Calming Down
A remarkable number of liberals of my acquaintance seemed ready to move into panic mood after it turns out that Sarah Palin can deliver a competent attack dog speech. I don’t see why. It was competent, but no more than that. And it wasn’t a speech that even tried to do either of things that John McCain’s campaign needs to do — separate McCain from George W. Bush or convince people that McCain can improve the economy. It didn’t even try to address those subjects.
This stops the downward spiral, maybe, until perhaps people focus on the fact that Palin’s signature accomplishment as Governor of Alaska was to oppose a bridge project that she in fact favored, but McCain was losing the race before Palin was ever announced. Stopping the slide doesn’t get you to a win.
88 Responses to “Calming Down”
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September 4th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Well..it’ll stop the slide at a certain point. McCain won’t go any lower than 28-30% in the polls!
September 4th, 2008 at 8:46 am
I feel the reverse — I feel relieved.
Good for her to unite the Republican base for McCain, and good for the Republicans to diversify their ticket gender and geography wise, but the concentration on smarmy & snide dismissal looks to minimize the potential crossover appeal she could have had.
However, it is true that with Republicans, there is no history, there is no past, they have not held power for the last 7.5 years thus they are the reformist outsiders, and so McCain may play General Patton reaching out to “independents” tonight, but I’m no longer sure he’s interested in that.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:51 am
I think the panic reaction is probably mostly because the frightening and offensive displays from Rudy, Romney, and Palin last night make it that much more difficult to imagine living in a country where McCain/Palin win the election.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:51 am
I agree. But in addition to motivating evangelicals, the Palin pick is aimed at low-information voters, who could make a real difference in, say, Michigan and Ohio. There are millions out there who will believe Palin’s lies because they “like” her. And without a doubt the commentariat will declare her the winner of the veep debate.
What Palin does best for McCain is help to revert to a more conventional red-blue map by putting long shots like Georgia and North Carolina beyond Obama’s reach. She probably boosts the ticket in Florida and Colorado and possibly Iowa, with higher concentrations of evangelicals in those states than in the Rust Belt, although her pastor’s anti-semitism could work against the Republicans in Florida. My hunch is she’ll hurt the GOP in New Mexico and Pennsylvania.
Look, the GOP has flipped back to the 2000/2004 playbook because that’s the only strategy they know. Here’s hoping Dem enthusiasm and voter registration carry the day. Meanwhile, it’s gonna be an ugly two months.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Agreed Matt. The only difference between her and Cheney is lipstick. Even the AP has an incisive detailing of the whoppers last night. Oh and it’s bad to demean community organizers, BECAUSE THEY WILL ORGANIZE A COMMUNITY AGAINST YOU.
duh
September 4th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Yeah, because nothing screams Vote for Me, American men, than a shrill, bespectacled hottie with a mean streak and a wagging index finger. Oh yeah, who tries to get her manly man of a Moose-whacking brother-in-law fired on company time.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Yeah, I don’t get the angst either. They’ve basically given up on convincing moderates and gone back to the Rove get-out-the-base well one more time. I don’t see how that can work this year.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Palin and her handlers really put her foot in it with the crack about community organizers, and the Republicans are about to pay the price for that incredibly inept miscalculation.
What Barack Obama should do today is find about ten community organizers from around the country, representing a cross section of different ages, shades and genders. He should line them up, stand in front of them, and say:
This is the guy who kept the toxic waste dump out of your city;
This is the lady who took on the drug dealers in your neighborhood and chased them off the streets so your kids can walk to school in safety;
This is the fellow who turned a vacant lot in your neighborhood into ten beautiful baseball fields and soccer fields;
This is the young girl who lead a peer campaign in her school to end the vandalism of cemeteries and churches in your town;
This is the woman who cut teen pregnancy in half in your county;
This is the man who lead a campaign to organize volunteer adult education classes that taught English to hundreds of new Americans, and slashed the unemployment rate in his community.
