Posted on 08/30/2008 1:34:44 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A spectre is haunting the liberal elites of New York and Washington--the spectre of a young, attractive, unapologetic conservatism, rising out of the American countryside, free of the taint (fair or unfair) of the Bush administration and the recent Republican Congress, able to invigorate a McCain administration and to govern beyond it.
That spectre has a name--Sarah Palin, the 44-year-old governor of Alaska chosen by John McCain on Friday to be his running mate. There she is: a working woman who's a proud wife and mother; a traditionalist in important matters who's broken through all kinds of barriers; a reformer who's a Republican; a challenger of a corrupt good-old-boy establishment who's a conservative; a successful woman whose life is unapologetically grounded in religious belief; a lady who's a leader.
So what we will see in the next days and weeks--what we have already seen in the hours after her nomination--is an effort by all the powers of the old liberalism, both in the Democratic party and the mainstream media, to exorcise this spectre. They will ridicule her and patronize her. They will distort her words and caricature her biography. They will appeal, sometimes explicitly, to anti-small town and anti-religious prejudice. All of this will be in the cause of trying to prevent the American people from arriving at their own judgment of Sarah Palin.
That's why Palin's spectacular performance in her introduction in Dayton was so important. Her remarks were cogent and compelling. Her presentation of herself was shrewd and savvy. I heard from many who watched Palin--many of them not predisposed to support her--about how moved they were by her remarks, her composure, and her story. She will have a chance to shine again Wednesday night at the Republican convention.
But before and after that, she'll be swimming in political waters infested with sharks. Her nickname when she was the starting point guard on an Alaska high school championship basketball team was "Sarah Barracuda." I suspect she'll take care of herself better than many expect.
But the McCain campaign can help. The choice of Palin was McCain's own. Many of his staff expected, and favored, other more conventional candidates. The campaign may be tempted to overreact when one rash sentence or foolish comment by Palin from 10 or 15 years ago is dragged up by Democratic opposition research and magnified by a credulous and complicit media.
The McCain campaign will have to keep its cool. It will have to provide facts and context, and to hit back where appropriate. But it cannot become obsessed with playing defense. It should allow Palin to deal with the charges directly and resist the temptation to try to shield her from the media. Palin is potentially a huge asset to McCain. He took the gamble--wisely, we think--of putting her on the ticket. McCain's choice of Palin was McCain being McCain. Now his campaign will have to let Palin be Palin.
There will be rocky moments. But they will fade if the McCain campaign lets Palin's journey take its natural course over the next two months. Millions of Americans--mostly but not only women, mostly but not only Republicans and conservatives--seemed to get a sense of energy and enjoyment and pride, not just from her nomination, but especially from her smashing opening performance. Palin will be a compelling and mold-breaking example for lots of Americans who are told every day that to be even a bit conservative or Christian or old-fashioned is bad form. In this respect, Palin can become an inspirational figure and powerful symbol. The left senses this, which is why they want to discredit her quickly.
A key moment for Palin will be the vice presidential debate, to be held at Washington University in St. Louis on October 2. One liberal commentator--a former U.S. ambassador and not normally an unabashed vulgarian--licked his chops Friday afternoon: "To steal an old adage of former Secretary of State James Baker . . . putting Sarah Palin into a debate with Joe Biden is going to be like throwing Howdy Doody into a knife fight!"
Charming. And if Palin holds her own against Biden, as she is fully capable of doing? McCain will then have succeeded in combining with his own huge advantage in experience and judgment, a politician of great promise in his vice presidential slot who will make Joe Biden look like a tiresome relic. McCain's willingness to take a chance on Palin could turn what looked, after Obama's impressive speech Thursday night in Denver, like a long two months for Republicans and conservatives, into a campaign of excitement and--dare we say it?--hope, which will culminate on November 4 in victory.
>> Why the ‘sigh’? We appear to be in close agreement.
We are. I’m sighing at my “clever joke” that practically no one got! Guess I should keep my day job, eh?
Don't be.
Gov Palin knows how to deal with the mentally challenged and little children - she'll take it easy on Joe.
Keep the day job (esp if it has pension rights attached...)
;^)
Well HAwk, she might do.
I kinda visualized Biden's blood pressure going up so high that he pops his hair plugs on camera.
I've said it before, but Rove's judgment won the presidency for George W Bush but lost the congress for the republicans. His grand strategy to eliminate the democrats as a viable party must be viewed as an abject failure as the dems now hold both houses and could conceivably take the presidency too. His opinion is an interesting data point worth considering, but he's long since lost his standing as oracle of the first order (IMHO).
