Saint Sarah Beats Expectations in Saint Paul
Dividing a presidential convention between two cities -- Minneapolis and Saint Paul -- that are a half hour cab ride apart is a very good way to deflate enthusiasm and raw political energy, but tonight. . .finally. . .this convention woke up with a spark provided by former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani and then a powerful home run speech by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Expectations of Palin had been set so low by all of those who doubted her abilities and experience that perhaps any semi-competent talk would have done the trick, but clearly she was comfortable speaking powerfully to tens of millions on television and a packed stadium in St. Paul.
Substantively, I strongly disagreed with her tongue-in-cheek dismissal of Obama for wanting to stand by those who deserve to have their rights read to them in a way consistent with democracy. She portrayed herself as being a believer in liberty -- distrustful of government, and then seemed to argue that some accused (possible terrorists) didn't deserve the benefit of doubt that liberty promises and argued that an empowered government could judge who was evil and who was innocent without regard for basic human rights.
Palin talked a lot about fiscal responsibility, of sacking her chef, and selling former Senator and Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski's state-provided luxury plane on EBay and wanting to bring those practices to Washington -- but she mentioned nothing of the irresponsibility of waging the second most expensive war in American history with no regard to raising revenue to pay for it.
Like Bush and McCain and Cheney, Sarah Palin embraces war and lowering taxes. Suggesting that that is a fiscally responsible posture is neo-Orwellian.
Palin tried to build on the silly meme that Obama is somehow positioning himself as a modern Messiah:
What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger. . .
It is the government of George W. Bush that she and McCain are trying to succeed that has made the reach of government into people's private lives the most extensive and invasive in modern history -- and the size of government as measured by the gap between receipts and expenditures is also the largest in American experience.
Palin, like George W. Bush and Cheney, seems to think that by asserting falsehoods or juxtaposing contradictory goals like maintaining a large forward based troop presence in Iraq but keeping taxes from going up sells just fine to Americans.
She may be right. I think that in contrast to Obama -- whose selection of Joe Biden was smart and important in shoring up the Obama Team's gravitas -- Palin has been set up by McCain to be a new kind of 21st century "saint."
She has a large, seemingly wonderful family -- juggles her home cooking with running a large state as its chief executive. She has a snow mobile racing husband who is a North Shore oilman and she tackles corrupt "lobbying interests" and their cozy deals with politicos wherever she goes.
It's a great story on many levels. Her husband is even a member of the United Steel Workers. Faint applause on that line though.
But despite my substantive differences with Palin, this performance tonight beat expectations and moved her to a new level. Her competition at this incredibly flat, low energy confab in St. Paul is thin -- so one could easily argue that she had a lot of room to pull off a success. But that is too cynical.
She did a great job -- and stared her doubters and the challenge down.
There is much about Sarah Palin we don't know yet. Unlike Biden and Obama, we didn't get much time to have our own public vetting of her before McCain's decision -- so there will be more fits and starts and twists and turns as other parts of her life are dredged up, over-analyzed, and judged by the American public.
But this is going to be very close race, particularly if nothing new and surprising shows up on Palin.
What no one will say just yet -- but which I think the McCain folks tried to convey is that "Saint Sarah" just made her real debut in Saint Paul.
-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note
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Sarah Palin continued.
Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly
sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his
work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or
so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything
like that of native Alaskans.
She’s smart.
Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.
Nice rack!
Palin was a "Hail Mary Pass" for John McCain, but he didn't get the blessed virgin. Her public persona deviates considerably from her private reality.
Palin has the same credentials Bill Clinton had when he became President.
This post was left as a response to a post on the Washington Independent website. This letter has been circulating the net. I found it on dailykos.c
Dear friends,
So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the
last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .
Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in
common: their gender and their good looks. :)
You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts
with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on
any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .
Thanks,
Anne
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a “babe”.
Palin may appeal to some rural women..how
These arguments are dead weight; they do nothing but strengthen the Palin and the Republican ticket by offering a Straw Man argument for them to rebut. It's her business how she manages her family life with her work life. Lay off this one; it's sexist and helps the Republicans. I agree it's a little ridiculous how they've been parading her family around, as if that were relevant to the issues, but most politicians do this to some degree.
