Calm Down
| Thu Sep. 4, 2008 11:34 AM PDT
CALM DOWN....For what it's worth, can I once again plead with everyone to settle down? Since her initial introduction on the national stage last Friday, Sarah Palin has given two prepared speeches. That. Is. It. Two speeches.
Look: maybe she'll turn out to be the second coming of Ronald Reagan. Who knows? But can we at least wait maybe two or three weeks before we declare that liberals everywhere should be quaking in their boots over the resurgent power of culture war politics with a pretty face? Come on, folks.
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Comments
I for one, think this is not going to work well for McCain. The fact that she said almost nothing about domestic policy is a hole the Democrats can drive a truck through.
This is not 2004. The Republicans in St Paul represent probably no more then 30-35% of the electorate.
Kevin,
Can you link to some examples of lefties who you think are freaking out? Just curious. Because I've read Josh @ TPM, Nate @ 538, Ta-Nehisi @ The Atlantic, and none of them are freaking out. Also, not a lefty, but John Cole nails it as only John Cole can.
Hate to break it to you, Kev, but it looks like Palin was handpicked by the Religious Right so that our country can get bogged down in a culture war between secular progressives and backwards fundamentalists, in hopes that Americans will lose sight of the fact that our economy is crumbling before our eyes and that our war machine is leading us down the road to ruin.
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/9/1/24846/28141/Front_Page/The_Cou...
Can you link to some examples of lefties who you think are freaking out?
Well, there's Jerome:
We have met someone that we will be doing battle against for a decade or more. Seriously. I've never seen a woman, or a man for that matter, speak that way, prime time, national, convention, live, ever. She blows away Hillary Clinton. Sorry, but that's what it is. Palin's deft speaking style is like watching visceral connective tissue being torn-- with a child in arms
Also Petey over at Yglesias', though he's not really a lefty.
I don't know about calm: but folks I know are freaked the hell out that the GOP has another Bush in Palin. And Bush won twice.
This is bush circa 2000 w/out the baggage of Bush 2008.
As for myself, I'm a bit freaked but resigned. Whatever's going to happen will happen; the best I can do is donate and go work some hours for the Obama camp since i'm in a battleground state. I was originally planning to just give money; but I'm freaked enough to go work for the campaign this weekend.
I have been expecting the election to be close -- close enough for the Republicans to steal it with voter disenfranchisement and fraud as they did the last two.
However, with the Rove-McCain campaign's selection of Sarah Palin with her lunatic-fringe extremist views, and her track record of mismanagement, corruption and abuse of power, I am now beginning to think that Obama may win in a historic landslide.
If the corporate-owned so-called "mainstream media" begins to turn against the Palin-McCain ticket, it will be an indicator that even America's Ultra-Rich Ruling Class, Inc. has begun to feel that a Palin-McCain administration would be so reckless and incompetent that it would threaten even their interests, and they will be willing to bite the bullet and live with the modest, Clinton-era tax increases that Obama has proposed, as the cost of avoiding the chaos of a completely loony-tunes Palin-McCain regime.
If America's corporate elites decide they can live with Obama, and the "kinder and gentler" corporatist rule that his administration would insist on, Palin and McCain are toast.
Although, it would really king of rock at this point if the major lefty blogs would just put Palin on Ignore and we could all go back to watching McCain self-implode.
The public has had an eyeful, time to let them make up their own minds.
Kevin, please read the Daily Howler today and help debunk this Palin lie:
I've been thinking along the same lines as SecAm.
I'm sort of confident that even the ruling class will recoil in horror at the prospect of McCain/Palin and give their media flacks the go-ahead to open fire.
But you never know, so I will be pounding some pavement for Obama.
... can I once again plead with everyone to settle down?
Methinks this is more about the MSM tripping over themselves to herald the arrival of Gov. Next Big Thing (R-Out There) than the jittery Democrats you seem to suggest. Last night's Vanna Speaks! moment says more about how low the bar was set than it does about any change in narrative of the campaign. The Republican Party has never been more wedded to failed policies & past glories than it showed itself to be last night.
Rhoda wrote: "... the best I can do is donate and go work some hours for the Obama camp since i'm in a battleground state. I was originally planning to just give money; but I'm freaked enough to go work for the campaign this weekend."
Multiply yourself by thousands. I have seen numerous comments just like yours posted all over the web. Sarah Palin has definitely energized the base -- the Democratic base, that is. There will be a lot of people donating money and time to the Obama campaign as a result of her speech last night.
