Sunday Open Thread, With a Palin Tilt

We probably ought to have both a Gustav watch and a Palin watch thread, to see which is the greater disaster.

Ross Douthat argues that maybe Palin won't be so bad. 

My take - I run into Connecticut women in their 40's and 50's, almost all with college or advanced degrees and professional experience.  I understand that is not Palin's target demographic nor was there any thought of turning Connecticut Red.  However, the best thing I can say about the Palin pick is that all these women are now wishing they were Republicans because they would be qualified to be President, too.

I don't like the pick - I feel as if McCain is throwing long on second down with plenty of time on the clock (Note - we are officially abandoning baseball metaphors for the rest of year).  I don't have confidence in his selection process, I don't like the result, I have a hard time believing this is the way he will pick a Cabinet and staff the executive branch, I don't like surrendering the "inexperienced" card with the idea of out "hope and changing" Barack - let's say I don't like it. 

Oh, well - maybe this pick is killing 'em in the heartland.  I would think Ms. Palin would have good working class and evangelical appeal.

Next thread - Gustav.

MORE: OUCH.  Well, I could cherry-pick negative reaction all afternoon.  Here is some good advice from Jonah Goldberg.

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

I like the pick a lot more than either TM or Douthat does. I think it is electrifying, and my only concern is that she endure two months of ridiculously unfair scrutiny without making something that the press will decide is a fatal gaffe.

[capitano]

I think it is an inspired choice and I'm not alone. More importantly, the more I learn about Palin the more convinced I am it was inspired.

[MaryD]

Agree with the first comment. I would love to have someone convince me that Tim Pawlenty had the foreign policy cred that the naysayers are saying Palin lacks. BTW She has dealt with Russia and Canada in her capacity as Governor.

[New Guy]

Experience and Judgment are two different things. Palin has Obama beat on both counts. I am willing to chance it with a breath of fresh air. So far impressed.

[Jane]

I love, love, love the pick! TM, tell your democrat friends that it's okay, all they need to run is a husband who is an ex-president.

[anduril]

C'mon, get real--look at the other three bozos on the tickets!

[anduril]

And Brookhiser, for God's sake! If my life depended on it...

[clarice]

She's a dynamite pick for any real American.
RealAmerican=anyone whose heart has melted at a Frank Capra movie.

[anduril]

apparently that doesn't happen in connecticut. although TM should probably talk to my niece there.

[Huggy Bear]

"I run into Connecticut women in their 40's and 50's...and professional experience.

Just curious, are we talking doctor/lawyer professional or Ashley Dupre professional?

[Teddy Roosevelt]

I had less than 2 years Governor experience and I did ok.

[Chris]

TM will come around on this pick, I'm guessing (hoping). Jonah makes a great point wrt the gender thing. The point's been made. Get on with the econ/energy discussion.

[centralcal]

Anduril - I am with you 100%

I think Sarah Palin probably impressed the hell out of John McCain, judging by the background we got in The WaPo today.

I don't think it is too easy to impress the man.

I like the choice he made a lot so far.

[Latrisha Jones]

Mmmmm, TM doesn't like Obama nor Palin. He's sexist and a racist!

[Lou Shumaker]

Happy to say you're wrong. I'm former Democrat (now Independent), and she is an exciting GOP candidate. And when was the last time you ever saw "exciting" and "GOP" put together?

The only risk comes from seeing how she'll handle the pressure over the next few months. But I would bet that with her record -- high school state championship, battling her party leaders, raising five kids -- she'll do just fine.

Imagine the VP debate. Who's going to embody change: the professional senator or the Alaskan governor?

[Chris]

Anyone know if she's got a sister? Hadn't heard.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I don't have confidence in his selection process, I don't like the result, I have a hard time believing this is the way he will pick a Cabinet and staff the executive branch, I don't like surrendering the "inexperienced" card with the idea of out "hope and changing" Barack - let's say I don't like it.

Everyone makes mistakes, Tom. We won't make fun of you for this one.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Just curious, are we talking doctor/lawyer professional or Ashley Dupre professional?

