4
Palin Was Very Good
A lot of people were watching and the ticket will get a bump from this. She came in with a good narrative of being victimized by the press and tossed out ‘I’m a fighter against the elite Beltway media’ red meat with an attractively bemused tone that veered somewhat towards sarcasm but never seemed nasty, much less Nixonian.
It helped that the preceding speakers sucked in comparison, probably intentionally to make her look better as an orator. Rudy’s a fucking asshole to the bone, and that came through. The governor of Hawaii is a droner and an appallingly bad public speaker. Huckabee damned McCain with faint praise, then finished up with a bizarro Starship Troopers story about an Arkansas teacher who basically bullied her incoming students with the message that they wouldn’t be real citizens unless they went to war.
With that as an intro, and with the crowd absolutely willing her to shine, Palin couldn’t really miss. To her credit, she delivered her speech assuredly and dynamically. She came off exactly as she was supposed to — as a small town woman with small town values who done good and is gonna fight the good fight for small town folks and their values and ‘Salsa from New York City?’ etc. etc.
Not a lot of policy except for drilling in Alaska. I’ll get to the Obama-bashing in a second.
Couple things:
- How can Palin not overshadow McCain in the days after this convention? What does it say when the leader on your ticket is in the No. 2 slot? This ticket is ‘Palin and McCain’ — that’s how it should be referred to by Dems.
- She still has to prove herself facing tough questions, during press interviews and during the Biden debate. It’s one thing for the hockey mom to read teleprompter-driven applause lines with an empty net, another to perform on the fly with Biden coming at her.
- They overplayed the ‘community organizer’ slam. The party that wants to shrink government says service outside of government is worthless? The only service worth anything is as an agent of the state? The Dems need to start talking up community work, church work, charity work, volunteering to coach youth sports, etc. Palin and McCain say Little League coaches and scout leaders and food drive volunteers aren’t doing anything useful?
- Her weaselly obfuscation on Obama’s tax plan was transparent. Mom & pop gas station owners and family farmers: ‘How are you — how are you going to be better off if our opponent raises your taxes adds a massive tax burden to the American economy?’ … cheap. Cheaply played, easily countered, easily seen through by even those famous ‘low-information’ voters. Obama wants to raise taxes on people with bank accounts the size of a small country’s GNP, and cut everybody else’s.
- The emphasis on the veto was a good one for Palin-McCain. A lot of voters like the idea of a mixed government that obstructs itself, which is absolutely what we get if Palin-McCain goes to the White House. On the other hand, in reality a lot of voters hate both this White House and this Congress because neither is getting shit done due to just that sort of obstruction. And I have absolutely no idea how to sell ’single party power’ to voters. Maybe just leave this one alone.
- She straight up lied about the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’.
- The foreign policy and war comments were just noise. ‘Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.’ 2004 called, it wants its fear-mongering back.
- The McCain tribute was nicely done. He’s a genuine hero. But it’s hard to escape the message that McCain’s greatness lies well in the past, not the future. That he should be honored for past deeds but that his second wind is trying to catch its second wind for what lies in the days ahead.
- Message: Drill. It’s all they’ve got. It’s every plank of the Palin-McCain policy platform. Everything else is soft narrative — some mighty attractive soft narrative dressing for the base, like ‘experience’, ‘heartland values’, ‘mom’, ‘maverickness’ and ‘war hero’ — but soft narrative all the same. No health care talk. No mortgage crisis talk. No kitchen table economics talk. No paying for college talk. No global leadership talk. No national greatness talk. The absence of all that stuff starts to become apparent again once the shine of Palin’s star turn starts to wear off.
- The Obama bashing. Good red meat for the RNC crowd. People who never planned to vote for Obama love it. Could even be appealing to some swing voters who want an excuse to not vote for him. But how well does it play to many for this unknown, second banana selectee to burst on the scene and immediately start slamming a guy who worked his ass off in the national spotlight for more than a year to EARN his spot on the top of his ticket? We’ll see.
End of the day, Palin’s good news for the Repubs. She should not be underestimated going forward. Obama’s still going to win, quite handily.
Douche Baggins said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:25
Red meat speech. Already been covered elsewhere that it was written several days ago and had to be girlified to make it seem like it was her words. Palin is the ur-woman: Hockey mom for the northerners, soccer mom for the midwesterners, and taco mom for the Latino ladies.
D.A. is absolutely right, tho — she was good, and she’ll make McSame look like the cadaver that he is when he speaks tomorrow. And that’s not change we can believe in.
Stephen Ockham said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:27
Thanks DA for the summation. I watched Huckabee and lost my resolve to subject myself to more in one sitting, and then I never got back to it.
I was hoping for a flop, but thats life. A good intro is one thing, I doubt she has the stanima to keep it up once the shortcomings of her vetting are made clear to all.
I can’t wait to see what Biden does. I’m not sure how to best play that one to the public, but I would love to see Biden dismantle her.
Marsupial said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:33
I didn’t come off with the feeling that she was very good. I realized that all she had to do was avoid setting herself on fire to get good reviews (gotta love those low expectations), but she seemed awfully… nasty, I guess. Not nasty in a ‘nasty politics — play the game — go get ‘em!’ kind of way, but nasty in a ‘nyah-nyah-nyah — I’m cool and that guy has bugs in his hair!’ kind of way. If a candidate I was supporting came off that way, I would be embarrassed — for them and myself.
Andre said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:34
The best thing about this speech is that it removes the opportunity for her to play the “victim” card the McCain camp has been overplaying since the announcement. That will make her absolutely fair game for the hardest, toughest questioning Obama and Biden can throw at her.
No more suggesting that they’ll have to go soft on her “because she’s a woman”. She’s a right-wing conservative who’s flat out wrong in her politics and she can and will now be called on it.
Some Guy said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:36
Never underestimate soft narrative. Republicans learned long ago that voters want a product, not results. The Republican platform literally could be to sacrifice ever girl and boy under the age of 14, via wood chipper, to bring forth Ba’al and his innumerous hell demons to rape and pillage the land until all that remains of the once green Earth is the blackened and charred remains of what once was; if they sell it with the right, “Aw shucks, ma’am.” face, I guarantee they’d get at least 40% of the vote.
Much as we like to think and hope otherwise, people are stupid. Thinking is too hard; it’s much easier to just go with what the rest of your neighborhood herd is doing. And giving how the media loves to turn the whole thing into a middle school popularity contest, I wouldn’t bother day-dreaming about how far being right will get you.
Andre said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:38
Regardless of whether she was any good or not tonight, the perception in the MSM that she was completely removes the “victim” defence the McCain camp has been playing since the announcement. She’s no longer a poor little know-nothing from Alaska, she’s a far right winger who wants to force your daughters to have babies.
She came out as a politician with policy positions, and that makes her fair game in the eyes of the public. Obama and Biden can now go to town on her without people disapproving of their “roughness”.
Max Power said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:39
She doesn’t know it yet, nor do the republicans at the convention, but she walked the campaign into a propeller tonight.
You can’t lie like that. And you can’t pitch the red meat to the 27 percenters without coming off as hating the 73 percenters.
DivideAndConQueso said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:42
WTF is wrong with you tonight? You get a slick orator and you gotta give them kudos, even though they are trying to ratfuck you and your progeny’s futures?
“To her credit, she delivered her speech assuredly and dynamically.”
“The McCain tribute was nicely done. He’s a genuine hero. ”
Could you please stop patting people on the back who don’t give a shit about you or what you hold dear? Jesus.
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:44
oh COME ON. No vetting and a cloud of scandals, and she’s still good news for the Repubs?
Fuck me. If I wanted “this is great news for McCain” I could go to one of the blowdried TV outlets.
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:45
This is the kind of handwringing bullshit… oh, fuck it. God dammit.
