There Will Be Blood: Obama Supporters React to Palin's Speech

Sarah Palin gave a very good speech last night. Not great; not star-making, as some have dubbed it -- but very good. Give the woman her props. True, it contained little or no mention of policy, but that wasn't her job. She was there to deliver applause lines, platitudes, and cutaways of perfect children, and that's exactly what she did.

The McCain camp (I suspect at the behest of Karl Rove, who apparently thinks this is still 2004) has clearly committed to a strategy of rallying the base. They've decided that swing voters aren't the answer. They're betting the farm on making this a culture war instead of an issues debate. They're waving big, juicy hunks of red meat to get their dogs riled up.

Just one problem...they may be riling up the wrong dogs.

Immediately after the speech, I received a text from a Texan friend -- an ardent feminist. She summed up her feelings thusly: "I have never in my life been so motivated to kick Republican ass." I had to laugh, because I'd been sitting there thinking the very same thing.

The pandering, family exploitation, and brazen lies had been expected. (Sarah -- you're still trying to make us believe you opposed the Bridge to Nowhere? Really?) What hadn't been was the condescension aimed squarely at Obama and his supporters. Up to that point, McCain's strategy had been to paint Obama as a gifted young man who lacks the experience to lead. Last night, that seemed to shift to "Isn't it cute that Obama thinks he can be president? Isn't it cute that all those people are dumb enough to believe that just because his mouth makes pretty sounds, he'll make a good leader?"

She mocked the Senator for wanting to be Commander in Chief as part of a "journey of personal discovery." She mocked him for writing two books, and no major laws. She mocked him for volunteering to help the unemployed steel workers of Chicago.

I'll leave it to others to refute these points one by one -- needless to say, they're all, as Peggy Noonan would put it, "political bullshit."

This morning, my inbox was overflowing with friends pledging to send Obama more money, and encouraging others to do the same. The passion and fury in some of these emails was shocking -- a bit frightening, even for a liberal flamethrower like me. There was a "drag them through the streets" mentality to many of them. An actual quote: "I don't want them beaten -- I want them destroyed." Yes, that's reactionary and probably unproductive in the grand scheme of politics. But I understand those feelings. I've had them.

On the more level-headed side, one friend forwarded a line she'd read on the Alaskan political blog Mudflats:

"Maybe someone needs to remind Sarah Palin that Jesus Christ was a community organizer, and Pontius Pilate was a governor."

(Somebody needs to get on making that t-shirt).

Who knows? Maybe Sarah Palin really did hit one out of the park last night. Or maybe, as I believe, she simultaneously enthralled Evangelicals, raised another $25M for Barack Obama, and sent hordes of Hillary holdouts and Independents scurrying for the hills.

In a few months, we'll all know whether Sarah Palin was a stroke of genius by a man who'd been counted out before, or the last gasp of a dying ideology.

One thing's clear -- the gloves are off, and I couldn't be happier.

Seth Grahame-Smith is the founder of HomelandApology.org.

Comments

[itsjustmeee]

I was not impressed by her speech. Her voice is annoying. She had no depth. She addressed no real issues. She had a lot of negative things to say about her opponent (what a turn off and a cheap shot when you have nothing intelligent to say) Something about her just irks me. There was a second when i wanted to like her and give her a chance but something is not right about her. I think these scandals are just the tip of the ice burg i believe there will be more to come. She does have a certain presence about her but, i think it comes from her beauty pageant days. in fact her speech reminded me of the interview section of a beauty pageant.
i just don't care for her or her policies. i am so scared to think what will happen if she has her way. creationism taught in school (what happened to seperation of church and state) no sex ed or birth control taught (that tactic obviously doesnt work well in her family) no abortion (even in cases or incest and rape) what about the enviroment, the economy, our relationships with other countries..... don't even get me started. This could be very bad. I love my country but i am scared of what could happen here.
Obama 08

[JohnHules]

Only twice in American history have the voters elected a president with no previous executive experience. Those two presidents were Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.