Ooooh.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Have we officially closed out the other thread? I had a question for Leo.

[Chris Thorne]

The bunnyhugger vote is going to be something to see. I live in Commiefornia, and outrage is intense over Palin supporting the culling of wolves.

Of course, when actual large predators such as mountain lions and bears end up wandering into the back yards of their expensive CA properties, exactly the same bunnyhuggers DEMAND that the animal be destroyed at once. The Silicon Valley yuppie enclave of Palo Alto gets the occasional mountain lion, and the police deal with those cats by shooting them dead with high-powered rifles while they sleep on tree branches.

Nonlethal alternatives? Traps? Tranquilizer dart? Man, you've never seen an affluent yuppie soccer mom who is freaked out that something might eat her children.

Yet it's verboten to take these same measures in flyover country, or in Alaska.

[centralcal]

Chris - yes, there is a sister who had a messy divorce from a real winner of a guy.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

McCain and Palin are at a rally that C-Span is covering right this minute.

[centralcal]

Chris Thorne: So true and so funny, the way you nail the phonies in "Commiefornia."

[kim]

Tom will be happy when he sees the way the polls move. This solidifies the base and steals moderate Dems and women of all ages. And she's gonna make Celebrity Obama look pale.
=====================================

[anduril]

Actually, what's interesting is if you go to RCP and read the three editorials it links--all from liberal papers (yes, I include the Chicago Tribune in that category)--you'll see that all three have a basically positive reaction to Palin and aren't at all blown away by the experience argument. That, to me, is a significant reaction. I suspect that the rest of the country will be more open to Palin than TM's anecdotal evidence from Connecticut would indicate.

I'm afraid that the way politics has evolved in the US, it's difficult to get the kind of experience that would make the WH a logical step up. The best we can do, IMO, is to select governors. Alaska is a small pond politically, but it does give her some prep on significant issues that happen to be important in this election. Having watched a couple of video's of her--all admittedly friendly--I don't believe she'll be a Quayle who will misspeak herself. While I've also harped on foreign policy experience I would add that doing well at it in real life versus doing well debating it are two very different things. Outside of trick questions (quick, the capital of Byelorussia, and who's the president?) I suspect that she may be able to acquit herself decently in the debates. We'll see.

[kim]

That's really a lot of it; she's stealing his mojo. It was collapsing anyway, but still.
================================

[Chris]

CCal,
Oh yea, that's right. I was only kidding, but hey, a guy can dream, no?

To the topic of the thread, I doubt that all that many professional women in CT, or anywhere else, were enamored of Reagan either, fwiw. I certainly can't recall if they were. That's not to say he didn't attract some very successful and intelligent women to his side. I just don't recall too many of the coastal elites (male or female) signing on to defeat the evil empire, for example.

[anduril]

One last thing: the reality factor. As Hewitt said, The One comes across as a self invented man, a construct of his will and imagination. McCain, for all his flaws, comes across as a real person, and so does Palin. I think this will be important to voters. Let's not even talk about The Mouth...

[centralcal]

Oh good she has her hair down in Missouri and the crowd is going nuts over her!

[anduril]

My wife likes her better with her hair down. The thing for her to do, I think, is to change her style once a week. It'll suck all the publicity away from the Dems.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Here's a publisher who got lucky.

[M. Simon]

TM,

She exactly fits two of the three themes McCain is running on:

Integrity and energy.

Security she will have to learn on the job. As would the D picks and they are weak on the first two points.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Okay, on the off chance Leo comes back, I was thinking about it in the grocery store. Come to think of it, I can't think of anyone on the D side of the aisle who has a similar record of following corruption into the ranks of their own party. Lots of people who insisted, eg, that Trent Lott resign from his leadership posts according to Republican rules, rather than changing the rules to match the Democrat party rules; and a lot of people defending "Cold Cash" after he was indicted; and a lot of suggestions that the prosecution of the Mayor of Detroit was political.

Could you suggest who you'd add to my list of McCain&Palin?