I'm a registered Green Party voter in Maryland (where Obama is leading by 10 points) and I had planned to vote for the Green Party's nominee Cynthia McKinney. Thanks to Governor Palin's "motivational" speech, I will be voting for Obama instead.
The Palin-McCain campaign's disenfranchisement and fraud teams are going to have their work cut out for them, dealing with the largest Democratic turnout in history.
Obama went out of his way to say that he does not doubt that McCain has the best of intentions.
And he gets the yesterday's mocking in return.
What does it say about him, and democrats in general, if Obama does not have a reaction to all the revelry in St. Paul over the insults to him?
No doubt Palin has some political gifts, but I'm not sure this message resonates w/ moderate/independent voters, especially not in the tone she used last night. The theocon cat is out of the bag, after all. Fool me once and all that.
I liked the comment in XX Factor on Slate comparing Palin to Ann Coulter. http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor/archive/2008/09/04/mainstreami...
Based on her speech last night, Palin is a Western brunette, chirpy (maternal, attractive) version of Coulter. The base may love her, but I think most of the country can see her, like Coulter, as hyperbolic, petty, vain, and more interested in garnering attention than in sticking to the facts. We wouldn't be impressed if McCain chose Coulter - we shouldn't be impressed by Gov. Palin.
I'm not freaking out -- just laughing "to keep from crying" (Langston Hughes, noted black poet).
However, some "moderate" Republicans (assuming there is such an animal) - including all my in-law family members - who are otherwise intelligent, educated, and rational - think Sarah is just fine, and would make an excellent VP and President when McCain succumbs to one of his many afflictions two years before ending hhis term.
When I peel away the layers of their reasons, I find underlying - perhaps unconcious - racism. I feel the same undertone among most McCain supporters, including and especially the 18,000,000 Hillaryites.
It seems that about half of all Americans are simply terrified at the prospect of an uppity black man in the WHITE House.
As well they should. An Obama victory would dramatically alter, now and forever, the face of racism in America.
They simply freak out at the prospect of losing superiority over these savages.
I believe that this 500-pound race gorilla, carefully concealed behind the sofa, is the real threat in the living room. Sarah Palin is irrelevant. Her adorers are already convinced; she simply adds some fun and pizzaz to to the game.
And laughs for us.
TomStewart wrote: "You'd think that Palin was on the top of the ticket rather than the bottom."
For the Christofascist Republican base, Palin is the top of the ticket. They view John McCain's presidency as a stepping stone towards Palin, "one of their own", becoming President.
Speaking of freaking out (we were, weren't we?)
I live in the Deep South where the War of Northern Agression rages on.
I put an Obama '08 on the back window of my F150 pickup (required equipment hereabouts). Next to it I put an NRA sticker.
I did it to freak out Rednecks who see a cool old dude driving a cool newer truck and sporting the proper NRA insignia who is an OBOMA man?
Great Jefferson Davis! How can this be? Is that cool dude crazy, or am I?
Jes' messin' with their heads.
Wiley "Billy-Bob" Cat
However, with the Rove-McCain campaign's selection of Sarah Palin with her lunatic-fringe extremist views, and her track record of mismanagement, corruption and abuse of power, I am now beginning to think that Obama may win in a historic landslide. Posted by: SecularAnimist
I don't think she'll last more than a week as the VP choice. Because she came out of nowhere, no one had any time to do any real research about her before she was announced. I'm betting there are quite a few skeletons rattling around that will become public in short order. If nothing else, the details people already know about her paint a less than stellar picture of her as mayor and governor.
One thing is sure, she'll never get reelected governor once the McCain campaign fails. Young and Stevens may be toast, but the long arm of the "old boy" Rethugs network she's supposedly stood up to will make sure she's out after her term.
Apparently nearly as many people watched Palin last night as watched Obama last week.
I think this is very good news for the Democrats. This speech was designed to fire up the extreme right wing, and it showed. I just don't see how any independents or Democrats, even Obama skeptics, were impressed.
I'm must confess to being a bit freaked out. I remember when W was nominated I kept thinking that this guy was an idiot, winger and that Gore would mop the floor with him. Then America decided he'd be fun to have a beer with. What will they decide this time? That McCain probably has some cool scars he could show and Sarah would be a fun roll in the hay? For now I'm not completely freaked out because its looking more like: that dude is a cranky old man and he is hanging out with that annoying chick I knew in high school (Election starring Reese Witherspoon maybe?).