Now I understand why John McCain and Sarah Palin are so anxious to make sure that sort of thing never happens again.

[MWChris]

Bring it on, Sarah. For your sake, I hope you still have time to clean up your laundry...

[bartonfink]

I avoided "the speech" last night, figuring I'd have to read about it all day anyway, which I did, then thought, what the heck, so many sooper smart people are are positively frothy over it, maybe I'll claim some froth for my own. so I watched an unnecessarily large, some might say "moose-sized" chunk of it this evening on video.

what a load of garbage. not what she was reading, per say, that was merely purile and obviously, awkwardly read. the garbage part was the general, outside-th­e-GOP-base­ment reaction. pundits, commentators, all extoling the virtues of her delivery, her poise, her slaps at obama, the "clever" use of half-truths and outright lies. ok, well not the last part. it wasn't clever. aside from applying a sarcastic tone with a paint brush, which is a virtue? what did she bring to the discussion? well, I noticed she managed to avoid talking about policy or anything like issues. so she actually brought an absence of something. not sure if any of the pundits caught that.

the people embracing her probably believe advertisements when they say "new and improved." they want to believe, in palin, in a new shine on an old floor, in the superiority of margarine. there is nothing anyone could ever say to change their minds. that is why we must win by promoting obama and his many virtues. he seeks to include, not exclude.

Obama/Biden 'o8

[foxflood]

It's true. I feel just like those friends. I've never been more motivated to kick a Republican's ass. Especially Palin's.

[milo9]

Community Organizers are the driving force of change.

[nazcalito]

Has McCain actually been nominated yet? You don't suppose there's any way the delegates could go nuts and nominate Palin for president, telling McCain that he'd have to settle for VP? Now that would be fun.

[jean1]

i'm SO glad to be at library on fast computer checking all this out. i thought i was crazy watching l p last night. which i'm sure is part of someone's plan.

THANK YOU for this information!

[faithinflight]

The REAL reason why McCain picked Palin:

http://www.newsflavor.com/Opinions/McCain-Hijacks-Christianity-Via-Palin.240929

[milo9]

The title of you piece was spot on. The Republicans don't seem to know where they're driving us. If this election is stolen, I would like to suggest a general strike a.s.a.p. after the election.

[RoloTomassi]

Indeed; I am more than ready to given them hell. Let Obama & Biden take the high road, and we commoners and surrogates can take up the torch and burn the GOP monsters as they rail nonsense from their holier-than-thou ivory tower!

[mcthfg]

"An actual quote: "I don't want them beaten -- I want them destroyed."Yes, that's reactionary and probably unproductive in the grand scheme of politics. "

And that's why we will always loose. This isn't bingo, this is frickin' war. Palin should be ashamed to show her face in public after she looses this mess. If we can't make them go away, we're not really fighting. These are CRIMINALS, for pete's sake.

We didn't put Cheney and the rest away for Iran Contra, and look what happened...

[SusaninIN]

I know what you mean. After watching the speech today online I called a friend to tell her 'that woman is going down!' I'm donating to Obama as soon as I get home. It's good to know that I'm not alone in that sentiment.

[PATina]

"Maybe someone needs to remind Sarah Palin that Jesus Christ was a community organizer, and Pontius Pilate was a governor."


Oh.... I LOVE this !!!!!

[BillZBubb]

"One thing's clear -- the gloves are off, and I couldn't be happier."

Haven't we seen this movie before? As always, the Republican convention spends half their time in outright mockery of the Democrats. The other half is lies and phony self-promotion.

But, for once, will the Democrats respond forcefully? The Republicans always take the key points of their opponent's resume and turn them into a joke among the brain dead multitude. The Democrats never have an answer except "Thank you sir, may I have another?".

The gloves are off, but are the Democrats still afraid to get their hands out of their pockets? Is Obama too nice or high minded to knock these creeps back into the mud they crawled out of?