[Lori]

TM,
I've talked to several Connecticut women in their 40's and 50's who are thrilled with the pick. And those who aren't don't know that much about her. The anti-Palin sentiment in places like Fairfield County is really about elitism and sexism.

[M. Simon]

Charlie,

Same thought at the same time. It's an omen.

[centralcal]

She is a damned good speaker. Never looks down at notes and if she is reading a teleprompter it sure does not show!

[Paul]

Sarah Palin is in another class than anyone I can think of in the political arena. She's got brains and guts in spades, she's utterly ethical, and authentic in a way that is simply nonexistent in our political culture. She has arrived in the nick of time, and is going to galvanize the party and ultimately the nation.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Tom, seriously, the obvious answer is "after you work your way up from PTA to Governor and have an 80 percent approval rating, sure!"

[Terry Gain]

As qualified as Palin? Wow Maguire I had no idea you hung out with women who are governors with an 80% approval rating, who've taken on and routed the corrupt establishment in their own party, and then in their spare time raise 5 children. And are they all gorgeous and perfectly normal?

Of course you are in the same boat (or is it chauvinist sinking ship) as Krauthamer, Poweline and Frum -people we used to be able to rely upon for reasoned opinion.

Palin is an inspired choice. She's not only more experienced than Obama, she is fit to be VP, or if need be POTUS, whereas the man whose first impression was to not know whether Russia or Georgia is the aggressor, never will be be fit to be POTUS.

To underline the point, as if it should be necessary, a man who wanted to concede Iraq to al Qaeda and Iran and was totaly sanguine about the chaos, including genocide, which would have followed will never be fit to lead the one nation on earth which must stand tall against the jihadi threat the western world is facing.

Thanks to the Anbar Awakening and the Surge of U.S. and Iraqi forces it is probably no longer possible to concede Iraq to al Qaeda but Obama is still determined to proceed wih a premature withdrawal and undermine the progress purchased with the sacrifices of America's best. He will destoy the morale of the American military.

Everyone with a clue about security is voting for McCain. Palin will bring in enough of the others to put him over the top.

[boris]

If I thought John McCain would surely win this with steely eyed composure by crushing the opposition with a flawless ground game, the skepticism from TM and others would be more understandable. Frankly I have never seen McCain that way and IMO the suggestion from many of them that McCain would have been a better president than Bush in 2000 always seemed like a serious misreading of the two.

McCain is actually doing something he is good at. Taking every advantage in a situation where the stakes are very high. The Rush Limbaugh operation chaos was based on exploiting the same advantage. If McCain was going to win a squeeker anyway, this will make it a landslide. If he was going to lose, this may give him the win.

[Chris]

CCal,
Thanks for the heads-up on the CSPAN coverage. She's getting better every day it would seem. Teddy Roosevelt in a skirt! Lovin' it.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

She's good. She just explained to the crowd what governors do in natural disasters, such as the recent floods in Alaska. She could give specifics, because she's EXPERIENCED the responsibility.

Take that Obama.

[capitano]

Palin's national security and homeland defense experience.

[M. Simon]

WTTW (PBS Chicago) is running a bit on Alinsky for an hour.

[kim]

Don't ya think Obama would like to take a mulligan about now? Would he pick Clinton and win for sure, or Sebelius, and watch her be outshone by Palin.
======================================

[kim]

That's what is eating the Democrats right now. They have thrown this away, and it is obvious sooner than it was with Kerry.
==================================

[centralcal]

John is beside himself. He can't believe he found this great WOMAN!

I hope you are all watching CSPAN right now! Who needs a convention?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Kim, I find myself serviously wondering how much flexibility there is for Obama to take, not a mulligan, but a Torricelli.

[JM Hanes]

TM:

If you can wade through the party, there's some good stuff in the Saturday thread. I was particularly interested in this excerpt from Jonah Goldberg's mailbag which Larwyn posted:

Before you dismiss that Commander of the Alaska National Guard stuff. This came from a reader who plays the game and it jibes with my knowledge.

Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks. It’s on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.
As governor of Alaska, Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism. Her exposure to classified material may rival even Biden's.

