Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Sarah's on! - There's no avoiding it: she's a fine looking woman.

She's off to a good, strong start. No deer-in-the-headlights here. Her inflections and gestures are fantastic.

"Average hockey mom" got a huge response for some reason. Pointing and playing to the crowd, very comfortable. The "small town mayor" vs. "community organizer" was popular, too.

Extra - Ann Althouse is live-blogging the speech.

Palin's making some arcane references: the styrofoam Greek columns, "saying one thing in Scranton and another in San Francisco", the self-made Presidential seal, "clinging to religion" but the crowd is eating it up. Does the rest of America get these references? Maybe a bit at a time.

I think she threw in a paraphrase of James 2:14 near the end: "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?"

It was good! Yes, it was a prepared speech, but she delivered it with great humor, effectiveness, and poise for somebody thrust into the national spotlight so suddenly. Fred Barnes is gushing: "She's a natural." Yep, that sounds right.

Final word - Fox News just had Democratic spokesman Howard Wolfson on and he kept praising Palin's address. Chris Wallace literally (Joe Biden!) literally had to remind Wolfson that he was invited on to say something critical about the speech. He could only mutter that he disagreed with some of her policies. Funny moment.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obama will have to watch out!

Anonymous said...

"Just like the man, there's no there there."
--Viking Pundit, August 29

"She's a fine looking woman. Her inflections and gestures are fantastic."
--Viking Pundit, September 3

Anonymous said...

"Does the rest of America get these references?"

I doubt that people who don't 'get' those references would be watching a political convention at 11:00pm.

Snoop-Diggity-DANG-Dawg

Anonymous said...

Politico: "Why the Media Should Apologize"

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13143.html

On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry.

We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.

It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.
...
First, we should have stuck to the warm, human interest stuff like how she likes mooseburgers and hit an important free throw at her high school basketball tournament even though she had a stress fracture.
...
Fourth, we should stop making with all the questions already. She gave a really good speech. And why go beyond that? As we all know, speeches cannot be written by others and rehearsed for days. They are true windows to the soul.

Unless they are delivered by Barack Obama, that is. In which case, as Palin said Wednesday, speeches are just a “cloud of rhetoric.”

Fifth, we should stop reporting on the families of the candidates. Unless the candidates want us to.

Sarah Palin wanted the media to report on her teenage son, Track, who enlisted in the Army on Sept. 11, 2007, and soon will deploy to Iraq.

Sarah Palin did not want the media to report on her teenage daughter, Bristol, who is pregnant and unmarried.

Sarah Palin thinks that one is good for her campaign and one is not, and that the media should report only on what is good for her campaign. That is our job, and that is our duty. If that is not actually in the Constitution, it should be. (And someday may be.)

Anonymous said...

"Sarah Palin did not want the media to report on her teenage daughter, Bristol, who is pregnant and unmarried."

Bullshit, anon. Simon's lame atttempt at sarcasm aside, he should be apologizing for suggesting that as a female candidate, Palin's minor children should be grounds to reconsider a run for office.

Anyone ever suggest the same for Al Gore, Joe Biden, Barak Obama, Bill Clinton or John Edwards?

But I guess sexism is only a valid charged against conservatives.

Anonymous said...

But I guess sexism is only a valid charged against conservatives.

Cindy McCain-- anonymously trashed by the GOP in South Carolina, 2000
Teresa Heinz Kerry-- ripped by the GOP in 2004
Michelle Obama-- smeared by the GOP in 2008

(Hillary doesn't count against the Republicans; she was presented as a policymaker in 1991-92 and was thus fair game.)

Show some equivalent bad behavior by the Dems towards Cindy McCain or Laura Bush or Liddy Dole '96, or else stop your weepy whining.