Posted on 09/05/2008 12:43:42 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
Two masterstrokes were accomplished in the last two days of this year’s Republican National Convention. In her first appearance on the national stage — which can only be called a tectonic event — Sarah Palin secured the conservative base for maverick John McCain, while also reaching out to Democratic women. Then on Thursday night, John McCain struck again, making a play for the rest of the Democratic party.
When John McCain was sewing up the nomination in the early spring, I spent a lot of time in many comment sections defending him in as many ways as I knew how. He wasn’t my first choice (Fred) or my second (Rudy), but he was the GOP nominee, fairly elected, and looking at the table I thought he was the only man who had a chance to win in November — because frankly, we Republicans don’t deserve to be this lucky. Many conservatives were arguing that it would be better to sit this one out, and let the country go to hell, so that we could send the Republican party a message and re-emerge from the ashes in 2012 with “the next Reagan.” I pointed out that there were two problems with this theory:
First, you may not like the fact that Grandma smokes in bed, and you may indeed want to get her attention. But if that message consists of letting her set the bed, the house and the grandchildren on fire, perhaps there was a better way to “send a message.” Second, it pained me to point out that there was no “next Reagan.” Ronald Reagan was on the political scene for almost two decades before he became President. Who was waiting in the wings to magically fill this role? No one.
(Excerpt) Read more at article.nationalreview.com ...
This is an excellent read. Thanks.
McCain has run a smart campaign. Perhaps having him take the office is what will allow us to have Palin heading the ticket in 2012?
Great read. We can’t lose.
Bingo. I firmly believe God has a hand in all of this.
Bill Whittle fan bump!
It's a little over the top in some places -- Palin is great, but she does not have perfect conservative credentials. let us not allow ourselves to build so lofty of an image of her that it must come tumbling down upon us. But she is the best hope for conservatism at the national level I have seen in a long, long time.
McCain... well... I truly believe he wants to do what's right, and that does mean a lot. But I still don't trust him further than I can throw him; I have doubts about his judgment and he is too loathe to back down from a losing fight.
But that said, this is a marvelous portrait of why even with those flaws, McCain is infinitely better than Obama.
Bill Whittle is a profound thinker.
I’ve been reading his essays on Eject,eject, eject for a long time.
Well worth every second I spent there.
That is the best article I have read these past 3 weeks, and I have read a lot of good articles. Who is this guy? I never heard of him before, but he shows the most penetrating insight into the dynamics of this election that I have read. Amazing.
Stripes,
Scroll down and to the right on www.ejectejecteject.com, where Bill has all of his previous essays posted. “Trinity” is one of my favorites. Bill is a tremendously gifted writer; one might say he can make one’s leg tingle.
He put them all together into a book a while back, i believe you can order it through his website....
Happy Reading!
Me too.
He has every reason not to help us because this country gets more immoral, more anti-God daily - but He is. Hard to believe a Sarah could hit the scene like this, be so successful and hit the hearts of so many without God’s hand.
And, should we even lose, I still thank Him for this week and all of us seeing a Sarah from Alaska.
“I still thank Him for this week and all of us seeing a Sarah from Alaska.”
I so agree. It has motivated in ways that are unimaginable.
I honestly think we can turn this country around and I honestly think that I can be intstrumental in that now, like I never have before.
This has been one of the most emotional weeks of my life and I have rediscovered true American Patriotism. Not that I lost it but I have come to hold so much more dear and John McCain has helped with that.
Thank you. I'm a Palin fan, like most around here, but let's be realistic. Just in the past day or so I learned that she fought against school vouchers, and she's been way too enthusiastic with her talk about fighting "big oil." But we can work on that! :-)
Awesome - wish I could write like this. Perfect use of electronic media.
Another Bill Whittle home run.
He rarely delivers less!
Ping
Careful. We still might lose. This is still likely to be a very close race.
What I took from this article is this: Subtract the Sarah Palin pick & every move McCain made would ring hollow. He'd get no traction with the base & therefore would gain little with the undecideds. That group is seeing the excitement here amoung Republicans & they may want to join the party -- pardon the pun.
I agree with you totally. His essay on “Tribes” is a simply wonderful read.
Semper Fi,
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