Some Guy said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:45
“Could you please stop patting people on the back who don’t give a shit about you or what you hold dear? Jesus.”
All the more reason why it’s so goddamn important NOT to pretend that they don’t know what they’re doing.
seventwentyfour said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:46
Looks like I picked the wrong week to swear off quarter bags of Organic Bubbleberry.
Stephen Ockham said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:46
Yeah, if, as DA said she threw a bald face lie about the bridge to nowhere in her RNC speech, its over. With that in the bag, on top of everything else, just fuggedit.
I for one would love to hammer on the connections between her and Ted “series of tubes” Stevens. Bridge to nowhere and ‘not a truck’ are catchy phrases, and once properly connected with pork, graft, and lies in the public’s mind, they could have a lasting impact.
* the qualifier only because i didn’t see it myself, not to cast any doubt on DA’s telling of it.
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:48
Maybe after eight years of that drooling fucking chimp in the White House, all you have to do is form complete sentences to wow people?
handy said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:51
Three things:
I have no idea what Joe Sixpack thinks of this speech, so I’m not gonna even try to parse it in those terms…call me an effete coastal liberal (LBC born and raised bee-yatches!), but whatever.
Second, Palin did what she had to do. And that was, read the Teleprompter without looking like she read it. You had five days to memorize this speech, congratulations, you pulled it off.
Finally, this speech was just plain mean. I’m sorry, at points it was cheap and disingenuous. Yeah, I’m biased. My brother in law, a McPOW-bot, basically justified it as “turnabout is fair play after Denver last week.” Me, I dunno, yeah there were some attacks on McCain then, but that I was a mayor! Osama was a “cuh-mee-YOO-nity organizer” wink wink was tacky. And the “Part the waters and save the planet?!” WTF, lady. You believe in Jesus, right? Go to hell.
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:54
I cannot comprehend how any pre-written speech takes this creationist jerk from “clouded by scandals and not vetted all” to “good news for the Repubs”. Are you trying to take away my ponies?
krassen said,
September 4, 2008 at 8:58
OK, I cannot get a real good independent vibe of how mean she is perceived to be. Are we progs being too sensitive or was she really mean?
Coz it makes zero sense for her to be mean. There are no votes there, plus it’s not her. I’ve seen videos of her in AK, she wins with cuteness and perkiness.
I was saying this morning that she would do great. We saw how well Mike Huckabee did this year, with practically no funding and no support from the GOP powers. Sarah Palin is a “Huckabee with a killer bod”. And the whole GOP is behind her. However, meanness is not the shtick.
I think Obama/Biden would be wise to just ignore her for awhile to see how she plays with voter sentiment. I wouldn’t get in a pissing match with her right now.
Max Power said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:01
Concern troll… is concerned.
D. Aristophanes said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:04
WTF is wrong with you tonight?
Dude, it’s about winning this thing. Sun Tzu and all that shit. Face up to the reality of what this Palin performance means, really means, not what we want it to mean. Only then can can we defeat it.
‘When your mind underestimates a foe’s Ur-moose-lady, so lady’s mousse your faux mates’ rest undermines.’ — The Phoenix
handy said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:05
Seriously, did you hear her speech? It had the patent low-brow rowse the 29 %ers cheapshots, even the reference to the “Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot.”
These people are CHILDREN! And so are those they pander to.
"Oh Stewardess, I Speak 'Nut" said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:05
‘Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.’
Um, yeah. About al-Kayeedah. I seem to remember the sheriff of this here town promising to bring in the bin-Laden Hole in the Wall gang “dead or alive.” That was, gosh, like seven years ago. Anyone know what happened to those guys? (I heard a rumor they’ve been knocking over banks in Bali, Madrid, London, and all over the Middle East.)
I just don’t understand why Dems are too polite to mention the fact that Bush-Cheney failed to even try to catch the real criminals actually responsible for 9/11.
ahem said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:10
never seemed nasty, much less Nixonian.
Wrong. It seemed nasty because the crowd wanted nasty, and the crowd wanted nasty because Rudy was very very nasty (9/11).
That was an hour which, in isolated primetime, stuffed to limit analysis, that projected a vision of America that I hope encapsulates a base 30% and little more.
If not, there’s nothing to be done about it.
Larsmacomb said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:14
I agree with the commenters. Knock it the fuck off. Okay, she can read off a teleprompter. But she yet again, Nixonlike, demonstrated her marked (and profound) capacity to tell a series of bald-faced, shit-assed lies with about batting an eyelash.
My God, even Dahlia Lithwick at Slate is oozing praise for this viper’s “ability” to stand and read a rehearsed speech. Oh, the authenticity. Her story. Her capacity to connect! Her, her… authenticity.
Fuck it. This is, at best, amateur performance art. All it shows is that McCain, flying blind, managed to pluck a perky, shallow pit-viper from his list of Rove-approved candidates after 3 full months of opportunity for vetting. The dramatic arc of this pathetic convention managed to spur some interest simply because the bar was set SO comically low for her. She likes to talk. She likes being on TeeVee. This was up her ally. Unlike Dan Quayle or even GeorgeW, she didn’t slur her words or lose her place. Pin a rose on her.
So, let’s keep our mind in the game, shall we? The Obama Campaign has put out a thorough rebuttal. (Mark Kleiman has it up at his blog.) She lied repeatedly and she will eventually have to answer questions with regard to her assertions. Let’s not forget that she is lawyered up on charges that are not going to get prettier as the media wears out a path to Wasilla, Anchorage, and Juneau.
There are so damned many potholes in her road to the November election. Or, to switch metaphors midstream–and pay due homage to our betters–these rats are simply not going to fuck themselves.
g said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:18
They overplayed the ‘community organizer’ slam.
I totally agree on this. I imagine there are some Republicans going “Hey, wait a minute!!”
plus the Convention’s “theme” is supposedly “SERVICE” - is she kicking that to the curb?
g said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:19
Her voice is fucking annoying, though. Really.
handy said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:20
The people who were cheering her at that point are too dense to make such a nuanced connection.
D. Aristophanes said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:24
Maybe I’m not being clear here, maybe my take on Palin is totally off, but I’m not handwringing. McCain’s speech has yet to play out, but I’m guessing Palin comes off as the absolute rock star on their ticket.
If so, that’s a great opportunity. Focus on Palin, render McCain impotent. Hit her back hammer-and-tongs, but make it about her — go after what they CLEARLY see as their strength and double-down on them. Fucking SAY it’s their strength, that she’s the only thing holding that pathetic ticket up. That is a winning strategy.
g said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:28
That’s an interesting idea. Saying that all the Republican ticket has is a small-town mayor.
FlipYrWhig said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:29
The whole thing sounds like the Zell Miller speech from 2004. I knew better than to listen, because when I yell back at the TV it scares the cat.
Anne Laurie said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:31
It helped that the preceding speakers sucked in comparison, probably intentionally to make her look better as an orator. Rudy’s a fucking asshole to the bone, and that came through… Huckabee damned McCain with faint praise, then finished up with a bizarro Starship Troopers story about an Arkansas teacher who basically bullied her incoming students with the message that they wouldn’t be real citizens unless they went to war.