I was proud to be a community organizer in Chicago twenty years ago; and I am proud to stand with these great Americans today. The men and women standing behind me are the backbone of America. When I am president, I will be calling on them, and thousands of others just like them across the United States, to help bring changes from the bottom up, not the top down.
I worked hard for the people of Chicago’s South Side, and these people are working hard for their your communities today. We’re not going to stop until we bring change to Washington. But John McCain and Sarah Palin are deeply out of touch. It takes more than a few folksy sayings and cheep cracks to show you understand what drives regular folks across this country. Americans are tired of the insult politics, and the ugly, divisive, negative attacks on real American heroes from the phonies on the extreme right.
Game over.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:59 am
Add italics to the “I worked hard” paragraph. That’s part of what I want to hear Obama say.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:59 am
This is why the Dems have a reputation for being a bunch of wusses. Personally, I’m fired up and ready to fight. They are gonna get buried!
September 4th, 2008 at 9:04 am
I go back to the idea, clearly demonstrated by the way McCain has run this race so far, that Republicans are utterly brilliant at short-term tactics to win a news cycle. But they are really challenged when it comes to executing a long-term strategy to win and govern. What we’ve seen over the past week is two gambits that were clearly successful: a roll out of a stunning choice for VP that completely eliminated any sustained discussion about Obama’s speech and last night’s speech by Palin that managed to exceed the very low expectations that had been set for her. Between those two events was a week of chaos and I wonder if anyone has thought through the consequences of her speech in the days ahead, starting with his speech — he’s going to look old and tired in comparison. Plus, the press will now (I hope) start evaluating the words she said last night — particularly the nonsense about saying no to the Bridge to Nowhere.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Here’s one way to get this shrill trash out of your system. Go to Obama’s website and donate. I just did.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:07 am
I like Dan Kervick’s suggestion a lot.
There is also the logical weirdness. If you belittle community organizers, your saying that non-government organization is meaningless. But they are the party of small government. What about religious organizations, private charities, etc? The republican party is about power, as long as its their power. This is a party that is desperately power hungry and desperate to retain power. I think building a campaign around responses to the speeches tonight, and Bush, would be powerful.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Yes to Dan’s idea in #8. Another opening for attack last night was the idea that American will be “safe in John McCain’s hands” (or was it “arms,” which would be really creepy). The bottom-up change theme means we, the Democrats, are the ones who are not looking for a Daddy to save us. The Republicans are invoking the all-powerful government. This is a great chance to turn their rhetoric around on them.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I heard a great snippet of audio on NPR this morning of Palin praising Don Young and being positively bubbly about all the federal money headed Alaska’s way (I think it was recorded during her campaign for governor). I say put that audio to the photograph of her holding up the “Nowhere” t-shirt, then cut to her bald-faced “Thanks but no thanks” lie from last night.
The mendacity and cynicism is not surprising because we’ve seen it so much, but it still manages to make my blood boil. The sight of her mocking Obama, just dripping with sarcasm and disrespect, while all the family passes the trophy baby back and forth…sigh
September 4th, 2008 at 9:10 am
“A remarkable number of liberals of my acquaintance seemed ready to move into panic mood after it turns out that Sarah Palin can deliver a competent attack dog speech. I don’t see why.”
Serenity now. Insanity later.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Earlier this week Obama had the integrity to speak out against people attacking her children. You would think that there would have been a tip of the hat toward Obama, a little grace note of thanks and understanding. But no, not a word.
It was a somewhat well delivered speech full of piss and vinegar, I don’t think it will play well in the long run.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Let’s recall that what Sara Palin most needed to do was convince a doubting world that she is actually prepared to step into the presidency should anything happen to John McCain. I don’t see that she came remotely close to doing that.
Look, Joe Biden can be an attack dog because he has built up years of statesmanship cred, and is an established Washington hand and global figure. But Sarah Palin cannot afford to be turned into a mere partisan attack dog. She has too much to prove. The Republicans needed to elevate Palin, and add some gravitas and leadership aura to her image. Instead she just looked undignified and ordinary.
