September 04, 2008

9/4: How Did She Do?

Sarah Palin's RNC speech drew polarized reactions from the blogosphere. Conservative bloggers absolutely loved her speech. They're describing it as "brilliant", "terrific", and "a knock-out blow to the [Barack] Obama-[Joe] Biden campaign". Conservative bloggers are utterly enamored of Palin, and they're more excited about John McCain's candidacy now than ever before.

Liberal bloggers praised Palin's delivery while arguing that she went too far in her attacks on Obama. They believe that she "came off as angry" and that her speech was "sarcastic and mean-spirited". Some are comparing Palin to Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich.

Liberal bloggers also saw Palin's aggressive speech as evidence that she and McCain plan to pursue "the base energizing strategy that worked for President [George W.] Bush in 2004". Most lefty bloggers consider this a mistake, noting that more Americans currently identify as Dems than GOPers.

PALIN: Conservative Champion

Conservative bloggers were effusive in their praise of Palin's speech:

• RedState's Erick Erickson: "Sarah Palin took to the podium tonight and gave the speech of a lifetime, perhaps the best nationally broadcast political introduction in the convention history, and a knock out blow to the Obama-Biden campaign and their pals in the media."
• Right Wing News' John Hawkins: "[Palin] delivered an A+ speech that was better than anything Barack Obama has done in the last two years, if not ever."
• Townhall's Hugh Hewitt: "Sarah Palin is terrific. The contest has changed. Her character and candor have changed it, and John McCain's judgment is vindicated."
• Hot Air's Ed Morrissey: "Palin showed her mettle tonight. Alaskans tell us that she is 'tough as nails' and doesn't run from a fight. Tonight, she challenged Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and the media elite to a fight to the finish. And she has bad news for them: she has no plans to quit."
• Townhall's Mike Gallagher: "It was tonight, the night that America fell in love with Sarah Palin, that we Republicans can start to be truly excited about our chances. [..] The phony feminists are silent tonight. The rabid media, in the tank for Obama, is stunned. She did it."
• CBN's David Brody: "Don't mess with this hockey mom! Sarah Palin took to the floor of the Republican Convention Wednesday night and delivered a slapshot right to the gut of the Obama campaign. Folks, there's really only one thing to say...game on!"
• Power Line's Scott Johnson: "I think a star was born with last night's performance."
• Townhall's Carol Platt Liebau: "Sarah Palin is everything one could hope for in a female Republican."
• Little Green Footballs' Charles Johnson: "Just a terrific speech from Sarah Palin. She didn't miss a word. That must have struck terror into the hearts of Obama's handlers."
• NRO's Larry Kudlow: "A brilliant speech, brilliantly delivered. So many good lines. Sarah Palin shows us all that she is a superb communicator, which of course is so essential to a successful politician. Obviously, I think of [Ronald] Reagan."
• Michelle Malkin: "That was so very, very satisfying, wasn't it?"
• The Next Right's Katherine Miller: "That was awesome. I'm awash in a hardy glow of Sarah Palin's rockstar glory."
• NRO's Jim Geraghty: "Wow, wow, a thousand times wow. What did we see tonight? Tonight, we either saw a watershed in American politics, a tour de force, the most striking and graceful debut in our nation's political life, and a national introduction that makes Barack Obama's 2004 convention address look like small potatoes...or we saw what we wanted to see, and the country's persuadable independents saw something else. I'm afraid to believe. If I'm wrong, I don't really know what Americans want."

PALIN II: Smiling While Sticking The Knife In

Many liberal bloggers grudgingly praised Palin's delivery while arguing that she went too far in her attacks on Obama:

• MyDD's Jonathan Singer: "There is no doubt that Sarah Palin is a good speaker, perhaps even a great one for this context. [...] However Palin also came off as angry -- really angry -- and it's not clear to me that America is in a place where they want an angry ticket. Where there were feelings of combativeness towards the world four years ago, a sense of defiance, today it's not clear to me that we are still in a Rudy Giuliani moment. [...] Republicans might be there; those in the hall sounded enthused at the harsh rhetoric from Palin. But whether the American people are there still at this moment in time remains to be seen."
• FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver: "The way to evaluate a speech like this is by what people are going to remember in the morning, and the only thing that people are going to remember about this speech in the morning is that she went after Obama -- a lot -- and that at times it it seemed fairly personal. It was almost kind of fun at first -- I don't think people saw it coming, and she got three or four really good lines in. But then it became too much -- sarcastic and mean-spirited."
• Open Left's Chris Bowers: "Palin just delivered exactly the same identity-based attacks that McCain and Republicans have been using all summer against Obama. Those attacks only resulted in Obama's favorables rising, and were ineffective. The idea with Palin seems to be that if those attacks are delivered by someone with a different demographic profile, maybe they will work this time. I doubt it. Palin was the best speaker they had in terms of style, but I don't think the problem with the attacks is that they wanted for style or demographic posturing."
• Mother Jones' Kevin Drum: "In a way, she's every bit the pit bull Giuliani is, all the way down to the withering scorn and sarcastic asides. But she brings it off better than Rudy: it's more straightforward, more earnest, and yes, more small town. I don't think this speech will stop the questions about her selection, but it's certainly going to have an impact. She's coming off very well in her appointed role, and making a tough, smart, and very appealing first impression. But holy cow, can this woman pull off the culture war stuff, or what? I gather that she didn't, in fact, ever really support Pat Buchanan, but she's every bit his disciple and successor in spirit. Wow."
• BooMan: "She delivers a good speech and she lies without a trace of self-consciousness. That's 80% of what it takes to be a great politician. She's good-looking. That's another 10%. All she needs is experience and the ability to do retail politics and she'll be great. I do wonder if she knew how many lies she was telling or if she realized that the Bridge to Nowhere thing had already been rendered inoperative."