You underestimate the ability of Rudy 911 and Huckleberry Gantry to suck all on their own, with no need for additional instructions. But between the “real citizens
kill furrinerstake orders” pair-bell and the eldest Palin kid’s immanent departure for Eye-Rack, looks like the paleolithic Rethug Base is not going to give up rah-rahing Commander Codpiece’s Big Greezy Overseas Adventures no matter what the remaining 70+ percent of the voting public thinks. And with Big Dick off the reservation, waving his cheney at Vlad-the-Putin, that’s gonna sell like a sack of tofuburgers at the Kansas State Fair.Palin sounds — and looks — like the nasty little third-grader who makes the special ed kids cry by telling them there’s no Santa Claus. And when she gets called out for being mean, her thuggish Talibangelical parents try to get the teacher fired for “disrespecting Little Sarah’s deep religious convictions”. Her combination of sneaky passive-aggressive cruelty and whining self-pity is going to remind the sane people of such American comic archetypes as Dennis-the-Menace’s Margaret or SNL’s Emily Littella. Admittedly, there may not be enough sane Americans left to constitute a voting majority, but I don’t think Palin’s novelty value is going to last long enough to overcome another two months of watching the shambling, stinking corpse of Modern Rethuglicanism knock over the furniture and crap on the carpets.
witty1 said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:32
I’m afraid the 73% disapproval and 27% approval just isn’t valid anymore. Clearly, McSame wants to get as far away from Bush as possible. I think that’s why they haven’t mentioned any of the Bush failures.
People are thinking about this race as a whole new slate. I agree with Some Guy that it doesn’t really matter if you’re right. Oh, well. “Idiocracy” is well on its way.
g said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:32
Get Rovian on it. Hit her on her strength.
Executive experience? how badly did she fuck up Wasilla?
FlipYrWhig said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:32
Or, for that matter, your standard rant from Coulter/Malkin/Mike Adams/Doug Giles. Did she say that Democratic men were gay, Democratic women were ugly, Muslims smell funny and Michael Moore is fat?
Russell said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:33
I agree with DA. The media were drooling all over themselves after this speech, and that’s just how it is.
Fact is, she is somewhat charming, if you forget that they wrote that speech before she was even selected.
Also, she straight up lied about the “tax burden” thing too. Even factoring in the increases for the rich, it’s still a net tax decrease.
These fucking clowns.
g said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:36
and better - she’s so hot, she’s so good, that she makes McCain look like a drooling septugenarian beside her. she’s gonna plant some roofies in the old man’s oatmeal and embezzle the daily receipts.
justme said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:37
For
Read - Uppity Nigger.
That was full-on dog whistle bullshit.
Other than that, I think she quite credibly read the teleprompter. She showed that she’s not just a joke to be taken lightly. Good. That means she can no longer whine about being a victim..
I think she’ll fool all the rubes, which may have been the whole idea in the first place. I can’t imagine she’ll grab too many new votes, though, and that’s what their campaign really needs.
Once her little honeymoon is over, and people start to really wonder wtf it means to nominate somebody who is actually under indictment for criminal behavior, I still think she’ll wind up being more of a liability than a plus.
Has that ever happened before? Seriously. Can anybody tell me with some degree of certitude whether anyone has ever been nominated for a major Party Pres or VP spot while under indictment? It fairly screams “Fuck you. We don’t give a shit about the law, and we’re not even going to try to hide it.” in a truly disturbing way.
mapaghimagsik said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:43
Wow, those are indeed some low expectations there. At the same time, thanks for watching, cuz I sure couldn’t.
I do think the real target is McCain. Let Biden deal with Sarahcuda. The real message is that there’s no surprise that a scandal ridden presidential candidate picked a scandal ridden Vice Presidential candidate.
Michael Harrington said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:46
Her slamming of the press might not go over too well with them. Already Joe Klein has posted a piece that reads like something Eric Boehlert might have written. (On the other hand, the ever-pathetic Fineman has almost certainly renamed his favorite blowup doll “Sarah”.)
It’s pretty clear to me that for all the nods to “maverick” and “reformer”, they’re playing to their base and little of anyone else. I say get out of the way and let them walk right over that cliff.
ice weasel said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:47
Like it or not, she did what she is supposed to do. She’s a less whackable (in the mole sense) opponent because she’s a woman, a small-town, folksy, attack dog woman.
And yes, the standards are so low from the rethug point of view that making complete sentences and not fucking up more than 40% of your vocabulary make you a stellar speaker.
This is, as DA pointed out, mostly easily counterable as long as it is done with the style that Obama has established. And the lies need to be hammered. She doesn’t get a pass on the bridge to nowhere or the rest of her pork grabbing. You can’t have it both and this “small town gal” is working that angle hard. It’s one big opening.
To digress for just a moment, the lack of substance anywhere on the stage from anyone was staggering. Some of the speeches were just rethug talking point sort of cobbled together in some kind of alzheimersesque rant. Huckabee exemplified this and der rduy took another step further. This plays to the base because they’ve been subject to such strong Pavlonian conditioning. I do think the rest of the country is pretty fucking tired of this bullshit and may see through it. That said, there is a desire on the part of many to find one reason not to vote for the scary black man. Obama can beat this back and show it for the emptiness it is. We’ll see how he does it and how the media reports in the days coming up.
Obama will be here in my town tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be interested to see if his stump speech starts to address some of these issues.
D. Aristophanes said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:48
Tomorrow, Obama or Biden on the stump:
anthony said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:50
Get Rovian on it. Hit her on her strength.
Executive experience? how badly did she fuck up Wasilla?
That’s it G. the conservatives here in Oz took an election in 2004 over Labou’rs Mark Latham with [thumbs through Australian political arcana]…here we go:
If he can’t run a council etc.
cnaizheng said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:53
Maybe I’m not being clear here, maybe my take on Palin is totally off, but I’m not handwringing. McCain’s speech has yet to play out, but I’m guessing Palin comes off as the absolute rock star on their ticket.
If so, that’s a great opportunity. Focus on Palin, render McCain impotent. Hit her back hammer-and-tongs, but make it about her — go after what they CLEARLY see as their strength and double-down on them. Fucking SAY it’s their strength, that she’s the only thing holding that pathetic ticket up. That is a winning strategy????? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ??? ???? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???? ??? ???? ??? ?? ??? ??
JF Sebastian said,
September 4, 2008 at 9:54
It was maybe the most effective speech in the history of speeches that took place in St. Paul and began at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 and lasted until approximately 11:10 p.m. I’ve ever seen.
It had everything anyone who had never heard a campaign speech before and had no idea what to expect from a campaign speech might still expect:
information everyone was already familiar with about the candidate, more information everyone was familiar with about the candidate, an incredibly trivial fact or two about the candidate’s husband and/or family that everyone likely wasn’t familiar with, a number of common platitudes about the candidate’s running mate, people holding babies, a crowd primed to theatrically overdo their enthusiasm, familiar lines of attack against her opponent, no real policy statements foreign or domestic, other than vague and common promises, and a few “zingers,” generously sprinkled with half-truths and outright lies.
As Wolf Blitzer immediately noted “she hit it out of the ballpark!” And as some progressives worry (on HuffPo for instance), Palin’s single-handedly healed all the rifts in the GOP and reignited the culture wars. And it was truly a remarkable performance, as performances taking place on this exact day and time in the city of St. Paul go, in that the candidate didn’t cry “where’s my smellin’ salts” and flop to the floor in a heap, nor fart and burp into the microphone, nor speak in a guttural voice, rotate her head 360 degrees and spit pea soup on the crowds a la Linda Blair.
The woman is not to be underestimated, as she has proven she is fully capable of meeting most estimates of what most candidates typically do. It is absolutely clear that we need to worry about this for days and rethink out entire strategy.
ice weasel said,
September 4, 2008 at 10:15
One final thought on all this. I think the other thing that the dems have to do is get palin to out herself. She’s got more than a few whackaloon stances on issues and that needs to rammed home via questions to her. Give her the chance to contradict herself or tell the truth, either way she’s fucked because she’s not the mainstream of America by any means. Most “mom’s of five children” area secessionist fundies. That point needs to made over and over again. She’s failed her way to top in the one of the least populous and most corrupt states in the union. That’s not a record, those are closet skeletons.