The McCain campaign is really an amateur hour bunch.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:17 am
No panic on this end. I’m biased and I’m Southern and plenty of people would hate the way I talk and I know it sounds petty and mean, but holy cow does that accent make me cringe. Frances McDormand in Fargo, meet the “Barb” character from Prairie Home Companion who’s always discussing ketchup with her husband.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:18 am
The Rudy and Sarah show just makes me want to buy an Obama shirt that I can wear to the mall. Why? That way I know who to punch in the face. As it is right now I have a hard time telling which people are Republicans.
Seriously, though. I’m sick and tired of the hate being dished my way by that party of morons. They did more than fire up their own base with that shameful display. They fired up Democrats too.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:19 am
There is also the logical weirdness. If you belittle community organizers, your saying that non-government organization is meaningless. But they are the party of small government. What about religious organizations, private charities, etc?
Exactly johnk! Do the people writing Palin’s stuff have any coherent ideas at all? I live in new Hampshire, which is a notoriously low tax, small government state. We also take pride in what is purportedly the highest rate of community volunteerism in the country. I always though small government and local community organization were supposed to go together. Is Sarah Palin’s real America just a country of grousing couch potatoes, who don’t just look down on government, but on every kind of community service whatsoever? Maybe she represents the new breed of “go shopping” Republicans?
September 4th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Calm down by forgetting last night; remember Denver.
Great idea by Dan Kervick… get those organizers out there.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:21 am
All the embarrasing fact about her remain, such as the fact that her husband is a secessionist nutcase, and the troopergate scandal, and her crazy rightwing views.
Also, I think that weird accent of her conveys an image of being too different, too small-town, and lacking gravitas.
Also, she oozed way too much smugness.
In her favor, she does have self-confidence and is a natural speaker. In a few years, I could see her as one of the leaders of the party.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Wow, great idea from Dan Kervick. Send that to the Obama campaign!
September 4th, 2008 at 9:22 am
I caught several of the speeches, concluding with Palin’s. They were all nasty, condescending, and generally offputting. Yes, she’s a great attack dog with great presence on the stage, possessed of far more self-confidence than is warranted, which is impressive. But they all came across as enraged rightwingers who were no different from Bush and had learned no lessons from the past 8 years. This will rally the base and, I suspect, repel independents. It would also have rallied liberals to their candidate if it were possible to get them more energized, which it’s not.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:23 am
As odious as the content was, I thought Rudy gave a rip-roaring, entertaining speech. I’d give him an A and Palin a B, I suppose. Huckabee spoke well, but his story about the desks was dopey, even by Republican standards.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:24 am
2 words not heard last night… “economy” “Bush”
September 4th, 2008 at 9:25 am
To paraphrase their own talking point, she is an effective orator, but where’s the beef?
September 4th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Agreed. She won by not losing. So long as she didn’t come out like this, she was going to be in good shape going forward.
It’s depressing to see some of the rabid attacks coming from the left. People are acting very un-Dude here. Palin is folksily charming and has that mean girl undercut streak in her, but that seems to be about it. She’s tough, but fight doesn’t matter when you’re out of your depth. Anyone catch where she stumbled and tripped? It was during the foreign policy bit. Snippet:
Go back and watch that part. Compared the rest of her cruise control speech, it’s like she hits a patch of black ice there. The Bushies will stuff her head full of facts for the debate versus Biden, but there’s no telling how well she’ll come off.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Dan’s suggestion (#8) is excellent and would make an extremely effective ad.
I found the speech adequate at best. It hit all the right notes (for the audience in the hall) and she didnt miss any cues, or come across poorly. But this was a base hit when she needed a home run. She really needed to wow America, not just present a likable persona. And tying herself to the Bridge To Nowhere is a bizarre move, because the ad shooting her down on that practically writes itself, and the “Bridge To Nowhere” has become such an iconic symbol of pork-barrel spending that if she gets tied to it negatively it could actually register in people’s brains.
