Posted on 08/30/2008 7:52:51 AM PDT by lowbuck
A spectre is haunting the liberal elites of New York and Washington--the spectre of a young, attractive, unapologetic conservatism, rising out of the American countryside, free of the taint (fair or unfair) of the Bush administration and the recent Republican Congress, able to invigorate a McCain administration and to govern beyond it.
That spectre has a name--Sarah Palin, the 44-year-old governor of Alaska chosen by John McCain on Friday to be his running mate. There she is: a working woman who's a proud wife and mother; a traditionalist in important matters who's broken through all kinds of barriers; a reformer who's a Republican; a challenger of a corrupt good-old-boy establishment who's a conservative; a successful woman whose life is unapologetically grounded in religious belief; a lady who's a leader.
So what we will see in the next days and weeks--what we have already seen in the hours after her nomination--is an effort by all the powers of the old liberalism, both in the Democratic party and the mainstream media, to exorcise this spectre. They will ridicule her and patronize her. They will distort her words and caricature her biography. They will appeal, sometimes explicitly, to anti-small town and anti-religious prejudice. All of this will be in the cause of trying to prevent the American people from arriving at their own judgment of Sarah Palin.
That's why Palin's spectacular performance in her introduction in Dayton was so important. Her remarks were cogent and compelling. Her presentation of herself was shrewd and savvy. I heard from many who watched Palin--many of them not predisposed to support her--about how moved they were by her remarks, her composure, and her story. She will have a chance to shine again Wednesday night at the Republican convention.
But before and after that, she'll be swimming in political waters infested with sharks. Her nickname when she was the starting point guard on an Alaska high school championship basketball team was "Sarah Barracuda." I suspect she'll take care of herself better than many expect.
But the McCain campaign can help. The choice of Palin was McCain's own. Many of his staff expected, and favored, other more conventional candidates. The campaign may be tempted to overreact when one rash sentence or foolish comment by Palin from 10 or 15 years ago is dragged up by Democratic opposition research and magnified by a credulous and complicit media.
The McCain campaign will have to keep its cool. It will have to provide facts and context, and to hit back where appropriate. But it cannot become obsessed with playing defense. It should allow Palin to deal with the charges directly and resist the temptation to try to shield her from the media. Palin is potentially a huge asset to McCain. He took the gamble--wisely, we think--of putting her on the ticket. McCain's choice of Palin was McCain being McCain. Now his campaign will have to let Palin be Palin.
There will be rocky moments. But they will fade if the McCain campaign lets Palin's journey take its natural course over the next two months. Millions of Americans--mostly but not only women, mostly but not only Republicans and conservatives--seemed to get a sense of energy and enjoyment and pride, not just from her nomination, but especially from her smashing opening performance. Palin will be a compelling and mold-breaking example for lots of Americans who are told every day that to be even a bit conservative or Christian or old-fashioned is bad form. In this respect, Palin can become an inspirational figure and powerful symbol. The left senses this, which is why they want to discredit her quickly.
A key moment for Palin will be the vice presidential debate, to be held at Washington University in St. Louis on October 2. One liberal commentator--a former U.S. ambassador and not normally an unabashed vulgarian--licked his chops Friday afternoon: "To steal an old adage of former Secretary of State James Baker . . . putting Sarah Palin into a debate with Joe Biden is going to be like throwing Howdy Doody into a knife fight!"
Charming. And if Palin holds her own against Biden, as she is fully capable of doing? McCain will then have succeeded in combining with his own huge advantage in experience and judgment, a politician of great promise in his vice presidential slot who will make Joe Biden look like a tiresome relic. McCain's willingness to take a chance on Palin could turn what looked, after Obama's impressive speech Thursday night in Denver, like a long two months for Republicans and conservatives, into a campaign of excitement and--dare we say it?--hope, which will culminate on November 4 in victory.
Got to get more pop corn!
McCain shoiud let her run energy policy on the campaign trail. McCain can handle the foreign affairs, terrorism and military.
How cool is it to have a woman VP candidate who knows what a M-16 is ??