Something else, and I think it came from Josh Marhsall, and it dovetails with the above. Whatever success is enjoying is mostly, and I mean almost completely, only playing to the base. It’s a losing strategy because the sheer numbers of it run against the rethugs. palin will mot likely help shore this base up but it doesn’t reach out and grab the middle. In fact, it plays away form this. This is Obama’s strength, love it or hate it.
This is a losing strategy because at best it’s going to buy them a 40% vote. If that’s their goal then as far as I am concerned, they can have it. I want the other 60%.
Gabriel Ratchet said,
September 4, 2008 at 10:18
Before you get too concerned about how this is playing, you might want to check out the comment section over at CNN ….
GumbyAnne said,
September 4, 2008 at 10:35
Wow, those CNN comments seem too good to be true. I wonder.
Larsmacomb said,
September 4, 2008 at 10:36
Aristophanes….
I salute you. Somehow… telepathically, electronically… send those lines to the Obama campaign. I mean it. Yes. Yes. That is rhetorical brilliance!
PUT HER AT THE TOP OF THE TICKET! Let her dwarf McCain. Moreover, turn her into a “what-if”. Make those who are now somewhat charmed and sympathetic to her (as well as all of the Christianists) wistfully reflect on how much dead-weight there is with ill-tempered, unstable, and, yes, aging septuagenarian at the top of the ticket.
Then: 1) Carefully and strategically draw attention to her lack of knowledge of anything economic, international, or–for that matter–complex, and 2) Let the media and the internet continue to work its magic in teasing out the details of her corruption and hypocrisy as a corrupt politician in the “Breakaway-Republic-of-Alaska.”
JK47 said,
September 4, 2008 at 10:37
This Republican convention has been a freak show, an utter embarrassment. McCain has just thrown away the independent vote. The wingnuts are about to see what happens when you let James Dobson take over your political party.
The Obama campaign is so much better organized and so much more disciplined than the McCain team it’s ridiculous. Community organizer, you bet your ass.
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain said,
September 4, 2008 at 10:48
Did anyone else catch the buried lede about Biden mentioning pursuing criminals, not for vengeance, but to enforce the rule of law?
It was the juiciest red meat I’ve tasted in years.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/04/biden-we-might-pursue-cri_n_123790.html
FUCK BUSH. IMPEACH THE CRIMINALS. IT IS TIME FOR BUSH TO LEARN THE MEANING OF STRESS POSITIONS.
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain said,
September 4, 2008 at 10:51
If I may clarify, I refer specifically to the stress of the seated position. On a bench at Den Haag, Der Nederlanden. Manacles, that would just be icing on the cake.
I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I would endorse “enhanced interrogation”.
Would it be sporting to allow Bush a few hours to consider whether to repeal his executive “orders” on torture before his interrogation begins?
“Let us know what you decide, Mr. Bush. Have you seen Tiny’s new pair of forceps?”
islmfaoscist said,
September 4, 2008 at 10:52
I would like to remind everyone that Sarah Palin has promised to cooperate fully with the investigation, and has said that she’s confident she and her husband will prevail completely against all the charges.
Not only that, but her underage daughter plans to get married as soon as possible, and will carry the child to term no matter what the risk to her health or any other consequences.
She also no longer supports the “Bridge to Nowhere” and has decided that that term no longer insults her, in fact she now uses it herself, so you can just ignore what the people of Ketchican insist are broken promises there, they’re just whiners who want government money.
And finally she plans to learn as much as she can about all that foreign policy and you know, economic stuff, or like, whatever, as soon as she can, and she’ll have you know she’s a fast learner.
Oh, and John McCain is a POW.
InsaneInTheCheneyBrain said,
September 4, 2008 at 10:56
I’m worried Bush’s governance debacle have robbed me of my ability to laugh about this stuff anymore. Maybe it’s me and I’m an asshole. But then, I’m Dick Cheney’s tiny blackened amygdala, so I’ll be frank.
This concern-trolly post had very little funny and was extremely long. What, are we liveblogging now? Make sure to tell me what beverage you are sipping as you watch.
I’ll put up with a lot of if it’s funny. This was like coming home and finding your dog dead on the porch.
Shorter me: TL;DR. LULZ: ZERO
Lexaburn said,
September 4, 2008 at 11:00
D., I agree with everything you’ve said. I’ve said here before that Palin is dangerous, especially with the swine media now making her the focus and not Bush fuck-ups or McCain’s…dumbassedness.
Well, hell, they’re both dumbasses now that I think about it…
Palin may be one too, but it ain’t showing that much…yet!
Marsupial said,
September 4, 2008 at 11:01
IF she was trying to connect with the average voter (kind-of informed, but not totally up on every single scandal and what every pundit has to say about everything), I think she whiffed more than she connected. We watched it with a (lefty, of course) friend of ours who thinks he knows a lot about politics, but he didn’t even understand half of the insults. Like the Styrofoam Greek columns — do you really think that 80% of the population understood what in the hell that meant? Seriously — a lot of that was Inside Baseball kind of stuff. We got it, because we’re into that kind of shit; I think a lot of others might not have.
Rugged in Montana said,
September 4, 2008 at 11:57
You DEMON-crats hate Palin because she wants Alaska to secede from the union…but that’s because you’re elitists. There’s nothing wrong with sedition as long as it’s being done by a Republican (silly LIE-brals). We, hear in The Heartland of The USA of America are completely at ease with our Russian-linked sister as being from the wilderness and abusing power in every way possible, she’s exactly like small town America, which we love! Your Biden will be helpless before her in the debates and will spend his time just like McCain did, looking repeatedly at her nether-regions (which small town America will NEVER vote for). So just surrender, DIM-O-crats, and beg President Cheney to shoot Iran in the face so you can go back to whining about your aragula espressos.
Bony Baloney said,
September 4, 2008 at 12:22
Sad. Being Independent means never having to curl up in the warmth and comfort of your own rectum and suck your thumb when things are turning up roses. I can’t stop smiling:
1. The London Times took a giant crap on Caribou Barbie last week when the thumb-sucking conspiraphobes were still wringing their hands over Who’s Hiding the Embryo. The National Enquirer has a big barrel of crap and a high-pressure hose, and orders of magnitude more trash to spew than that episode with John Edwards and his zipper. And this vicious, hateful harpy with a voice like quadrophonic feedback just disgraced herself and hit every last bullet point on the “caricature Republican xenocidal Jesus zombie” checklist while the statutory rapist of her child shared the stage with her and she read Zen koans off a TelePrompTer about how the Service that actually serves the public is not the true Service (and is actually ludicrous and absurd) — so twice the economic ignorance, twice the political ignorance, twice the foreign-policy bluster and twice the indifference to reality spells DOOM to Obama… how, exactly?
2. On one hand, Pakistan is real close to calling shenanigans on our little cross-border raids; today’s clusterfuck resulted in serious diplomatic embarrassment. Acts of war do tend to get the aggressor’s ambassador shouted at by the victimized country’s leadership; that’s to be expected. And Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have $300+ billion in paper that matures this month, and China holds $300+ billion in FM&FM, and they’ve already announced that WWIII can probably be avoided but a reorganization of international finance is overdue and, you know, can’t be avoided if they get screwed out of their worthless USD. Whatever is going on by the end of the month, Sarah Palin isn’t going to be able to Gidget her way out of it. Or Evil-Gidget her way out of it, for that matter. She’s W in a librarian outfit, and “more of the same” just peaked earlier tonight in a vulgar display that’s going to look awfully ill-considered by mid-morning.
Buck up, campers! What has to happen to convince you that the Pottery Barn Party not only isn’t going to win, but is busting their asses in a desperate attempt to lose?
atheist said,
September 4, 2008 at 12:30
I don’t understand the commenters who are giving D. a hard time for this post. Look folks, we’re from a certain segment of the public. Our segment is not the majority. The sooner we realize that, realize that in our bones, the better off we are. We can still win this, and win in the long term as well, but we have to understand the actual conditions that obtain here. D.’s mention of Sun Tzu is a good point, and it’s how I’ve been looking at this campaign.