She's also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security's counterterrorism plans.

Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country's defense. Given Alaska's proximity to Russia, she may have security clearances we don't even know about.

According to the Washington Post, she first met with McCain in February, but nobody ever found out. This is a woman used to keeping secrets.

I'll take Palin over your "Connecticut women in their 40's and 50's, almost all with college or advanced degrees and professional experience" any day. Especially when they apparently can't be bothered to familiarize themselves with Palin's actual credentials -- one might even wonder about whose "professionalism" should be at issue here! In my own experience, there's no discernible causation in what correlation exists between advanced degrees and common sense. I'm also not sure where the conventional wisdom about Senators seeking Executive Office suddenly disappeared to.

[centralcal]

Sorry, Sarah had me enthralled and I didn't post my comment in time.

I gotta tell you all, that Sarah has to be careful in only one are - that she doesn't overshadow John McCain. I think she could do it easily.

And, on the other team? Messiah's and blowhards - hardly even competitive!

[Chris]

Charlie,
A couple of names come to mind. DeLay resigned his leadership position over a political prosecution. Wexler doesn't even live in his district (or even the state of FL) yet Dem's are ok with that, apparently. Just two off the top of my head.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Please TM, I've already lost confidence in the Powerline boys for their silliness, I don't want to lose confidence in you too.

I think you should listen to some "real" women, not these plastic and obviously very envious overeducated libs.

But then I tell myself, one of the things I really like about Sarah Palin is that she won't give a damn what those climbers think of her, she is too busy having a real life, solving real problems, and taking real action rather than just cynically backstabbing others.

[Sue]

I'm disappointed in our dear leader. Who would you have picked Tom?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I guess I missed it. Maybe they'll replay it later.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Via Jonah Golberg. You think they are going to blame Bush for Gustav, think again, it is all Sarah's fault:

From a reader: Jonah, In case you don't believe me, you can click on this link for facebook. In case you don't have facebook, here is the entire text of the Hurrican Gustav page, which has four 'fans' and a picture of Sarah Palin that includes the phrase 'Hurricane Gustav is Sarah Palin's fault.' The group's description says (in its entirety): 'Hurricane Gustav is the fault of John McCain's VP pick Sarah Palin. Extremist conservatives like Sarah Palin have ignored environmental warnings about coastal erosion, climate change and the importance of mangroves and have tried to stop the progress that would halt unnatural hurricane events like this.'

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Now, be nice. The Darien dementia can hit anyone.

[Annoying Old Guy]

I need the smart folk here to explain something I just don't understand about Maguire's women friends in Connecticut — if "all these women are now wishing they were Republicans because they would be qualified to be President, too" because of Palin, why aren't they happy they're Democrats because the pick of Obama makes them qualified to be President too? Or have they all adopted the view that the Presidential candidate should be the good looking figurehead while the VP runs the show? Would they be less insulted if it was Palin/McCain? I honestly don't understand.

[Chris]

Anyone catching Jindal? He's where he needs to be and taking care of business, it appears. Best to all in the Gulf region.

[Pagar]

"both a Gustav watch and a Palin watch thread, to see which is the greater disaster."

It seems to me that they are both turning into a disaster for the Obama team.

Obama's lack of executive experience has been highlighted beyond compare, by Palin's selection. The inexperience card hasn't been surrendered, it's been elevated, IMO, Obama isn't running for vice president, he's running for President, without a single bit of experience in anything. With his document trail deliberately obscured to insure that no one can point to anything he has done, the highlight of his known experience seems to be the ability to say Present at certain times. IMO, His presidential qualifications are none and every comparison to a Woman who has actually done things to make a State run
right is just going to point that out.

[centralcal]

Sara, I am with you. This isn't about the girls against the boys either. Sarah is a special person, I think.

She is giving a cogent and eloquent voice to all of us who moan and groan and worry and fret about the state of our nation, our leaders, and the direction of our country.

Powerline, NRO and, yes, our dear leader, TM, maybe are being a little too reluctant - and understandably so - to acknowledge that someone could appear on the scene who makes the political powers that be look really, really ineffectual and impotent. And she ain't overflowing with testosterone!

