Whiplash for Wolf Blitzer

within the first few minutes of palin's speech my phone started to light up with text messages. I could instantly tell that my liberal friends (and there are many) were nervous. palin the future president and next vice-president of the United States had something to say. the messages started with simple admissions like "she's doing well." As the humored filled speech unfolded my text messages increased. "she's doing well" became "wow." The evening ended with scared muses and hostile phrases like "we still have 2 more months" and "but how many hockey moms could there actually be in america." the liberals were scared.

How could one speech completely change their mind and make them go from laughing at Palin to fearing her? Palin was confident, funny, real and 100% American. Their whiplash over the last 48 hours was made more evident by the media's simplicity and their group think about Palin. Wolf Blitzer's bias came out like I've never seen.....he and CNN gambled that Palin was going down so they piled on her all day over the last several days. They questioned the "vetting process" and her qualifications -- they decided she wasn't up to the job. They reported on each other reporting about the rumors. It was a media circus made for CNN television. As US Weekly stories became worthy of political commentating, the frenzy about Palin's pro-life stance became straight-faced diatribes that questioned her parental skills. Grown feminists were asking if a woman with young children should be able to be VP. it was totally out of hand and the liberals were living in their own world as Wolf kept talking. was this the party of Hillary? Nope, it was the new Democratic Party of Obama where the radical left is in control.

Enter Palin -- the hockey mom and beauty queen knows what to do when her enemies are distracted by their own frenzy. she clearly knows how to take the pressure. but the media actually helped Palin out. they lowered expectations for themselves and their viewers and forced a "crisis" for McCain. reading the graphics on CNN and MSNBC earlier this morning led viewers to believe there was a crisis. my liberal friends were ecstatic: "she's a joke" one said. Liberals and their media friends had decided that Palin wasn't qualified to be a mom let alone the next VP. the media fed itself -- every outlet trying to pile on even more -- with little individual reporting. reporters told me that Palin would be out by friday.

But Palin came on strong and proved that small town American values are not hokey. She showed that her sound judgment and real world experience had more in common with regular people than obama's radical left. she gave voice to the parents of special needs children, economically struggling families, women who work because they have to, career women who choose to work, parents who don't miss their children's sporting events and rural America. she demonstrated that her appeal should not be underestimated as it was over the last couple of days. she proved you can be simple and strong, loving and ready to fight, a woman and a proud republican. as the east coast media elites and their liberal friends try and dismiss her as unqualified, Palin proved she understands America more than Obama. she is proud of her country even as she tries to improve it. and at the end of the day, she proved that her selection not only energized the base of the republican voters but extended a hand to the independents too.

the same reporter who first told me that "she'd be toast by Friday" told me after tonight's speech that Obama must be wishing that McCcain had picked Pawlenty.

What a country!

Read more reactions from HuffPost bloggers on Sarah Palin's speech

Comments

[nowRnever]

"The evening ended with scared muses and hostile phrases like "we still have 2 more months" and "but how many hockey moms could there actually be in america." the liberals were scared."

Richard, surely you jest.

[mmerose]

Yeah, the image of shooting at wolves from a helicopter is so mainstream and wholesome, and showing up on her running mate's worst pork list repeatedly so macho, and firing the police chief because he wanted to close the bars a little early because of too many drunk driving events is so populist, and presiding over a leading methamphetamine culture town is so what really represents the best of middle America!!!

[richardgrenell]

i am amazed that the liberals here on the comment section say that she was negative and she "bashed" obama and she was mean. come on - you all started it. obama and biden were angry and radical. mean and nasty too. why when she fires back is she "bashing" obama. all she did was RESPOND to his dismissive musings. the obama spokesman, robert gibbs, is terribly condescending towards women. they all did it to hillary and here they go again....on to palin. gibbs was quick to say she was "schrill". typical sexist remark - same stuff they did to hillary. mark my words - sometime soon they are going to call us racist too.....it is part of that radical left playbook. i am amazed that the new intolerant party is obama's party. they've taken the place of the christian right.

[Ozarks]

Richard, it is easy to smile when you are lying, it is an automatic reflex. It easy to introduce humor when you are vapid and have nothing to say. It won't be easy for Sarah from now on . She opened the door and she will be toast very soon when Trooper-Gate is fully ventilated , reasons for her 4 or 5 college transfers has been tracked down and she is taken to task for all the lies in her "speech". Richard she did not say one thing about Iraq or the economy , she doesn't have a clue. It is easy to be critical, it is another to back up that shot gun mouth she has with facts. She will be demolished in a very short time,

[pinandpuller]

Isn't that what they thought about another Ozarks guy?

[Jarvisstreet]

Well, Troopergate has amounted to nothing, and it seems everyone is desperate to shoot her down, but no one seems to be able to come up with anything...

I don't hold your breath for the demolition.