You think Palin is fuckin’ crazy? Well, I think that Palin is fuckin’ crazy too. But there is not yet good evidence what the public in general thinks of Palin. We gotta know ourselves, know the 27%-ers, and know the rest of the public. The oppo research that’s been done already about Palin is good. Dirt on Palin is good. Dirt on McCain is better.
My point is that if we want to defeat the crazies, it’s better that we look at this coolly, and have a really wide-angle view, and lay plans, than to act all shocked that our whorish media and easily-led public could possibly like Palin’s nasty speech.
atheist said,
September 4, 2008 at 12:37
Probably nobody gives a shit, but I’ve been interested, when reading Sun Tzu lately, to note that he probably would have thought the whole neocon strategy was complete bullshit. Check these quotes:
No leader should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no leader should fight a battle simply out of pique. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life. Hence the enlightened leader is heedful, and the good leader full of caution.
In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it.
He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be dampened. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor dampened, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue… In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
Don’t attack out of anger, be cautious when starting a war, don’t destroy a country, and don’t have long wars. Yup, he would have though the neocon strategy was bullshit.
Hammurabi said,
September 4, 2008 at 12:39
Hammurabi, the White, Potent, who penetrated the secret cave of the bandits, saved the inhabitants of Malka from misfortune, and fixed their home fast in wealth; who established pure sacrificial gifts for Ea and Dam-gal-nun-na, who made his kingdom everlastingly great, thinks speech was Ud-kib-nun-na.
You know, where master orders slave to fish corpse out of canal, but slave loses balance and falls in and covers self with … ah, nevermind, joke explained never funny.
Speaking of unfunny joke, Hammurabi think dog and maid-servant joke has been around since Nan-GIŠ-lišma who reigned 1,200 years, and he was Barsal-nuna, son of Enme-nuna. Besides, everyone know difference between maid-servant managing brood with sticks and dog is not ochre pigment on face of maid-servant, but 14 shekels and a date with executioner.
Hammurabi was joking about sexual abominations. Laugh, damn you, for it was I who clothed the gravestones of Malkat with green; who made E-babbar great!
El Cid said,
September 4, 2008 at 12:48
(1) Palin is a new and dangerous force on the electorate, because she is the hard right populist Talibangelicals that those types have been waiting for. Whether or not it has the numbers to win for McCain, this is the closest thing the fundies have had to a straight line to the White House since they learned Bush Jr. wasn’t entirely handing the keys over. The Talibangelicals may find enough energy and people to make this election a lot weirder than it even has been.
(2) She has indeed appeared accomplish what McCain appeared unable to do — unite the hard right behind McCain with an enthusiasm that heretofore had not existed. As Rachel Maddow consistently points out on TV, it’s okay for the networks to obsess 24/7 over some angry ex-Hillary-now-McCain voter nutcase, but don’t ever, ever, ever cover the serious divisions within the Republican Party — which even Pat Buchanan notices once he applauds Palin for having brought the Party together.
(3) I am somewhat relieved, since the speech was over-reaching and just bitter enough to make it clear that at least the VP is not going to avoid publicly identifying with the far right. That’s something in the Democrats’ favor. Unfortunately, the major media have to keep playing the game that, somewhere, in John McCain’s awesome, vast, sainted soul, there is a Moderate Maverick who will make all their bi-partisan-but-we-really-mean-Republican fantasies come true.
(4) Operation “THE LAST 7.5 YEARS OF REPUBLICAN RULE IN WASHINGTON NEVER, EVER HAPPENED has completely unveiled itself in public, and even the NYT noticed how ridiculous it is for the Republicans to demand to be sent to Washington to clean up after all those, um, damned, um, Republicans… I think the Republicans opened a big ol’ can of vulnerabilities with this line of over-pushed nonsense.
(5) Democrats & liberals need to stop granting McCain the luxury of assuming that his choice of installing a far right evangelical nutbag already immersing herself in incompetence, personal power vendettas, and unaccountability into Dick Cheney’s “Fourth Branch” office is only for electoral purposes.
If John McCain wants to give that sort of unaccountable power to such a dangerous right wing nut, maybe it’s because John McCain wants such a person to exercise that unaccountable power in pursuit of the very agenda she has always pursued. That also happens to be a huge line of attack, because there are a whole lot of people opposed to putting a fundy nutbag who makes G.W. look moderate in the White House.
Anyone who at this stage wants to argue the VP position is just for funerals & ‘being there’ after 7.5 years of Dick Cheney, f*** you. And that includes you, John “S” (what happened to Sidney?) McCain.
(6) It’s up to Obama and the Democrats to recognize what strengths Palin has brought as well as the vulnerabilities, and make of them what they will. They have been perhaps assisted by a cheaper, meaner tone from Palin than might have served her best.
J— said,
September 4, 2008 at 13:09
Marshall Ganz, the UFW’s chief organizer way back when, has been teaching organizing in and out of the Kennedy School of Government for years. He designed and in some instances himself taught the Camp Obama organizing workshops that the Obama campaign has given around the country since last year. Ganz says that in recent years, the two most dynamic groups, in terms of seeking out and taking his courses and then going out and applying what they learn, have been environmentalists and evangelical Christians.
It was a mistake to attack community organizers that way. Hopefully the Democrats will capitalize.
Arky The Islahomobamaist said,
September 4, 2008 at 13:46
I didn’t watch the whole thing but I heard “Washington is too liberal!” and stuff that only a 27%er could love. So for the audience she was addressing, yep it was a good speech.
Get back to me in a week. When she’s done a few interviews. Or, which seems more likely, Camp McPOW declares every question about her experience “over the line,” and she stops speaking to anyone.
On Yahoo! right now: Top box Palin’s speech draws high praise from media. (Wait is that good? I thought the media was evile.)
Below:
Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention
Palin never ordered Alaska NG to do anything
Hmmm.
I’d place a large bet that Obama has The Art of War memorized, while your average ReThug wouldn’t touch it because it was written by some foreigner and Bush wouldn’t look at it because he can’t pronounce the name. I’ve been matching Obama’s actions against AoW for a while (yes I’m a geek) and it explains a lot:
Popcorn?
Susan of Texas said,
September 4, 2008 at 13:46
Palin/McCain’s Zombie Corpse/2012!
I can’t believe evangelicals want a woman’s inferior, illogical, pre-menopausal finger on the Red Phone or nuclear suitcase. Where are the quotes from evangelicals about how God says women can’t have authority over men?
Gary Ruppert said,
September 4, 2008 at 13:49
The fact is, Harry Reid will be sorry he called her shrill. That is sexist.
Incognito said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:04
I hope The Obama campaign is planning at least a week of negative ads. They’re writing themselves at this point.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:11
I like how the rethugs are running against D.C. as usual.
I know their base is ignorant, but even some of those must know that the rethugs have been running the show for almost 8 years?
OneMadClown said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:15
I don’t understand the commenters who are giving D. a hard time for this post.
Agreed, 100%. D. made some observations about her performance and how it plays to the Rethug base, etc. There was no handwringing — not to mention the fact that the post ends with “Obama’s still going to win, quite handily”. Yet if a post doesn’t come out the gate absolutely screaming “OBAMA RULZ!!!1 MCPOW PALIN TEH SUXXOR FOREVER!!!11!”, then said post is “concern-trolling” and “patting people on the back who don’t give a shit about you or what you hold dear”? Who’s doing the hadwringing here, D., or the fucking comment police?
Since seventwentyfour swore off quarter bags of Organic Bubbleberry, there’s some extra supply around. Have some, and chill the fuck out.
