Steyn: Hostess with the Moosest

The Corner ^ | 8-30-08 | Mark Steyn

[cgk]

The hostess with the moosest

   Mark Steyn

Over in the Frumistan province of the NR caliphate, our pal David is not happy about the Palin pick. I am - for several reasons.

First, Governor Palin is not merely, as Jay describes her, "all-American", but hyper-American. What other country in the developed world produces beauty queens who hunt caribou and serve up a terrific moose stew? As an immigrant, I'm not saying I came to the United States purely to meet chicks like that, but it was certainly high on my list of priorities. And for the gun-totin' Miss Wasilla then to go on to become Governor while having five kids makes it an even more uniquely American story. Next to her resume, a guy who's done nothing but serve in the phony-baloney job of "community organizer" and write multiple autobiographies looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy.

Second, it can't be in Senator Obama's interest for the punditocracy to spends its time arguing about whether the Republicans' vice-presidential pick is "even more" inexperienced than the Democrats' presidential one.

Third, real people don't define "experience" as appearing on unwatched Sunday-morning talk shows every week for 35 years and having been around long enough to have got both the War on Terror and the Cold War wrong. (On the first point, at the Gun Owners of New Hampshire dinner in the 2000 campaign, I remember Orrin Hatch telling me sadly that he was stunned to discover how few Granite State voters knew who he was.) Sarah Palin and Barack Obama are more or less the same age, but Governor Palin has run a state and a town and a commercial fishing operation, whereas (to reprise a famous line on the Rev Jackson) Senator Obama ain't run nothin' but his mouth. She's done the stuff he's merely a poseur about. Post-partisan? She took on her own party's corrupt political culture directly while Obama was sucking up to Wright and Ayers and being just another get-along Chicago machine pol (see his campaign's thuggish attempt to throttle Stanley Kurtz and Milt Rosenberg on WGN the other night).

Fourth, Governor Palin has what the British Labour Party politician Denis Healy likes to call a "hinterland" - a life beyond politics. Whenever Senator Obama attempts anything non-political (such as bowling), he comes over like a visiting dignitary to a foreign country getting shanghaied into some impenetrable local folk ritual. Sarah Palin isn't just on the right side of the issues intellectually. She won't need the usual stage-managed "hunting" trip to reassure gun owners: she's lived the Second Amendment all her life. Likewise, on abortion, we're often told it's easy to be against it in principle but what if you were a woman facing a difficult birth or a handicapped child? Been there, done that.

Fifth, she complicates all the laziest Democrat pieties. Energy? Unlike Biden and Obama, she's been to ANWR and, like most Alaskans, supports drilling there.

Sixth (see Kathleen's link to Craig Ferguson), I kinda like the whole naughty librarian vibe.  

08/30 03:53 AM

[hiredhand]

Hey buddy. :-) The left is coming unglued over this. They inwardly know that this was the coup de gras in the election. Barring something catastrophic such as an assassination, Obama has become a MOOT POINT. He simply doesn't matter anymore. McCain's move was brilliant!...and it's no secret here that I do NOT like the man! But he made me smile in approval over this move.

This is the left's WORST nightmare at this point. He chose an ultra-conservative, GOP bucking 44 year old WOMAN, and they know it's over for them.

This election is OVER. Having said that, people need to be prepared, especially in Blue State population centers for the anarchy which is going to result after the elections. But as for the election itself, it is FINISHED.

[hiredhand]

Yuk, yuk....remember that “circle of friends” e-mail you sent me some time back? :-)

[fatima]

Here’s a bump MeekOneGOP.

[SamAdams76]

Contrast the above with the below...When career politicians try to be "just one of the guys", they look ridiculous. With Sarah Palin, it just comes naturally because she IS just a regular person.

[DuncanWaring]

Quoting Steyn:

Whenever Senator Obama attempts anything non-political (such as bowling), he comes over like a visiting dignitary to a foreign country getting shanghaied into some impenetrable local folk ritual.

[hocndoc]

Hi, Meek!

Looks like McCain took our advice to “Go Right” and
“reach across the aisle to the conservatives.”

Just goes to show that he *is* listening. I’m more convinced than ever that he’s also the victim of the MSM and very, very carefully edited soundbites.

Go Right!!!

[Hegewisch Dupa]

Honest to GOd right! Hell, just from a personal view point, if this shuts up the posts from some ‘smooth down there like Ken’ clowns who like to list the number of planes he crunched up, it’ll be a wonderful thing. But most of all - it’s the RIGHT thing.

[wjcsux]

She won't need the usual stage-managed "hunting" trip to reassure gun owners: she's lived the Second Amendment all her life.
This nails it!

[GoldwaterChick]

A question to post for the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates:

What do you consider to be your top 4 executive decisions?

[JustaCowgirl]

“Third, real people don’t define “experience” as appearing on unwatched Sunday-morning talk shows every week for 35 years and having been around long enough to have got both the War on Terror and the Cold War wrong —Mark Steyn.

That is a great line on Biden. Deserves not to be lost.

[I see my hands]

"Further, as for being inexperienced, why the emphasis on the TIME she's been in office. Republicans should counter that it's more about what one has DONE. Make a list of the reforms Palin has accomplished in the last 2 years as governor. Put those beside what Obama and Biden have done since 2006 (hold hearings, run for prez). She comes off pretty well in that comparison. Jeanne"

See post 30, sister.

[floriduh voter]

Commander of the Natl. Guard.

[Delphinium]

She is a REAL liberated woman.

[Balata]

This thread needs a picture of a moose.

So check this out.

http://www.ducttapeguys.com/wasilla/index.html

[xone]

'That was the visit of a Military Commander with the troops under her command.'

They weren't under her command in the photo as they were in Kuwait. But they are Alaskans and a visit from your Governor is a big deal in-state or when deployed.

[Pagey]

A Mark Steyn Sunday a.m. BUMP!!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[pharmamom]

I absolutely LOVE Mark Steyn. Picture please.

[GOPJ]

I'm thrilled. McCain chose a conservative - and a great one at that. She took on the oil companies and won - fired a chef - fought corruption - and auctioned off the State jet on ebay. She's got my vote.

[GoldwaterChick]

Thank you for your post! First time I ever read a Democrat forum! Going to send it to several women who were with me after church this morning when I said how proud I was of Sarah Palin for having her baby.

One was furious, said she should stay home and take care of her children and was a fool to bear her baby! She’s too dumb to be V.P. I’d never known this lady was a Democrat. She said she is working extra hard to elect Obama, not “one single woman who voted for HIllary will vote for Sarah”! When I mentioned Soros she said “Who’s he”?

Very calmly I did say Obama has logged 143 days in the Senate and has spent the rest of his term campaigning for President. And that he has never called a meeting of his sub-committee! She had no comment. I won’t be sending her this link tho!

Amazed how many of the Hillary women watch Fox News! Just reading about their habits, they surely are different from us!