[JM Hanes]

TM:

Don't know if this is the Douthat">http://rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/mccains_judgment.phpoo">Douthat piece you had in mind, but the link you posted above doesn't work for me.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

For convenience, I'm bringing over a couple of coments from the last thread.

[fdcol63]

It's fun watching the Dems tie themselves into knots as they bash Palin.

If nothing else, McCain's pick was a stroke of genius on this point.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

All it takes for a man to stick up for Sarah Barracuda is a) that he not be consumed with irrational hatred, and b) is heterosexual ;-)

Coming to bat, Andrew Sullivan. Zero for two, goes down swinging.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Also, I was kinda proud of that one.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

BTW, a few predictions:

- there will be someone at Kos or MyDD or DU claiming that Karl Rove or the CIa or the military or Bush arranged this hurricane to give McCain a chance to exhibit fake compassion;

- there will be some member of the press who will ask if it's appropriate to nominate McCain at all, no matter how limited or changed the program may be;

- there will be some member of the press (I'll extend that and predict it'll be Olbermann) who will say, in high dudgeon, that the McCain campaign is exploiting the catastrophe;

- Olbermann will find a way to call McCain the "Worst Person in the World" next week, in connection with the hurricane;

- there have already been people complaining that McCain visiting the areas hit is pulling away resources from the first responders; there will be people complaining that Bush isn't visiting the same areas even though Bush gave that as a reason. Some of them ill be the same people.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Centracal: I guess I thought TM and a few others were more evolved than the are. It saddens me.

[kim]

Yes, fdcol63, it is demoralizing them. Think of all the Democrats who will stay home, now.
======================

[Sue]

However, the best thing I can say about the Palin pick is that all these women are now wishing they were Republicans because they would be qualified to be President, too.

Why? None of them have community organizing experience to run on the democratic ticket?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

And she ain't overflowing with testosterone!

That's okay, a bunch of us are.

[Mustang0302]

I don't know any Connecticut women in their 40s and 50s...

That said, all the women I do know, from 9 to 90, are very favorably impressed with Governor Palin. A couple of these ladies would normally have nothing to do with any Republican. Only the youngest of them do not follow politics.

I have been most impressed with the reaction of the ladies here at JOM...but not surprised.

[RichatUF]

I'm surprised that it hasn't been mentioned that the Governor appoints the board to the Alaska Permanent Dividend Fund, a SWF with 35.9 billion in assets.

I suppose since the fund has lost some this year and is only up about 10% during Gov. Palin's tenure it might have been overlooked.

[Sue]

"One doesn't anticipate that one's private conversation will be surreptitiously taped by some right-wing nutcase," said Fowler. "But that's the nature of what we're dealing with."

Good Lord. He is blaming a right wing nutcase for his own left wing nutcasiness?

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/08/ex-dem-chair-ap.html>Source

[fdcol63]

Hopefully, if McCain is elected in 2008, Palin will be ready to run on 4 years worth of VP exeprience in 2012 if McCain decides not to.

This will surely dampen Hillary's chances at that time, provided Palin does well as VP.

A 2fer!

[larwyn]

MADE ME LAUGH - from Weekly Standard Blog:

Quote of the Day (So Far!)

Tom Wolfe, lamenting the current state of American fiction: "Writers come from master-of-fine-arts programs now. If you add up the college education of Steinbeck, Hemingway and Faulkner, you get to spring break of freshman year."
Posted by Matthew Continetti

This one not so funny, also by Continetti. (Wonder if PUTIN has seen the photo of Palin with the BEARSKIN!)
Where are the Realists?

That's the question Robert Kagan asks in this new essay. Today's so-called "realists," Kagan argues, have inverted the lessons of their predecessors:

Leading realists today see the world not as Mr. Morgenthau did, as an anarchic system in which nations consistently pursue "interest defined as power," but as a world of converging interests, in which economics, not power, is the primary driving force. Thus Russia and China are not interested in expanding their power so much as in enhancing their economic well-being and security. If they use force against their neighbors, or engage in arms buildups, it is not because this is in the nature of great powers. It is because the United States or the West has provoked them. The natural state of the world is harmonious; only aggressive behavior by the United States disturbs the harmony. ...