[viewfromuphere]

you extend your hand to indepentants by bashing community workers and being divisive when every poll is saying Americans are getting tired of this.

Yeh, I think the Republican base is energized but it's way too soon to figure Independants are going for Palin.

[chrislarry]

You showed that notable lefty....Wolf Blitzer!

[rgersmrk]

I still don't know where she stands on anything other than she likes making fun of Obama and likes to belittle people who are not in the Republican party. While a much better speaker than McCain (not really a hard thing to do) she offered little in substance, just like McCain. People have heard this same tired rhetoric from the failed Bush administration the last 8 years, why would we want more of it?

[SensibleAmerican]

One great thing that is happening in this RNC Convention is that finally people are saying in so many words what most America believes about Obama: all talk, no substance and no stance on any tough/major issue

I hope this stays the theme and a message that is pounded again and again from sea to shining sea ...

[rgersmrk]

The polls show that her speech actually hurt McCain and didn't help him.

http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx

So much for your theory.

[zippywpinhead]

"all talk, no substance"

that describes her speech and the GOP ticket to a "T"

[TexasDem0]

Sound judgment and real world experience?
Please provide some specific examples to back up the generalities.

[PQuince]

Every poll and focus group agree: Palin's speech HURT McCain and hurt Palin.
I suggest the media stop the echo chamber of how well her speech went.
The response was overwhelmingly negative and I suspect will become more negative as time passes.
Please pay attention to the voters and not to other reporters.
Thank you.

[zippywpinhead]

they smell a new narrative to run with...

[gwinegarden]

She did not 'give' a speach. She 'read' a speech.

[Jarvisstreet]

Kind of like Obama, who is incredible reading from a prepared text, but lousy off the cuff.

[ToonMoene]

> But Palin came on strong and proved that small town American values are not hokey.

[ Great - at last someone from outside the incrowd (ugh, a 60s term) ]

I'm still trying to determine what these "small town American values" are. [ Fair warning, I'm European, and therefore, a socialist ].

I crossed the US coast to coast on my bicycle (a 6 week tour) twice, in '86 and '96. This allowed me to watch the fly-over area closely. I found lots of people I could connect with, as long as I stayed away from politics (guns, "family values", the Federal Government, etc.)

I would never have thought that "small town values" (I live in a town of 5,000) include: Inevitable teen pregnancy by avoiding sex education (and apparently, not just in schools, but also at home); shooting innocent animals, using Gods name inappropriately (like: He leaded us to start the Iraq war), etc.

Wow, you must be glad I can't vote in your election ...

[pinandpuller]

So far abstinence education is running 80% in the Palin household-let's keep an eye on the lifetime stats. How do you know that the daughter did not get pregnant on purpose? Maybe we should treat sex like Europeans treat wine and let our 12 year olds have it at the dinner table.

Those animals aren't so innocent either, they are wearing fur. Do you prefer giving them a choice, along the lines of Gary Gilmore for example? I'd actually like to see a video of PETA throwing blood on a Kodiak bear for wearing fur and eating meat.

[AtlantaBill]

Richard,

Like most in the media today, you elect to tell us how "great" Gov Palin came across last night. In listening (sometime watching) tv all day, I kept saying to myself 'what was so great about the attack dog' like quality this speech protrayed. You like our wimpy media, simply bought into the mccain campaign's rove-like strategy of blaming the media. The substantive questions however are what specific policy positions did she outline. I heard none and wonder just how the entire media manages to fall in line when carl rove decides 'the media is biased' and must be stopped - and, low and behold they all fall in line. i suspect voters will decide over the next several weeks just how effective her policy positons are and to what extent they will be embraced by the voters throughout the country. my suspicion is that issues will dominate as compared to the hyperbole we heard last night.

[zedthewizard]

problem is that clinton was the first rural democrat in a long time. the dems believe people act rationally . . . its about the personalities. the dems could win if they choose to, but they don't see the choice.

[tennesseeduo]

"Obama must be wishing that McCcain had picked Pawlenty", no he's really wishing that he, Obama, had picked Hillary. No way McCain would have picked Palin if Obama had picked Hillary.

[SensibleAmerican]

It is by now a well known fact that CNN and MSNBC have their candidate in this race, Obama. The people who laughed at the FOX "fair and balanced" tag line are now the butt of similar jokes! But more than the obvious media bias for Obama, the fact that struck me most is that McCain has proven yet again to be a "Maverick"!!!

His selection of Sarah Palin was a pure visceral, go-from-your-guts decision. In one stroke, he has energized and united the Republican Party, created a "future" for them and has raised his own stature as a decision maker

On a side note, I could have written Guiliani's speech last night! He finally said it so many words what most of the Country, especially Hillary Dems have been wanting to say about Obama for a long time but needed to be "politically correct" ...