Saints do not own assault rifles. Saints do not hate gays and lesbians. Saints are not racist. Saints do not lie. Saints do not steal. Saints do not murder....
Joe Biden said it best this morning. Yes - she is definitely formidable, yes she has a great back story.
Let us all remember, Democrats and Republicans and Independents alike, that the election MUST BE about the direction in which either side will steer this nation. It's not about the figurehead that is in power and it should never be. The choices are clear. If you don't know by now where you stand you are obligated as a citizen to educate yourself on the ISSUES not the personalities and from there make an informed decision.
The choices before us are clear!
Let us NOT forget that she is a former NEWSCASTER. That means she's one of THEM.... and she winks as good as Boosh and John Muh Cane.
No wonder she's the new media darling.
Palin beats expectations? Similar things were said about the initial public appearances of Fred Thompson and George W. Bush. But, republicans always set the bar so low staying awake and avoiding excessive drooling is considered beating expectations.
This is OUTRAGEOUS!
How DARE she say "The Bridge to Nowhere - Thanks, but No Thanks"? ... AGAIN!
We KNOW she was for it and LOBBIED for it.
We KNOW she was against it when it Congress cut it out.
We KNOW she took the $400 mil and put it into the public fund.
We KNOW she took that fund and passed out CASH, MY Tax money, to Alaskans
WE KNOW the FACTS.
How DARE she tell this story a SECOND TIME?
American families are struggling every day. They are handing out our money in Alaska!
How DARE John McCain stand in back of her and smirk?
The nation has a $9 Trillion debt.
How DARE the Republicans stand up and Cheer?
ENOUGH!
I hope the Dems have the Brains and the Guts to call them on this.
Palin the Reformer? Not quite.
http://tpm
Steve Clemons delivers the usual media fluff. It's all "Expectations game" and horse race.
No mention of Palin's angry divisive tone, or her lying about the bridge to nowhere.
I guess your too busy typing up GOP talking points about "expectations"
Asinine - starting with the dumb comment about Minneapolis-St. Paul.
For certain: no one, including his incredibly childish supporters, will EVER experience Barack Obama as they did in the past. The days of worshipful hanging on those dumb, empty rolling tones pitched to the dumber , face book gen are over. There will be a tibge of SNL in everything he says from now on.
Don't mess with Palin, and stop being hypocriticical.
"no one.. will EVER experience Barack Obama as they did in the past."
You're correct. He's no longer the inspirational change candidate:
He's the only safe choice.
This is bizarro world and my heartburn is acting up. Sarah "A Star is Born" Palin? I thought McCain was against celebrities.
Maybe it's Palin who's really "the One"?
whoever says that you go to war as an act of "god" should not be president. Period! This is the one thing our founding fathers fought for. It was the separation of church and state. This country is going back to the renesaince period
Good point, however, we already have a crusading president, Sarah just made the mistake of saying so in public. Let's hope someone has the guts and the smarts to ask her just what she thinks of this war in Iraq. Does she even have a concept of what's going on in that region beyond some end of days scenario whereby the US is waging a holy crusade against the heathens?
She needs to answer questions. Simple, basic questions.
Honestly though, I think that the concern on the Democratic side of the fence is that voters are wondering if they have the heart to man up for a good fight. The question isn't whether or not people believe the spit coming out of Sister Sarah's mouth, it's "What are we going to say in response?" As I've alluded to in other forums, sometimes you have to take the gloves off and hand out a simple ass-whuppin'. There were so many opening exposed in Sarah Palin and in the GOP strategy it should be almost like (forgive me) shooting fish in a barrel. For instance:
*Community Organizers: who probably do more for people in a month than Sarah Palin does in a year... or more.
*Foreign Policy: that extends outside of looking across the water at Russia, flying over Canada, fuel stops in Shannon [Ireland], etc.
*Gun Control: means more than hitting what you aim at. (Even from a helicopter
Amongst other things, these are issues that I'm sure Sarah Palin has no clue about in the grand scheme of the United States of America.
The dems and their surrogates need to disregard this speech and start asking some basic questions of Sarah the crusader. Does she believe in book censorship? Separation of church and state? A religious crusade?
Take the offense and get going.
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