The original realists had no patience for such Candide-like optimism about the inevitable upward progress of mankind. "Whoever thinks the future is going to be easier than the past is certainly mad," wrote Mr. Kennan in 1951, six years after the most destructive war in history, five years into the Cold War, and one year into what was widely seen at the time as disastrous and seemingly hopeless American intervention in Korea. Mr. Kennan's provocative assertion aimed to jolt Americans out of their yearning to believe that the future would be different. But now it is leading realists who embrace The End of History, with an unshakable faith in the inevitable convergence of humanity around shared values and common interests. These were exactly the hopes and dreams Mr. Morgenthau set out to vanquish decades ago.

Want an example? Read Richard Haas in Newsweek. Haas says punishing Russia for its invasion of an independent democracy would be counterproductive. No, Haas argues, we should actually reward Russia, by lowering "U.S. barriers to Russia's joining the World Trade Organization, not rais[ing] them." Because "[a]utocratic Russia is more likely to evolve into something more open if it is integrated into modern institutions than if it is left outside."

No it isn't. But such is today's "realism," which has eschewed considerations of power in favor of Rodney-King style, "Can't we all get along" claptrap. WWMD: What would Morgenthau do?

[bad]

Thanks Mustang

[Marilyn]

I think Tommy should send those Connecticut Cougars a link here so they can argue their points. Unless they don't exist!?!?! ("they" meaning either the women or their points).

[Charlie (Colorado)]

See the Anchoress tear some commenters a new one about Sarah.

Thank God she didn't have a ruler.

[kim]

Heh, for what reason does he characterize the filmer as a 'right wing nutcase'? It seems to me that he should follow the Rule of Holes. That remark just compounds his idiocy.
====================================

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Bad, I'd be happy to explain MILF (and of course VPILF) if you'd like.

[kim]

Aesop wrote about Tom's Connecticut foxes who weren't quite tall enough to reach the grapes.
======================

[M. Simon]

Bambi is on 60 minutes with Bidem they are getting asked good questions and are dodging and weaving.

Exmp: To Obama: Palin has more experience than you do. Will it make a difference.

Obi ans: Ask McCain.

Toast.

[tina]

Guess who got five student draft deferments during the Vietnam War (I mean besides Cheney)? Snicker.....LUN

[Jim Rhoads aka Vnjagvet]

This post by MikeS is too good to linger only on the long last thread:

She has only been in public service for 13 years, but during that time the mother of 5 rose to the highest position in her state.

She beat an incumbent governor and a 3 term U.S. senator for that job.

She fought corruption and won.
She fought the oil companies and won.
She cut taxes and balanced the budget.
She was governor and chief executive of a state with a similar population to Delaware, the state for which Joe Biden is only a senator. Yet they say all that is not enough?

I'm voting for Sarah

I thought this was ad copy for the next ad. Mike said it wasn't. But it should be doncha think?

[fdcol63]

Fowler and the Left = Masters of the Politics of Personal Destruction

They love bashing the messenger while ignoring the message.

And they excel at telling lies often enough that even they begin to believe them.

[kim]

It really is kind of cool. McCain has set this up as Palin vs Obama, while he and Biden fight it out on the undercard.
===========================

[bgates]

Connecticut reaction to the Obama pick:
"It's wonderful! It will make his daughters feel like they could be President someday!"

Connecticut reaction to the Palin pick:
"What a joke. It makes me feel like I could have been President."

[Charlie (Colorado)]

while he and Biden fight it out on the undercard.

I hope they aren't going to be judged by a panel of dentists.

[bgates]

TM, are none of your professional friends pretty enough to have had the same thoughts four years ago?

[capitano]

For the skeptics who want to envision an Obama victory on November 4th, TCM is showing The Candidate on Wed., 9/3.