MzNicky said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:16
End of the day, sexism will out. It always does. No way the Bush backwash and knuckledraggers that compose the Rethug base are going to vote for a woman on the ticket. They just won’t. They’re all a-tingle from the l’il lady gettin’ all hot and bothered for the arena full of hatebags. Give it a week, ten days. Let things start seeping into their thick skulls a little bit. Bring on the debates.
Euphoria has a habit of disappearing quickly.
atheist said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:39
Aow FTW!
Yes, it is a bit strange for Republicans to be decrying the evil liberal media one day, then to be proud of the media love the next day. Whether the people notice this or not remains to be seen.
The Fucking Comment Police™³²®© said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:39
If this van’s rocking…
annejumps said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:42
MzNicky, I was wondering about that myself (I didn’t watch the speech, but I was wondering anyway) in regard to why a contingent that feels women should not lead men would be okay with having a woman vice president or president. I know everything’s fine with that crowd if you just rationalize it away, but it has to be giving some of them pause, especially the ones who feel women with children (which should be all of them) should not work, let alone take high executive offices in major countries.
atheist said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:43
There is this explanation, maybe..
atheist said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:44
Thing is, it seems that Evangelicals are good at ignoring contradictions too.
Arky The Islahomobamaist said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:52
The average TalEvangical voter (male and female) will have to be 110% convinced that she’d be surrounded by right-thinking men folks who’ll tell her what to do. This means McPOW has to start surrounding himself with the loonies STAT.
Of course they can’t be too loony or they’ll scare off the indies and the possible Democrats.
But if they’re not loony enough the fundies won’t be happy.
OK, I have to shut up. I’m getting a visual of a wrinkly old man butt stuck in a cleft stick.
The Fucking Comment Police™³²®© said,
September 4, 2008 at 14:59
This means McPOW has to start surrounding himself with the loonies STAT.
McCain’s foreign policy team is 100% neocon already, d00d.
Dirty Old Man / Malibou Barbie 08!
The Fucking Comment Police™³²®© said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:01
DOh!
Meant Caribou Barbie, of course.
Susan of Texas said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:01
Gary, your Mama called. She wants her DNA back.
MzNicky said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:01
I don’t know that the evangeloids are capable of thinking this thing out clearly. Really, I don’t, because believing in rigid hierarchy AND magic is who they are. They can’t be happy with McSame’s pick, but they’re certainly not going to vote for Obama. If there are enough of them — and I’m not really convinced there are — to pressure McLame to drop Palin, despite whatever convention-inspired support there may now be for her in some Rethug quarters, then they may support him. As it is now, today, I bet they’re just real confused. Palin’s baggage — and let’s face it, as far as Rethug base is concerned, her whole family mess, just for starters, is baggage — may sink her yet.
WereBear said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:02
I’ve been hoping for a while, and now Christmas is coming early.
Bush got away with it because he has a veneer of “good ol’ boy reformed by Jebus & a good woman” thing going, and hell, half the country knows someone like that, or wish they did.
But Palin is the real deal, the shrieking face of batshit, and that’s what the R’s are running on this year.
Let ‘em.
mat said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:05
Sarah Palin succeeded at charming the insane, religious fundie, right-wing conservative wackos like she is, but I think she also came across as creepy and unctuous al la Tracy Flick to anyone with a brain who believes evolution science is a fact, women should have the right to choose, and that religion has no place in secular government.
She was great political theater, no doubt about it, but her appeal was to people who were never going to vote for Obama anyhow, so the net effect was ZERO GAIN.
Obama should just ignore this insane woman and focus on beating McCain and McCain’s complete lack of any substantive ideas.
Remember how Clinton won? “It’s the economy, stupid.” Indeed.
Tagg said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:11
I think that McCain and his right-wing bosses did the Dems a huge favor last night. Read more. http://www.tagg-lines.com/2008/09/thnaks-senator-mccain-you-just-made-our.html
Susan of Texas said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:18
As I recall, Mrs. Dan Quayle, a slightly creepy woman with a Sixties hairstyle, had a birth induced so she could take the Bar Exam. For a party that’s All About the Fetus, they’re a little cavalier with the nippers.
Legalize said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:18
She delivered a competent speech in front of a room full of people who had already made up her mind that they loved her. It looked good on tv. She was also nasty and petty. She said fuck all of substance. She said nothing about her loony right wing views. Nothing.
Check that, her substantive points were largely lies: bridge to nowhere, raised taxes in Alaska, no earmarks. She reformed dick in Alaska, and the Obamas better nail her over and over and over and over. Every surrogate must mention the ethics investigation, Ted Stevens, Jack Abramoff, etc.
There is absolutely no need to talk about her daughter or her family - at all. The Obamas have PLENTY to hit her on, and none of it is going away.
Very easy tv spot: Palin, McCain, Bush, Abramoff -writes itself.
She came out swinging and described herself as a pitbull. To me that takes the gloves off of Biden in the debate. Does she think she has the market cornered on beating people up with a smile? Biden practically invented that tactic.
McMaverick will look like a skeleton tonight, and Palin will disappear to study up on the issues. Barack will be fine.
slip said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:25
The comeback as I imagine it:
“When I graduated from college I chose to do community work instead of chasing down a high paying corporate job. It is the kind of work George Herbert Walker Bush once described as, “a thousand points of light.” And that’s how I saw it and still see it today. Apparently, Republicans today sneer and laugh at that sort of community work, sneer at helping people who are devastated by the loss of jobs and the instability of their neighborhoods…”
It is easily turned back on them.
Trends blog » Blog Archive » governor of hawaii said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:40
[...] Palin Was Very GoodThe governor of Hawaii is a droner and an appallingly bad public speaker. Huckabee damned McCain with faint praise, then finished up with a bizarro Starship Troopers story about an Arkansas teacher who basically bullied her incoming … [...]
Catbus said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:41
The joke about the hockey mom and the pit bull: was Palin actually comparing herself to a breed of dog notorious for killing small children and babies?? As i noted in another blogsite nobody seems to have picked up on that in the news coverage; probably just as well, since it’d be perpetuating a stereotype about said dog, after all.
Jennifer said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:47
Well, there was a bit more going on there than has been mentioned (haven’t read every comment in the thread, so excuse me if someone made this point) - what they are trying to do is draw Obama into a pissing match with their VP candidate. Apparently they still don’t realize that he is not a stupid man and will not be drawn into that. But that was part of what was going on - it was a typically thoroughly juvenile GOP ratfuck technique - “hey, let’s send out this woman who was mayor of some po-dunk shithole to insult their nominee!!” Like I said, it’s not going to work to draw Obama into fussing with her - he’s going to stay focused on McLame and his lack of ideas. And for that matter, Biden shouldn’t get drawn in, either - he needs to hold his fire until the debate. In the meantime, surrogates (Hillary, are you listening?) need to go after this low-rent bitch and take her apart hammer and tongs. She’s given them plenty of ammo. And Biden shouldn’t show any restraint once the debate rolls around. This “stop picking on this wonderful mother” tactic they’ve been playing for the past 4 days - they killed their chances to continue that with having her give such a nasty speech.
Aside from that, her speech wasn’t meant to appeal to anyone but the 29 percenters. She didn’t offer up any reasons, policy or otherwise, why anyone but the hard-core nuts should support her and McCain. They will probably succeed in getting some of that base out to vote that wouldn’t have voted otherwise, but this year, that ain’t gonna be enough. Remember 2004 (when I don’t believe they won, either - I think Ohio was stolen) - Bush didn’t even break 50% with the fundie base massively energized. Even if they get every one of those fundies again this year, with this convention and this disastrous VP pick, they are going to lose as many or more of the swing voters that got it close enough for Bush to steal in 2004.