As I posted on a previous thread, they’re afraid because she’s REAGAN in a skirt!
Don’t look now, Obama Bin Biden, but the debates are going send you into hiding.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2070858/posts
U.S. Representative, Heather Wilson, On The Selection Of Gov. Sarah Palin
Heather: “You know, Governor Palin has more executive experience than Senator Obama, Senator Biden, and Senator Schumer combined because those guys have never run anything. So I find that quite amusing.”
“I was very disappointed with Senator Obama’s choice of a running-mate. He chose somebody else who’s a Washington insider from the East Coast who knows nothing about the west and Senator McCain surely does. I’m also very pleased that he’s chosen as his vice president, the chief executive of the oil producing state in America, strong energy credentials and the energy issue is very important to Americans.”
Bravo Zulu Heather! Sarah Palin has more executive experience than Snowbami, Biden, Pelosi, Reid, Boxer and most of the rats in congress combined.
Is it working? Check these poll results:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2071208/posts
McCain shaves Obama Biden 4 Points on Palin Pick: Rasmussen
Real Clear Politics ^ | 08/30/08 | Brett Winterble
Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2008 7:48:23 AM by RadioCirca1970
Looking at the latest numbers at Real Clear Politics here:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/latestpolls/index.html
You can see that McCain shaved 4 points off Obama’s bounce.
In regards to the title of this piece, my thoughts exactly. "Methinks thou doth protest too loudly".
I think Palin is a very interesting pick that will do McCain more good than harm. The questions is: is it enough? Reading Kristol’s commentary is reassuring. The problem is that Kristol is one of these very smart guys who is often wrong. Remember, this is the guy who was Dan Qualye’s Chief of Staff.
I was thinking she’s the female Teddy Roosevelt.
McCain gave us Conservatives a gift...a new face of conservatism for the future...let’s not forget that.
The debate will be hilarious...
Biden will of course be arrogant and smarmy, but he won’t be able to attack Palin, that just wouldn’t look good, he’ll be going after McCain.
Next to Biden, the contrast will reveal Palin to be the ultimate Washington Outsider.
She will connect with women by the millions who have had to live and/or work with arrogant jerks like Biden.
There is no way she can lose this debate!
I really do think the dems are besides themselves, or they should be; Palin is tough as nails and will stun everybody in the debates.
NO joke she has the future possibility of doing for the repub party what Reagen did. I now have alot more respect for John McCain as I see he is looking towards the future.
Can you just imagine Billy Boy about now? He must be thinking that dumb, stupid Obama; he could have taken my old wench and had it all.
YESSS!!! I am always reminded of George Will and his response to a female panel member that the conservative problem with Hillary Clinton stemmed from the fact she was a woman. “My dear,” he said, “Every American Conservative worships at the feet of Margaret Thatcher.”
Except Biden will get crucified if he actually pulls his knife!
In MANY ways, Governor Palin's rise to prominence does remind me of Thatcher's rise to prominence in 1975, when people thought Thatcher had no experience to eventually become Prime Minister. And she proved them ALL wrong by becoming the greatest British Prime Minister in the 20th Century since one of the truly GREAT men in history, Winston Churchill.
Yeah, but Biden is the one who reminds me of Howdy Doody!!!
I was going to sit out the election, but with his elevation of Palin to party prominence and leadership I'm willing to support McCain.
Kristol can be tedious, especially at Obama’s acceptance speech, where he went on quite a bit at how “centrist” and wonderful it was.
However, he is often spot on, as he is here. I hope the McCain campaign pays attention.
After yesterday I decided to vote Republican for the first time since 84. I've been looking for real conservatives each election.
McCain wiped out several major issues with one nomination and put OB in check. Let them rail about her lack of experience with OB as their guy. Let Biden try to take the upper hand on foreign affairs with his voting record. McCain's strategy is impressive and in the long run will benefit the country. IMO.
This is exciting and has such great potential for the future. Imagine a conservative VP, young, plain spoken and outspoken, with 4 or 8 years in the adminsitration. This could be the beginning of an era.
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