Tagline:

Too Handsome. Too Young. Too Liberal. Doesn't have a chance. He's PERFECT!

[bad]

TM

I'll bet that group of women also hate anyone thinner, prettier, richer and smarter.

[M. Simon]

Douhat doesn't get it.

McCain's strategy is to bring at least one chamber of Congress with him.

[Jane]

Anyone catching Jindal?

Bobby Jindal talks faster than any human being on the planet. AND he actually sounds like he knows what he is talking about.

I'm so sad I missed Palin and McCain on Cspan. I can't wait to hear her on the stump!

[Antimedia]

I sort of dropped out of the blogging and political arena (not by choice only), so I've not been keeping a very close eye on events lately. So consider my observations as those of a somewhat disinterested outsider.

All of the talk, both on the Republican and the Democratic side, right now is about Sarah Palin. Clearly she completely sucked the wind out of Obama's rock star coronation the other night.

That alone is worth the price of admission.

[Chris]

Jane,
She was fantastic on CSPAN in Missouri. The crowd was enthusiastic. I think it's fair to raise questions about her, especially in the foreign policy arena, but I'm pretty sure she's gonna knock it outta the park.

We'll see. Lots of long knives out but hey, she's obviously the type to bring an AR15 to a knife fight anyway. It's the Wasilla way, or so I'm told.

[M. Simon]

I gotta tell you all, that Sarah has to be careful in only one are - that she doesn't overshadow John McCain. I think she could do it easily.

If John is a really good exec he won't mind. In fact it will prove he is really good at the Presidents second most important job:

Selecting staff.

[bad]

Steve Diamond has more on Obama/Ayers,

LUN

[anduril]

Kagan. Yeah, the same knucklehead who within the last week wrote: countries are like people--they never change. So where does that leave us with Germany as an ally? For God's sake!

Lisa Schiffren: "If the response from the conservative base is any indication, McCain has hit a home run with the Palin selection. A sullen GOP, set to vote reluctantly, if at all, for the “maverick” (some say unprincipled) senator from Arizona, has suddenly become electrified. In the first 36 hours after McCain announced his pick, $7 million in new contributions poured in online. This isn’t because Palin is making history as the first woman on a GOP ticket. It’s because of the type of woman and politician that she is. She’s a normal person, a mother and wife..."

[JM Hanes]

TM:

"I don't have confidence in his selection process...."

How much can you actually claim to know about his selection process?

It's entirely possible that Camp McCain can keep some secrets, which would seem like a plus; and if any pol has seen how the press operate up close and personal, it's John McCain. I know I certainly wouldn't discount the possibility that he, and what's looking like a savvy staff, know how disinfo works.

Folks were taken by surprise, and the press is selling the hell out of last minute recklessness, but then they have a vested interest in explaining their own cluelessness, don't they? Just last week, of course, conventional wisdom had a very smart McCain waiting to see Obama's pick before deciding on his own. Now it's all Hail Mary tactics, designed to excite conservatives -- as though shoring up your base (not to mention revving up enthusiasm for GOTV operations) in time for an election, with an eye to critical support in Congress should you manage to win, is reprehensibly cynical and myopic.

The press also assert that McCain has surrendered the experience card, but I think he's picked up some new cards here, (not to mention Obama losing some ground --largely ignored by the press -- on the experience vs. judgment card). There's not just a telling contrast between Palin's real world experience and Obama's, there's also a compelling contrast between her hands-on executive record and Obama's undistinguished legislative accomplishments.

I haven't seen the roster of Biden's greatest legislative hits yet, and hits may be the operative word, but the misses won't be exactly hard to find. He too, however, scores a zero on the executive front, along with less than zero in my book for inspired idiocy like a tripartite Iraq. Did I see a suggestion somewhere that he had a hand in designing and substituting the AUMF for a declaration of war? Devastating, I should think, to the judgment card, if true.

As an aside, I'd be curious to know if you think a McCain Lieberman ticket would have carried CT?

[JM Hanes]

"And she ain't overflowing with testosterone!"

Beg to disagree. Palin is what testosterone looks like in real women.