If you want to know why this convention is such a yawn, it’s because we’ve already seen this show before so many times. In 92…in 96…in 2000…in 2004…every GOP convention since 88 has been all about trying to focus the hatred of the base on the “enemy within”. Everyone but the hateful base has had enough of that shit, since they’ve learned the baggage it carries with it.
One last thought - seriously, I can’t believe they had the balls to claim that Obama would increase deficits. After the way these jackoffs have doubled the national debt in 8 years? Who the fuck do they think they’re kidding? The 29 percenters, sure - but those are the people you can fool all of the time.
Sporkey said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:49
It is easily turned back on them.
“…treat with contempt those who were compelled to volunteer to help the victims of our national tragedies: September 11th, Hurricane Katrina, the flood victims in Iowa….”
Jesus…the ad does write itself, doesn’t it?
The Truth said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:50
Ah, my poor, lovely liberals.
I’ve no snark for you today. When Palin’s family joined her on stage: the teenage girl that the liberal hate websites have been tearing into, the young man heading off to Iraq, the special needs baby that liberals want the right to destroy - well, at that point liberals, you either get it or you don’t.
You don’t. But I’m very content right now.
Ah what the hell, a little bit of snark: Watching the pundits after the speech, I can’t decide what was more hilarious, a gobsmacked Olberman struggling to find a way to attack Palin or a furious Roland Martin ranting about community organizers.
Ripley said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:53
I think they’re scared to death. The majority of what I heard last night (Whitman thru Palin) was “bad, bad Obama!” and “bad, bad liberals!” more than “Yay! McCain”. Not that I was keeping a careful score of it.
As a couple people said, “this will play to the convention center but won’t matter to the public.” No specifics on policies or plans, just badmouthing Democrats and feel good cheerleading and flag waving. And, I think the majority of likely voters are going to realize that McCain/Palin is an empty suit ticket.
If it were me, I’d super glue McCain to Bush and pound the “he thinks he deserves the Presidency - say what?” message. Then, paint Palin as a conniving, power hungry, corrupt Boss Hogg type politician who will do or say anything for personal gain.
I haven’t given up my optimism about Obama/Biden.
Blue Buddha said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:53
Another reason why the convention is such a yawn: Ron Paul is having a shadow convention and managed to draw several delegates and guests from the RNC. Of course the media is completely ignoring this because they’re still pushing the “Dems are divided between Hillary and Obama” and the “GOP is strongly united” memes.
Sarah Palin said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:56
You just wait until the debates. I’ll be wearing a short skirt. I’ll be holding an apple pie with my left hand and an AK-47 with my right. What’chu got, Joe Biden? You faggy Dem fag.
GSD said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:57
Sen. Obama campaigned all across America and earned 18 million votes.
Gov. Palin gave a well delivered speech.
-GSD
What He Said | The Church, What's Left? said,
September 4, 2008 at 15:58
[...] 4th, 2008 | Uncategorized | ER is skittish. Others are just as [...]
tigrismus said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:12
I thought she sucked, but I couldn’t stomach the whole thing and had to turn it off. I did hear the community organizer bit; I think anytime some bozo brings that up, we should remind them Obama was in the Illinois state senate for longer than Palin was mayor. He held state office for longer than she has, and national office as long as she has held state office. Plus, how does PTA membership provide vital local political experience but community organization doesn’t? How is one laudable and one laughable? Or are they just full of shit? Wait, don’t tell me, I think I can get this one…
Dr. BDH said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:14
The media need the campaign to be a horserace, as Bob Somerby has delineated. Therefore, the media reports will be that “Palin did a great job,” “Ron Paul who?” and after tonight, “McCain is a Hero,” hoping to bring the polling numbers closer to 50:50. But yesterday in the mail came the hardcopy version of the “McCain and Pain are anti-choice” ad and my wife, the former Republican, said, “I’m showing this to every woman I know.”
Women’s reporoductive rights.The war in Iraq.The economy. Civil liberties.
Democrats can own the majority of voters on every one of this critical issues. Get out there and talk to your neighbors! Be the counter to the media that the country needs.
And those CNN comments are fantastic, a window into the heart of America.
Math Department said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:19
Do you think Caribou Barbie did this? She might be as skilled with a tat gun as she is with her Endangered Species Slaughtering Rifles.
http://www.usmagazine.com/news/levi-johnston-debuts-bristol-tattoo-on-ring-finger
Me said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:21
People need to calm down. As I write this, it’s a little after 7AM local time the morning after her speech. This was her shining moment. It doesn’t get any better for her. That was prom night, folks.
Math Department said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:21
> You don’t. But I’m very content right now.
Did you fill your Kleenex before, or after, her 207th hate-filled lie about Democrats?
The Juul Haalmeyer Dancers said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:30
Almost blue
Almost votin’ like we used to do
http://www.electoral-vote.com/
actor212 said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:37
If Palin is as aggressive and protective as a pit bull, how come her daughter is knocked up?
eidos said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:41
I still think she will prove to be a miscalculation on McCain’s part.
Thus far she has delivered the two things she was picked to do: appeal to the fundie base and be an attractive campaigner. Those were thought to be the two biggest deficits of McCain’s candidacy.
Picking a gun-toting Christianist for the VP slot to shore up base support is a very typical GOP maneuver. That is, pander to the base in a meaningless way. Nobody (except the panderees) believes that McCain will actually let Palin direct policy once in office a la Cheney or Gore. She’ll be given fluffy assignments. At best she’ll be the figurehead of an energy commission.
Her second purpose is to be an appealing campaign face so that voters won’t have to deal with McCain’s dreadful presentation. McCain had seen film of her in action and I think this was the main reason he picked her. This is her main strength. She is a performer like Bush. The plan is to show an awful lot of her and less of Grandpa. Like Bush she will only appear at strictly controlled, scripted events. McCain hates that environment and sucks in it so its her job to be the front woman.
But that’s where the plan goes wrong. As much as she appeals to the GOP base she alienates those to the left of her. As her truly wacky religious and political views become known and her reformer mystique is debunked this will only increase. That may seem obvious but its important because McCain ca. 2000 could have appealed to a lot of centrist or even liberal voters like no other GOP candidate could. With Palin on the ticket he will not have that appeal and loses that potential advantage.
Second, despite their efforts last night, she simply invalidates the whole experience argument used against Obama.
Third, she seems to be a scandal machine. It could get bad enough that McCain has to hide her from the public thus removing her utility as eye candy. If it gets bad enough that he has to pull her from the ticket then McCain is toast no matter what he does. Will he be able to ride out the little storm of mini-scandals? Maybe, maybe not. The latest I heard is that the Enquirer is on her case. Usually, when that rag has your number you are in deep shit.
Ed Marshall said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:41
When they nominated her I sat and thought about it for days. She’s not some poison pawn manuever. She’s a fuck-up. They didn’t think about what they were doing. She doesn’t know that this isn’t Wassilla. She’s going to end public life before the end of this campaign.
Me said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:45
She’s going to end public life before the end of this campaign.
Ed, see my comment above regarding prom night. What all the handwringers don’t seem to realize is that it’s all downhill from here. This ain’t like Obama’s big convention speech–he does that every day, just not always in front of eighty thousand people.
At some point she’ll have to have a press conference. And then there is the debate with Joe Biden. She’s in over her head.
AG said,
September 4, 2008 at 16:48
I suspect that as well. She can be dismantled — easily (and wouldn’t watching Hillary do that be amusing?) — as needed, but McCain is the one Obama is running against. This VP pick smells of distraction and misdirection while McCain attempts to circle the wagons.