Lets also remember that this speech had nowhere near the TV audience of the DNC speeches, so most viewer’s takeaway will come via the post speech analysis and the coverage last night and in the days to come, which has been mixed at best.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:29 am
I feel like, with the almost universal media acclaim for her performance, I’m living in bizarro world. Was it the strange modulation of her voice or the insensitive phrasing that turned everybody on?
“Competent” is definitely as high as I could possibly go in praise of Palin’s delivery of the speech, and even that seems to me like grading on the curve. This is the big leagues, folks — shouldn’t we expect our national politicians to have developed some rhetorical skills beyond the ability to maintain poise and read?
She’s a charismatic woman, but stiff as a board, and curls her lip in a way that would never pass muster on the late evening news.
I don’t get it, and I don’t believe I’m biased when it comes to this stuff. Was the bar really just so low? She is a professional politician, after all, even if just for a short time at a relatively small-time level. What did people expect, a meltdown?
September 4th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I’m not really worried, I’m just mad. Her speech consisted of direct lies about Obama’s record and insulting community organizing. The first 5 minutes were talking about her family and made me think she was an amateur who knew she had no place being there and was just milking it before being discovered as an impostor. When she got to energy, her “bright idea” was to drill for oil that won’t last another 20 years and will destroy ANWR. She blatantly lied about fighting corruption, she just fought Ted Stevens. The “Bridge to Nowhere” she opposed, well she actually supported it for years and then was only against it when she realized it wasn’t worth it, and she still kept the money.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Calm is good, but complacency is bad, so I’m happy if this gets some people off their butts.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:31 am
The McCain campaign made a ghastly strategic error with that speech, though. The incoherency is dizzying. Yesterday the McCain campaign was full of crybabies complaining about how mean everybody was acting toward this nice, ordinary, middle-America hockey mom, you know, the moderate reformist. The risk was in the Obama camp appearing too condescending or aggressive toward her, of playing Lazio to her Hillary.
Not anymore. She drew first blood, and the gloves can come off now and nobody will blame Obama much.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:33 am
The only thing the Obama campaign has to do is put out the word far and wide: “Watch the debates!” Whether it’s one or ten, just get people to watch. There’s no chance that McCain can come off well against Obama, or that Palin can come off well against Biden. Obama and Biden, right now–with zero prep–would eviscerate McCain and Palin with all of the time and preparation in the world.
Hype the debates like they’re WWF…not the one with the cute birds, the one with the buffoons on steroids. That’s my advice.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:34 am
I hope the commonsense expressed in this blog and comment breaks out in the Obama campaign also.
No reason to panic; business as usual. Are the American people really going to vote for Dick Cheney in lipstick?
September 4th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Ban, I know what you mean. The most basic reason why I could never be a Republican is that I just could not find the door that leads to the parallel universe they inhabit, where drilling the heck out of the coastlines and making sure teenagers don’t know what a condom is are my highest priorities.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:35 am
She won’t be an asset in the end. Her church is Pentecostal. That would be the one with the speaking in tongues, exorcism and faith healing.
That kind of fringe stuff is not going to be an asset with independents and nonbelievers. All the dems have to do is find some video of her writhing around on the floor wailing away in gibberish. Game over.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:40 am
When have we ever seen the Obama campaign panic? It’s the most steady, disciplined, eye-on-the-ball campaign in living memory. That’s not going to change because of a speech.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Giuliani’s speech was so nasty, they could have put lipstick on him (and one of those dresses he likes so much) and called him a hockey mom.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:59 am
The attacks on “community organizers” are a racial dogwhistle; the meaning it’s supposed to invoke is “ghetto activist.” Think some guy in a Farrakhan t-shirt yelling about The Man.