Thanks for fixing that headline. At first glance I thought that it was an expose on Obama’s extracurricular activities. “RUTH” would not be correct in that case, he is more likely to be linked with a Larry! Good pictures of his infamous “friends”. I do not see how he will live these associations down.
“I’m concerned about the VP debate.”
Don’t be. Biden is “a good old boy”. Palin has plenty of experience with good old boys in Alaska.
The political graveyard is littered with them from both parties up there after she went into battle with them.
It could be the best thing in the world for Biden to be bullying, condescending and patronizing toward her in the debates. He’ll look like an arrogant Washington lifer and she’ll clean his clock anyway. LOL
I was EXTREMELY moved by the sleeping baby being held by one of her daughters behind her. I was choking back the tears.
How this culture can be so anti-child is just so sad.
“Pray for W/Palin and our Troops”
I think we should all unite and pray very much these next two months, esp during the debates.
I thought he already was an a-hole.
If Sarah Palin is not capable of sending “the dumbest man in the senate” job hunting to the nearest 7 - 11 she doesn’t deserve to be Vice President. Howdy Doody is Einstein compared to Plugs.
I was hanging out at the car dealer's (central PA) waiting for some work to be done when this came on (CNN - inoperative remote). I had no idea who Sarah Palin was 'til then. After watching the clips of her introduction and opening remarks I started to feel better about the Republicans' chances.
After a bit the guy who sold us the car came through, watched the screen for a moment, then asked what I thought of Obama's chances now. I replied "He's dead meat." He looked a bit crestfallen and that pretty much ended the political conversation.
I expect Palin will wipe the floor with Biden in a debate.
John McCain is in the Catbird seat (at least for the next week or two).
Huh? Have we been watching the same campaign? "The Zero" has been on defense for the last six weeks!! He's been having to play catch up since he got back from Europe, to have the "Celebrity" ad hit him smack in the face, and it shows. Team McCain has been absolutely ruthless, and relentless since then, with one hard-hit after another, with "The Zero" not able to regain any balance.
Look at the total difference between *how* the VP choices were revealed, and never mind the *who*... Team Zero's "revelation", while widely anticipated, and stoked in the media, was an absolute shambles, with the "my supporters will know first text mail" being forced to be sent at 3:30 AM EDT, for crying out loud! And by the time it *was* sent, everyone and their first cousin knew who the pick was beforehand. In contrast, Team McCain floored everybody with his choice, which he kept well-concealed, for maximum effectiveness. Smooth, versus "SLOPPY"!!
Why was Team Zero so sloppy? Because Team Zero never expected to actually have to campaign to win this election, they thought they had it in the bag.
The initial surprise as, that Team McCain gave Oh-Bummer enough rope to hang himself with, and he did so, with that ill-advised, and ill-concieved trip abroad. Since then, Team McCain has been all over "The Zero" like white on rice, capitalizing on any gaffe he makes, and since he's rattled, he makes more than a few...
Many are thinking that this latest move is his initial move, but the dance to destroy the Chicago Punk started weeks ago, and this just the latest in a series of devestating maneuvers, leaving the hapless Marxist bozo gasping like a gaffed carp on a levee...
the infowarrior
I believe it was. Juan used to be reliably, umm, leftist in the collectivist sense, but I’m seeing him grow. He used to define everything by color, but he has moved beyond that and is now going with MLK and Shelby Steele: the color of our skin doesn’t matter, it is the content of our character. When you look for that, you get the truer measure of any man or woman and that’s what Juan is expressing more and more often as time goes on.
I’m just thrilled, because, as you say, his is a sharp and incisive mind I am very happy to be on my side of an argument.
Debaters, even the best, are kept sharp by the cleverness of their opponents or they fail. If no or weak opposition they became complaisant
Palin, if as advertised, has been "battle tested" by headbutting with her enemies.(admittedly fellow GOPers)
Obama and Biden are seriously flabby.
...and, if she had to, field dress him with a pocket knife.
They'll be bled out soon...and deservedly so.
That's true enough, Jeff, but I get the distinct impression that once they got through the primary process, that Team "Oh-Bummer" thought they could put it on autopilot, and they had it in the bag. Team McCain proved them wrong, so "The Zero" could never get in balance for a real race, and now? There's not much time left to, even if Team McCain gives them the opportunity. Steven Schmidt has beaten David Axelrod, like a cheap set of bongo drums, at every turn, in rapid succession.
Net result? It's Labor Day weekend, and it appears to any relatively objective observer, that "The One" is "The Toast"...
the infowarrior
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