Even certain Atlantic hack-y pundits are, in a rare moment of candor, saying that she’s not the real problem here. I disagree with the tactic of ignoring her when she’s outright lying, but calling her on it should always include a circle-back to McCain’s decision-making ability.
g said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:14
It’s the same old same old. The ugly, divisive politics aof 2004. they didn’t wear purple heart bandaids, but the tone was exactly the same - ugly and divisive. It’s sad that that’s all they have.
g said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:16
And the community organizer thing? they should just say it’s sad she’s so unfamiliar with needy communities she doesn’t value people who help those in need.
The Truth said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:21
No, G, on the community organizer “thing”, they should CNN’s Roland Martin to rant that his parents were community organizers and “how dare Palin attack them.” Nothing will smooth over Palin’s zinger like an angry black man frothing about his entitlements. Hilarious!
handy said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:25
Hey if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
MicroZealous said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:28
I see the Palin gambit as primarily a GOTV effort. They need to rouse their base to keep this election from being a lop-sided loss for them, and to rescue some marginal congressional rethug candidates. She didn’t change any decided minds; her mission is to inject some adrenaline into the depressed and corrupt hearts of their dead-enders, and get some cash for sex.
Blue Buddha said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:29
Miscalculation? Hell, I don’t think he did *any* calculation. It would be like if someone asked him to do the determinate of a 6×6 matrix with three variables, and he immediately went up to the chalkboard, scribbled out “17″, and said “I’m done.”
SamFromUtah said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:30
It is the kind of work George Herbert Walker Bush once described as, “a thousand points of light.”
Heh, didn’t Nooners herself coin that phrase? The same woman who yesterday said the Palin pick was bullshit? And then made to grovel and apologize? (or so I have read).
There’s that other angle - Palin isn’t a Villager, so the knives may be out for her in the punditsphere. I’m not holding my breath for that, but it could happen.
James K. Polk, Esq. said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:31
i agree with the prom night comments. This woman can’t unite the fundies with the fiscal conservatives.
Alaska is the home of socialism in the US. They get big fat government checks every year like clockwork.
The state Palin was the governor of is the pork gobbler champ of the US. Just take that picture of her holding the “Nowhere, Alaska” shirt while running for governor and juxtapose it with her own line about “thanks, but no thanks”. And then hit her with the fact that even though the bridge was cancelled, not only did she keep the money, but still built the road that leads to the proposed bridge.
She is a wasteful spender of government money. There is nothing on her resume that even closely resembles fiscal conservatism.
Blue Buddha said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:36
Yeah, the whole reason for picking her was to GOTV of the base. If they didn’t pick her, it would’ve been Jindal or Huckabee, as the other candidates were more “moderate” (ie: they’re not foaming at the mouth dead-end Christian fundies).
But unfortunately for the GOP, the “base” has shrunk as older members have died off, some people woke up and smelled the bullshit, and the younger generation of Evangelicals are starting to shift their focus to that “other” part of Jesus’s message (y’know, help the poor, sick, etc.).
Arky - Chuthuhlusexual said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:36
Neo, theo and so-cons aren’t always the same critter. And at the end of the day the TalEvan is happy to see brown heathens bombed (provided they can watch from a safe distance), but they’re more concerned with [other people's] social issues. Where’s the guy’s who’ll push prayer in school? Let’s hear some more about banning evolution or at least relegating it to “alternate theory,” status. Who will make sure CA, MA and those other states that pose a threat to marriage (NJ, VT NH?) get punished? And for God’s sake get some fire-breathing maniac to protect the children!
If McPOW had told the TalEvan to get stuffed I’d be worried because they would have fallen in line. Instead he decided to appease them (and screw the Evangelicals who are worried we’re trashing God’s creation), and expects the people who aren’t so ferverent to follow along.
eidos said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:46
It’s the same old same old. The ugly, divisive politics aof 2004. they didn’t wear purple heart bandaids, but the tone was exactly the same - ugly and divisive. It’s sad that that’s all they have.
I absolutely agree, “g”. And Rudi’s warmup speech and the crowd reaction to it was downright disturbing. But the old “divide and steal votes” strategy won’t this time. Their candidate is a bit too weak and the Dem candidate is a bit too strong for the election to be close enough to steal with electoral shenanigans.
DivideAndConQueso said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:54
Glenn makes my point more clearly than I can:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/04/gop/
What He Said (UPDATE) | The Church, What's Left? said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:55
[...] 4th, 2008 | Uncategorized | ER is skittish. Others are just as [...]
Trilateral Chairman said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:57
And then hit her with the fact that even though the bridge was cancelled, not only did she keep the money, but still built the road that leads to the proposed bridge.
Really? I hadn’t seen that. Sets up the Dems for a great line–something like “She built the road to the Bridge to Nowhere–and she did it after she cancelled the bridge.”
Not quite right–need tea–but you get the idea.
actor212 said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:57
And the community organizer thing? they should just say it’s sad she’s so unfamiliar with needy communities she doesn’t value people who help those in need.
All he needs to say is “I stepped in when government was unwilling to, and that’s the American way, to roll up your sleeves and do something.”
Period.
actor212 said,
September 4, 2008 at 17:59
eidos,
I said essentially the same thing at my blog today.
I believe the Republicans think they can roll out the 1988 Lee Atwater game plan all over again, right up to Ayres/Horton comparison ads.
They will fail, epically.
Nix said,
September 4, 2008 at 18:05
By bump you mean dip then yes people are not happy with what she said long time McCain supports have been calling in C-SPAN and NPR all morning here in DC
OoOoOo Cans suck it was just a matter of time that the middle Cans heard the hollow ring of empty rhetoric. Hollow Cans get it? LOL
Blue Buddha said,
September 4, 2008 at 18:05
If Greenwald is right, then Obama has definitely won already. If the GOP’s tactic of degrading everything to person assaults while detracting from the issues, Obama did the opposite in his speech last week by praising McCain as a person, but bashing him on the issues. Dems in the past have either tried to play game (ie: sling mud back at them) or spent far too much time trying to defend their personal life, and both those strategies have obviously failed.
Math Department said,
September 4, 2008 at 18:06
> And the community organizer thing? they should just say it’s sad she’s so unfamiliar with needy communities she doesn’t value people who help those in need.
A great ad would be to have a montage of MLK, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, & Mandela juxtaposed with audio of Moosejaw dropping hate bombs on community organizers.
Arky - Chuthuhlusexual said,
September 4, 2008 at 18:09
Even better, pictures of volunteers cleaning up after Katrina cut with McBush grinning over a birthday cake.
Sarah Palin said,
September 4, 2008 at 18:10
The fact is, Obama is a nigra, and we here in the Alaskan Heartland love our country and don’t love no shuck-jivin’ nigra. Dems are fags. My family is awesome. Vote for me, or fuck you, you fucking liberal piece of shit loser. Aren’t I charming? Fart.
Lexaburn said,
September 4, 2008 at 18:11
DA TROOF, despite being a major douche, is correct in the latter half of his statement: Olberman was working very hard to find something to attack Palin on, but it all would’ve been anticipated, however cogent. It would, therefore, be rendered moot at the point he attempted to inject his point of view. Don’t worry, though - Kieth’s got time to dismantle her speech.
Martin’s excellent point is lost on the many idiots (like DA TROOF) scoffing at actually organizing communities without government intervention. These are the same idiots that speak of “smaller government” and whatnot. Community organizers, despite the hype surrounding them, are the essence of living without relying on overt reliance on the government. That fact is now entered into the debate, and I’m sure we’re all looking forward to that, right?
The dummies also belittle Obama’s becoming a public servant for his COMMUNITY, but we’ll get to all that, too. Why’d J. Sidney become a public servant again? Oh, for ambition’s sake, which he admitted himself. Have fun trying to hide those comments from McCain’s mouth, TROOF.
Martin had a point within his so-called “rant, but it may be perceived that he’s just reacting to Palin’s good use of sarcasm. We’ve