Apparently nearly as many people watched Palin last night as watched Obama last week.Posted by: neil
No telling for sure how many people watched on televsion. What's more telling is that Obama filled a football stadium to capacity, and yet there were empty seats at a forum that holds around 20,000 when Palin spoke.
Wileycat, I think you just might have it figured out. As many have said before, people cling to one or maybe two core beliefs and become so vested in them that they lose the big picture. One guy thinks hey, Obama's a dem, he wants to take my gun away so they automatically vote McCain. Never mind that Obama will likely put them and their family in a better place in the long run (and won't take their gun away). The GOP has one shot, and that's to scare the crap out of people by focusing on ridiculously narrow issues like abortion and homosexuality and lying their heads off about everything else. They do it so loudly that the MSM figures it must be important so they make a huge deal out of it. I'm confident that a big chunk of truly undecided voters in the US will see right through this charade and make an informed decision in November.
For what it's worth here is my assessment.
Palin is riding high at the moment but she will be undone by a couple things.
First, her tone will get on her supporters nerves. Yeah, they love righteous anger but she sounds a little too cocky. Her supporters will start to wonder why she gets all the attention and why she can have handlers to make all her problems go away and they will stop seeing her as 'one of them.'
Second, the National Enquirer is on the case and she has some skeletons in her closet that will really bother her base.
Combine that with the fact that outside her base she has fired up her opposition and many people can see there is no there there and I think time will take of things. Her popularity is at its peak right now and can only go down.
After reading about Sarah Palin, it occurs to me that Sarah Palin just might be qualified to be president... if that president is George W. Bush.
* She took a surplus and turned it into a deficit. Just like George W. Bush.
* She cut taxes on the rich and businesses, and shifted burdens to the middle class. Just like George W. Bush.
* She wasted government money on a boondoggle (the sportscenter) that no one needed, while ignoring the infrastructure needs. Just like George W. Bush. (Iraq)
* She fired competent and experienced government employees and replaced them with loyal unqualified sycophants. Just like George W. Bush.
* She refuses to listen to science and insists on replacing inserting her own religious beliefs into government. Just like George W. Bush.
And this list goes on and on.
Sarah Palin, ready on day one.... to be George W. Bush.
Rhoda: I don't know about calm: but folks I know are freaked the hell out that the GOP has another Bush in Palin. And Bush won twice.
This is bush circa 2000 w/out the baggage of Bush 2008.
I was concerned about this, too, but one thing, at least, to keep in mind is that McCain/Palin does have Bush's baggage, regardless of their pretense otherwise. Plus, the context is different: the economy and wages are a bit different and far more disconcerting than they were in 2000. Bush didn't win based on his economic policies in 2000 but because people could *afford* to focus on personalities and such.
I don't believe that anyone other than core Republicans is just going to give the incumbent party the benefit of the doubt, which they basically did in 2004.
To be honest, I'm not sure there's one pivot issue this time around, but the GOP is basing everything on foreign policy.
Banks are failing. Economic indicators are worsening. And, worst of all for the GOP, no one's confidence in the economy and in the general direction of the country is not positive.
The Palin speech has nothing to do with the stock market -- Zero. Zip. Nada. Maybe you should calm down.
I concur. However, today's big dive is a good reminder to the voting public that there is something bigger at stake this election -- their financial/economic future. Culture wars are an indulgence for the well to do and an obsession for the conservative base. Over in the real world, the economy matters a lot more.
Obama and his campaign must relentlessly drive home the obvious -- that McCain is more of the same. The only way we get the kind of change McCain is demanding is by voting in someone who can attend to the business of the nation, not to the business of war.
Count me as one of those who is worried about Palin. It is not about Palin per se, but about the electorate. US presidential elections are slowly degenerating into a popularity contest, not a contest of ideas and policies. How do we know the GOP won't swiftboat Obama?
We all have an opportunity here and we have to work hard to seize it. The other side is desperate and will do anything, repeat anything, to stay in power. If they lose power in Nov, they will lose their momentum and will have to work very, very hard to regain it. They know it so they are very, very motivated. That is my worry and reception to Palin's speech, even if it is only restricted to the base, worries me. We can only be assured of a victory when the conservative base is depressed and dejected. That's not what we saw yesterday evening.
Glenzilla got me agitated:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/04/gop/index.html