The irony is that Obama’s taken the community organization model nationwide, producing a massive, highly sophisticated ground organization the likes of which we’ve not seen, and which sails under the radar of most political coverage. If it’s effective (as it was in Iowa during the caucuses that left Hillary Clinton a distant third) then the GOP won’t know what hit them.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Let’s just admit that it was a good attack speech, adequately delivered. This is not going to change the game since the people who will decide this election are in the middle, not in the bases where attack speeches are aimed.
For the next 8 weeks, McCain has lost the “experience” argument, and people can decide for themselves whether they’re more “comfortable” having woman with a scandal hanging over her head, with a background as a secessionist, who ran indicted senator Ted Stevens’ 527 and was his political protege, or whether they’re more comfortable with Obama. My bet is that whatever anxieties people have about Obama, those are a far cry from the anxieties they’ll have about her.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Add yet another Washington DC columnist to the list of liberals in full fledged panic mode. Even more so than the others, this columnist is in a state of denial regarding his state of panic.
The self-appointed liberal elite of NY and DC will not get to pick the next President and Vice President. Sarah Palin changed all that. If she is too inexperienced to be President, and she is more experienced than Hussein Obama, what does that say about the person at the top of the Democratic ticket?
September 4th, 2008 at 10:05 am
tas: Try to see what’s actually there, not what the talking points tell you wish to see. Palin opens up some opportunities, and even more costs, for the GOP. Overall, I think it’s more than likely a net positive for the Democrats.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:08 am
As every TV pundit in St.Paul gushes about Sarah, it appears that every working mother in America is supposed to now be in love with this woman. I’m not one, so I missed that; Hillary Clinton has left the room.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:10 am
She said nothing of substance in her speech, no health care reform,no relief at the pump, no relief at the grocery store,not a word about public education or college and no talk of fixing our broken infrastructure.How can the re-pukes call themselves the reformers when they have corrupted Wash., and have broken Wash. and have done these egregious acts on America and it`s soldiers and the Iraqi civilians.Mcwars was a big part of all of this and he wants to perpetuate it for 4 more years.We cannot have this go on for 4 more years.Warmongers such as S.Palin and Mcwars would have our soldiers keep on dying and getting wounded than forfeit and bring them home.These people have to win at all cost to our nations military and our respect and standing with the rest of the world.Reformers my a$$, they only care about keeping the status quo and that means getting richer for them.They don`t care about America and what it stands for.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Yep, she delivered a good speech. I felt it was a bit mocking/condescending, but that’s what you get from a speech written by Rove’s disciples.
Reading a speech before a friendly audience is one thing. Answering off the cuff, specific, issue-oriented questions by the media another. We’ll see how she fares in that setting, if they ever let her out of seclusion. I have a feeling they’ll do their best to isolate her so that the visual everyone remembers is that speech.
On a side note…did anyone else notice that that family does not seem to like one another? They all stood about two feet apart on stage and didn’t say a word to each other following the speech.
No wonder the kids always look scared…can you imagine that lady dominating your childhood? Tough love.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:14 am
What leadership qualities does Mcwars have in the executive department? none!!!!His running mate has more than he does, what does that about the Reich……
September 4th, 2008 at 10:17 am
I particularly liked how, when she was gushing about his record as a reformer, she couldn’t bring herself to name McCain’s crowning piece of legislation. It seems the base is still supremely pissed about McCain-Feingold.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Most of us I think assumed that a national campaign ought to have at least some logical connection to the year in which it is run instead of being an off-the-shelf knock-off of a campaign that could probably have been run 40 years ago, and was. After the Democratic convention a week ago, which presented a vision of leadership and governing, most Democrats probably assumed Republicans would have to answer in kind with their own vision of the country.
