Thursday, September 04, 2008

First impressions on Palin's speech

I think my prediction was pretty well right on. Palin lied her face off, as all the speakers did. She gave a good speech, meaning she delivered her lines well but she still came across like a PTA president pitching for a new playground, not the next in line for POTUS. Not even close to Obama's speech(es). I think maybe she looked better than she really was in contrast to the 'phone it in' quality of the previous speakers. Rudy was the only one with any fire and they were all awful in terms of content.

The whole sorry evening was one big hate on lib'ruls fest. Sharp contrast to the DNC. The Democrats offered a vision for a new America. The GOP offered up a call to arms for the same old wedge politics culture war that most of the electorate is nigh well sick of at this point. There was a lot of raw red meat for the fundie base, who as I predicted, loved it. But it says something when the crowd is chanting USA instead of your candidate's name.

I'd call it a loser for McCain. She didn't win over any Hillary voters tonight and I'm betting they lost independents and moderates. It's clear the GOP has decided to go all in and roll the dice on the religious right, hoping they get energized enough to GOTV. But it's a shrinking base.

As I predicted, the media gushed and some declared a game changing moment. The word authentic was the popular superlative. She did project a genuine small town quality, but she came off more catty than tough from my perspective. I was reminded of church groups I've belonged to where the good Christian women tear apart some hapless missing member behind her back and then pretend that saying "God bless her" somehow mitigates the petty meaness behind the snide gossip.

Bottom line, she didn't really prove anything tonight. She didn't come across as knowledgeable or spontaneous. Anybody with her background can memorize a speech. The real question is, how's she going to do without a script? She doesn't look ready for MTP to me and if she doesn't do some interviews soon, the inevitable question will arise, if she's not tough enough to face the press, how is she going to be tough enough for the job? But she'll dominate the news cycle for the next few days. And the funny part is, she upstaged her partner. McCain now has to live up to her performance and I don't think he can do it, my friends.

I think the rest of my prediction will come true in the next couple of days. Tomorrow the media, new and old, will begin dissecting the boatload of lies the GOPers tossed out to the crowd tonight, like bait fish to the sharks, and the accusations will start to fly.

On a final note, the highlight of the evening came for me before the festivities started when Pat Buchanan, who I swear was half in the bag, asked Tweety if he would get a thrill up his leg if Palin's speech was good. The look on Tweety's face was priceless.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]


[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]

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9 Comments:

Blogger Capt. Fogg said...

I think the Peggy Noonan "It's all over" comment sums it up.

AP has published a "fact check" that pretty much checks off all the major statements of the evening as lies, damned lies and bogus statistics.

The only people really cheering are the Mediots like Blitzer and the delegates who are only there to cheer anyway.

I hope she's right. If it's not over for them, it's over for us.

10:16:00 AM  
Blogger rockync said...

Good speech. She did her job as far as the RNC is concerned but, as for me, she never gave any insight into what her qualifications are. She made disparaging remarks toward Obama concerning her term as mayor of a little podunk town but never produced the goods as to why that job made her qualified to run a country. She is in her first term as governor of a state with less population than New York City so how that is more qualifying than being a state senator didn't really resonate with me either.
All in all, I think she gave a stirring enough speach to finally give convention attendees something to cheer about. They sure needed something because so far their convention has been abysmally boring.

11:12:00 AM  
Blogger Capt. Fogg said...

Alaska has about the same population as Charlotte or Memphis.

It's the 4th smallest state in population. It has only about 20,000 manufacturing workers and virtually all it's income comes from extracting natural resources and tourism. It has essentially no illegal immigrants. The tax structure is unique - Alaska has no taxes but they're still too high, she says. Her 18 months sitting in an office hasn't given her anything remotely like any knowledge of the problems any other state faces, much less the federal government. Her job has been little more than to be a lobbyist for Alaska.

That same old tax trope is all she has to offer, being reluctant to discuss the religious fanaticism that got her appointed. Of course she lied about Obama's tax plan costing America more - it would be far more helpful to the elderly and the working poor than what McCain offers.

"[she]knows what it's like to worry about mortgage payments and health care and the cost of gasoline and groceries" says McCain - sure she does. I've held more blue collar jobs than Ms. Middle Class sports reporter has.

We're back to the same old Liberaliberaliberal and taxtaxtax screeching and I'm hoping that people are getting tired of it and will notice that it's the same rhetoric the last three failed Republican administrations used to get into office.

12:11:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i am glad i watched last night because i wouldn't have believed the republicans could be as off-the-charts vicious as they were last night.

sarah palin's speech was a stunning display of one lie after another.

nice touch, declaring the media is arrayed against her, thereby rendering any fact-checking to be rejected by fundamentalists who share the victimization meme being promoted by palin, mccain and teh republican party.

12:16:00 PM  
Blogger rockync said...

Well, folks, I'm just hoping enough Americans are doing their homework here -- if not the Morlocks will surely take over.

12:24:00 PM  
Blogger danps said...

Hi Libby. Off topic: Detroit Mayor Pleads Guilty, Agrees to Resign. Kwame Kilpatrick has the kind of integrity George Bush can only dream about.

2:05:00 PM  
Blogger Libby Spencer said...

Hello everyone. Agree with all the comments and I'm a bit burned out so I'll thanks for weighing in.

Dan I did see that. There are those in Detroit who would disagree that it was Kwame's integrity that caused him to step down. I tend to think it might be based on plea deal myself, but I didn't follow the scandal because the local blogger have it covered over there.

Still it would be nice if Bush could take the example.

2:34:00 PM  
Blogger danps said...

I said he had the kind of integrity George Bush can only dream about, not that he had a lot of it. :)

2:50:00 PM  
Blogger Libby Spencer said...

LOL Dan. Good point.

5:33:00 PM  

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