and the Constitutional Rights of it's citizens?
Botts at 11:23AM on Sep 5th 2008
98. Eric,
Why do you keep going away from your thought experiment.
Read your thought experiment again.
Now if you want to have another thought experiment about "Experience" between Kennedy and Obama, we can do that.
Botts at 11:24AM on Sep 5th 2008
99. Some of that IS true, jane.
You engage in the judgemental crap as well, telling folks they are evil, murderers, going to hell and such.
WE all do it !!
mac,
I have never called anyone evil. I do believe that some ideas are evil and yes, abortion is murder in my world view. I have never told anyone that they are going to hell. You infer that I am judging people and not beliefs. My mother taught me that you can respectfully disagree. People on this blog disagree with me all the time. Guess what? I don’t take it personally! I consider their ideas and express my own. We have lost the art of debate!
janesophie1 at 11:23AM on Sep 5th 2008
100. jane,
i noticed on the previous blog you were suggesting a book by saint thomas aquinas for someone to read for some sort of religious insight.
some interesting information about st thomas aquinas that is related to our discussion on abortion:
saint thomas aquinas did not believe an embryo has a soul until several weeks into the pregnancy, when it actually physically resembles a human.
the church at the council of vienne officially accepted aquinas's position in 1312 and since then it has never been officially repudiated.
the church's view changed after 17th century scientists believed they saw perfectly formed people from fertilized ova through a microscope.
however, we now know embryos start out as a cluster of cells, but despite this revelation the church's view did not revert back to it's previous belief.
the reason the church even changed its views on the issue of babies and souls is because of information that was later found to be incorrect.
Richelle at 11:24AM on Sep 5th 2008
101. "You engage in the judgemental crap as well, telling folks they are evil, murderers, going to hell and such".
WE all do it !!
mac
I have never called anyone evil. I do believe that some ideas are evil and yes, abortion is murder in my world view. I have never told anyone that they are going to hell. You infer that I am judging people and not beliefs. My mother taught me that you can respectfully disagree. People on this blog disagree with me all the time. Guess what? I don’t take it personally! I consider their ideas and express my own. We have lost the art of debate!
janesophie1 at 11:25AM on Sep 5th 2008
102.
OK janesophie,
I'm sorry if I misinterpreted you :-)
mac at 11:27AM on Sep 5th 2008
103. We have lost the art of debate!
janesophie1 at 11:23AM on Sep 5th 2008
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c'mon jane, really?
when anyone makes a point that is contrary to your opinion you have a tendancy to either completely ignore their comment or skirt the main point.
Richelle at 11:29AM on Sep 5th 2008
104. Mac; you didn't.
Ryan Anderson at 11:30AM on Sep 5th 2008
105.
Richelle,
Thomas Aquinas was brilliant, but he was a human being. He did not know everything. For instance he could not comprehend the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. A Franciscan, John Don Scotus understood it perfectly. Since the beginning of the Catholic Church abortion has always been considered evil; read the Early Church Fathers. It is official church teaching that abortion is a grave sin. St. Thomas Aquinas would be appalled at our Culture of Death!
*Why is so important for abortion to not be a sin?
janesophie1 at 11:36AM on Sep 5th 2008