The panic you see now among Democrats is the realization that Republicans planned no such thing, that they are perfectly comfortable with the same culture war, slash and burn, divide and conquer campaign they’ve been running for 40 years, one that wraps itself in the flag, closes its eyes and ears to the problems around us, and treats their opponents as unworthy not only for the office they seek but of citizenship itself. The fear may be not so much over whether a party with such a reckless and irresponsible mindset can win, but what it bodes for the country to have such a movement in our midst.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:18 am
WTF?
I’m watching the speech right now. She’s fucking terrible!
Look, the Republicans are authoritarians. It’s not very hard to excite them–just have a GOP Daddy say “you should be excited by this lady” and they’ll start lynching people that criticize her.
What’s more, the press just prints the releases from the GOP. She was always “going to hit a home run”, just like she’ll “outsmart Biden at the debates”.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:19 am
It was a poorly delivered speech. She kept on talking over the applause lines. She sounded like someone who had never given a campaign speech to a crowd of more than 200 people before. Come to think of it, she probably hasn’t.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:26 am
The MSM seems to ignore the fact that Palin called herself the B-word. Palin said that she was a hockeymom and hockeymoms are pittbulls with lipstick. Since the B-word refers to a female dog, Palin has called herself a B-word.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Straw man, Matt. I’m not panicked that she can speak half decently to the usual right-wing lies. I’m panicked that every single media outlet I’ve found ate it all hook, line, and sinker.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Only an Honest Tea-drinking East coast elitist would belittle the historic achievement of an asskicking hockey mom.
It’s like Mitt Romney said: We need to take Washington back from the liberal elite!
September 4th, 2008 at 10:40 am
I’m panicked that every single media outlet I’ve found ate it all hook, line, and sinker.
And this surprises you? The media are a corporate conglomerate now, which is aggressively looking after the financial interests of its owners. Journalism as something other than rightist propaganda is dead.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Not that these same words weren’t used about Ronald Reagan, but who in their right mind would think that a former TV sportscaster could not read a teleprompter with gusto?
September 4th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I’ve never been able to understand how to appeal to “evangelicals”. I would think the teen pregnancy out of wedlock would be a turnoff, but apparently it’s a big win. I would think mentioning 9/11 half a dozen times while discussing her son’s deployment to Iraq would be seen as cloying (and is, incidentally a simple lie), but apparently not. I would think being the mayor of a town that received a huge amount of federal welfare earmarks and going on to be the governor of the biggest welfare state on a platform of building the “bridge to nowhere” would dim McCain’s enthusiasm for her, but no, I guess not. I would think campaigning for Ted Stevens and standing beside him during his ethics trial while fending off investigations of her own ethical lapses would blunt her reformer image, but no. But she sure does hate Obama so I guess she has that going for her.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:50 am
So are any of these liberals you speak about saying this publically? I haven’t seen anyone say it in my circles.
What you just described however is an indictment of your friends, it shows how they little regard they have for people from flyover country or the boonies. Of course she can give a reasonable speech, she is a professional politician who’s been doing it for years. There are people outside your manhatten circle of friends who are eloquent, capable, and dangerous.
Next time you get snooty about the D.C. villagers remember this.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:52 am
A lot of political fighting, like a lot of boxing, involves not leaving yourself open for a counterpunch. This is not something McCain–and by extension Palin–is terribly good at. Just as the “Barack is not one of us” led to the quite devastating “McCain doesn’t know how many houses he owns,” so too the Palin-is-one-of-us-because-she’s-from-Alaska” can lead to: wait, she’s cutting checks to Alaskans from their natural resources while we’re paying through the nose for gas!
September 4th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Biden last night said that she would be a great debater and that’s what the world needs to hear. Bush’s expectations in the debates were so low that passing a quiz about world leaders was considered a victory.
McCain, he’s a former POW. You don’t think he can’t handle Obama in a debate? He debated the Viet Cong up front and personal. Palin is commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard. That command experience has made her one of the most formidable debaters this country has seen. McCain/Palin is probably the best debate team possible, not just in this election, but in any election. If they don’t mop up the floor with Obama/Biden then they are miserable worms. In a Lincoln Douglas debate she’d throw Lincoln into a turnbuckle while McCain hit Douglas with a metal chair.
Seriously though, increase the expectations, don’t diminish them. Don’t let the hockey mom get off with gushing about her family and hurling cheap attacks to “win” the debate. I want to see a debate on the issues and I think McCain/Palin can deliver that. A serious debate for serious times.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:57 am
I think the “panic,” if there is any (and I think there probably is) comes from the wholly predictable media reaction, which largely was a nonstop gush. There was a lot of talk about how well she related to moms across the country.
I thought she did a good job of coming across as a mom. But with her nasty, sarcastic tone, she reminded of that mom — there’s one in every neighborhood — who thinks her kids are better than your kids and doesn’t mind letting you know about it.
That said, I’d have liked to see the Dems push back a little harder this morning. I thought Biden’s response on the Today show was tepid at best and a missed opportunity.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Matt the snark regarding Palin’s biggest accomplishment as governor is misplaced. Palin took on and defeated a corrupt republican establishment controlled by the oil industry; dramatically raised the oil companies production tax against withering attacks from the industry and AK talk radio; and getting legislation passed to build a gas pipeline in the face of fierce opposition from oil companies and the “all Alaska” crowd who wanted the pipeline to go to Valdez instead of Alberta.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:15 am
What’s the difference between a pit bull and a leader?
Judgement . . and Palin showed none.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:38 am
joeBOB, nailed it, as did Billmon- when you think Obama/Community organiser you’re supposed to picture a bunch of welfare queens and gang members led by Al Sharpton screaming “Racism” at some innocent (preferably ethnic) small businessman who’s just trying to provide jobs and a decent living environment. It’s pure dog-whistle.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
For four days a team of professional speech coaches has been preparing this woman to give this speech. She came out with a screechy voice, high schoolish delivery. Reading the teleprompter as if she only understood half of what she was saying. The speech itself was lacking in substance and full of lies. And when it was done the bloviating media was gushing. It’s the media gushing that was scary.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
On the “community organizer”/dogwhistle, i agree with Billmon and everybody else–I just don’t see how it makes any sense for the GOP to use it. If it’s dogwhistle code to people who don’t like African-Americans and city-dwellers, surely those people were already firmly on the anti-Obama bandwagon anyway, weren’t they? Are the people in the undecided middle trying to decide if it’s ok for them to be racist and vote against a black man? What dogs are being whistled to that aren’t already happily inside the GOP fence? Further evidence that this is a speech of, by, and for the rightwing base, with little outreach beyond.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Just to clarify the above, I’m not equating voting against Obama with being racist. It just seems that anybody who would be susceptible to race-baiting rhetoric would already have decided to vote against Obama anyway, so I don’t see the point.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Palin is folksily charming and has that mean girl undercut streak in her
Ding ding ding! I think we have our meme!
Palin was a beauty queen. Probably a cheerleader too. She’s had five kids and she still kept her figure. Her husband’s a star athlete.
Remember those stuck up girls in high school whose daddies bought them whatever they wanted and they got everything just because everyone thought they were pretty and they never had to work for anything, it was just given to them, and they were such bitches to everyone around them who wasn’t a football star and…
OMG!!! Does she think she’s better than you????
/ratfuck
September 4th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
My uncle told a story of working with a city manager in rural Wisconsin(!) in the 1970s. A young Democratic woman was vying for office on her strength as a “community organizer.” When the subject came up, the city manager referred to her as the “communist organizer.”
My uncle started to laugh until he realized the guy wasn’t joking.
Now that was 30 years ago, but I think there are still parts of the country that are circa rural Wisconsin, 1975.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Palin proved she could read a teleprompter, lie about her record, and trash public service.
That’s supposed to be an accomplishment?
.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Given that she would undoubtably read a good speech and the media would love it (and these WERE definite givens), if at 10pm last night you told me that I could take this speech or see what happens, I would have taken this speech…
It wasn’t that great a speech…It was different — surreal certainly, but not anything to worry about…Obama just needs to call her on it and be done with it…
September 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I think the appropriate reaction to the speech is:
(1) Happiness that Palin seems to be undercutting the one potentially positive (from the GOP perspective) aspect of her candidacy – her persona. No more hockey mom; just another nasty politician. She is also demonstrating that the stories of her nasty, vindictive persona were not mere polticial sour graps, but the simple truth. And that is going to be a net positive politically for the Dems.
(2) Dislike of the creature, who combines a nasty personality with nasty political views.
But with the emphasis very much on the former. Come on guys, you didn’t really think she couldn’t give a decent speech? She isn’t going to be as effective in unscripted situations (to say the least), and, i suspect, even in scripted situations she is going to be much, much better at appealing to the base than appealing to swing voters.
Finally, the presses treatment of her was starting to make even me feel a little sorry for her. Now, with confirmation that she is a truly nasty piece of work, I can with a good conscience delight in seeing her life destroyed by the press and … her own behavior.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Along the same lines, Fallows’ take seems very perceptive to me. In essence, he said that last night Mccain choose a rally the base strategy rather than a reach out to the middle strategy. that can work, but almost certainly not in 2008.
What would have been really concerning for Dems, ironically, would have been a speech that simply played upon the positive aspects of her persona, and left attacking Omaba to others. But thankfully she didn’t go that route.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Are the people in the undecided middle trying to decide if it’s ok for them to be racist and vote against a black man?
Yes, exactly.
Racial dogwhistles work because they provide cover for both the speaker and the listener. The speaker gets to put bigoted, offensive ideas out there while pretending that (s)he isn’t. And the listener, who may deny that (s)he has any racist ideas, absorbs the implications of the dogwhistle with no problem, because it appeals to existing prejudices. It’s win-win plausible deniability.
That said, I like Dan Kervick’s suggestion for turning the slur around on the Republicans. If, say, Governor Palin has to defend her statement by saying “Well, I’m not against all community organizing. Just certain types… er, in certain areas… I mean, among those people… why are you looking at me like that?” It could work.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
If this were 2000, this could have worked. But after 8 years of Bush/Cheney lies and the current state of the economy & world, this was a sppech for the 28% who think Bush is doing a good job.
Here’s the reaction from focus group in MI:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/michigan-indepe.html
Lastly, this will be her highlight. It only goes downhill from here.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
“That said, I’d have liked to see the Dems push back a little harder this morning. I thought Biden’s response on the Today show was tepid at best and a missed opportunity.”
You know, I thought this at first, but now I’m okay with their response. Were you freaking out about the non-response to the “celebrity” ads as well? Let them throw everything they have, and then turn around and destroy them like he did in the convention speech. Keep the faith!
September 4th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
55 is right. While I think that the speech certainly gives license to the Dems to hit back, they don’t have to. She’s going to destroy herself. Among other things, have you guys seen the latest on the trooper scandal? E-mails from her own e-mail account pressuring the since fired state official to fire her former brother in law, directly contradicting her statements on the scandal. Rut roh.
We are in only the first stages of one of the biggest political self destructions in American history. The speech, in retrospect, will, if anything, be seen as contributing to that self destruction.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Am I missing something? Isn’t the fact the she has repeatedly spoken to a fringe anti-American political group, and that her husband belonged to that group for 7 years (1995-2002) a big deal? I mean, they want Alaska to secede from the U.S.!
The difficulty is that she has so many skeletons that its hard to figure out which one to emphasize. It seems to me that, right now, this is the one. Democratic surrogates should be mentioning this every time they talk about her on TV.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
IOIYAR, Jim W. Advocating secession because you want to seize federal lands and stop paying federal taxes is entirely noble, and 100% American.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
John Dickerson is a poor barometer.
I think that guy needs a Xanax.
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