PALIN III: Gingrich In Pearls?

Some liberal bloggers were harshly critical of Palin's speech:

• Daily Kos' georgia10: "Well, she fits the qualifications for a GOP candidate: (1.) Ability to lie without shame, and (2.) Questioning of opponent's patriotism."
• Daily Kos' Kagro X: "Gingrich in pearls. Same m.o., too. Drop the b.s. about the Bridge to Nowhere and get off the stage hoping no one looks it up."
• AMERICAblog's Joe Sudbay: "Palin has been taught well by her GOP handlers. Lying is fine. Attacking is the norm. Don't worry about substance. I don't know how anyone outside of that auditorium could think she's truly capable of being second in command. But, that's what John McCain thinks."
• The Nation's Ari Melber: "By all accounts, Palin faced a huge task in St Paul. She had to prove she was up to the job of commander in chief. She struck out big-time -- in a biting speech that showed the only job she was ready for is RNC Chair, another ruthless soldier in Karl Rove's army."

Other liberal bloggers thought that Palin gave an excellent speech that demonstrated what a formidable opponent she'll be:

• MyDD's Jerome Armstrong: "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. [...] Palin captured the GOP's heart and flag tonight. She hit it 456 ft into deep right field, and way friggin outside the park. [Mitt] Romney? [Mike] Huckabee? Giuliani? Amateurs all. Nada comparison (I can't believe I even put [Meg] Whitman in Palin's league). Anyone that thinks McCain could have chosen better than Palin, among the GOP ranks, is on drugs. Talk about a cultural war that's on again!"
• Mother Jones' David Corn: "Delivering the most anticipated vice presidential acceptance speech in modern political history, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin accomplished the mission. She talked family, biography, policy, and John McCain. Especially John McCain the POW. And -- Democrats beware -- she demonstrated she's handy with a rhetorical stiletto and can slice Barack Obama and Joe Biden, while flashing a stylish smile."
• The Washington Note's Steve Clemons: "Despite my substantive differences with Palin, this performance tonight beat expectations and moved her to a new level. [...] She did a great job -- and stared her doubters and the challenge down."
• The New Republic's Michelle Cottle: "Being an attractive woman means that [Palin] can be far, far more vicious than her male counterparts without coming across as brutish -- and, just as importantly, without having to worry so much about getting slapped back. A lot of Dems will go to bed nervous tonight. They should. Palin is still a political lightweight who is in no way qualified to be second in line for the presidency. But she is a charming lightweight. And if George W. Bush taught us anything, it is exactly how far that can take you in American politics."

PALIN IV: She'll Rally The Base, But Will That Be Enough?

Many liberal bloggers interpreted Palin's harsh speech as a sign that McCain and Palin have adopted a "mobilize-the-base" strategy instead of appealing to swing voters. Most of them consider this a mistake:

• TPM's Josh Marshall: "Palin's speech ended up being much more partisan than I expected. But that was added to by the fact that she had to start her speech while the auditorium was still awash in the teeth-gnashing froth ginned up by Rudy's speech. I've seen political events that I totally got and others that I thought I got but was totally wrong about. So who knows? But take this as a sign that the McCain campaign has abandoned an effort to compete for swing voters and go back to the base energizing strategy that worked for President Bush in 2004. The numbers make that look like a tough proposition. But I think a few months from now, everyone will agree this was a mistake."
• Obsidian Wings' publius: "I think Josh Marshall gets it exactly right -- they've opted for a pure base rallying strategy. The main speeches were, for whatever other merits they had, extremely nasty and extremely 'substance free.' I don't really see how the GOP in 2008 (vs. 2004) can win purely by energizing their dwindling base. They're going to have to win people disaffected with the GOP and people who are struggling economically -- I honestly didn't see anything tonight that would appeal to these people. It was all character, family, and attacking Obama -- no real issues."
• The Atlantic's James Fallows: "My guess is that the last twelve hours will be seen as the moment when McCain pushed all his chips into the pot to bet on a 'mobilize the base' strategy. Given the fundamental math in this election year, that would also be the moment when it became very hard for him to win."
• The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen: "Going into the speech, I expected Palin to try to connect to a mainstream audience, demonstrating competence, credibility, and readiness. She already enjoys the support of the GOP base; Palin has to work on convincing everyone else. And yet, she (or, more accurately, the McCain campaign aides who wrote her speech) went in a different direction, aiming to shore up the party's base even more. Instead of seriousness, Palin went for biting and sarcastic partisanship. Instead of presenting herself as a trustworthy leader, Palin proved herself an attack-dog ideologue. Instead of answering questions about readiness, she answered questions about who she hates and how much. Palin not only steered clear of the concerns of swing voters, she practically thumbed her nose at them. [...] Palin inspired hard-core conservatives when she needed to persuade everyone else. To that extent, last night's speech was a missed opportunity, if not an outright mistake."
• digby: "The bottom line is that while [Palin] may not sink this ticket (at least immediately) she can't save it either. They'll get out their base, which until now was a questionable proposition. But that won't be enough. Their base has shrunk. They have to win over a chunk of independents and I just don't know if they can successfully separate themselves from the disaster of the past eight years, even if Maverick decides to move the White House to Point Barrow."

PALIN V: Pants On Fire

Liberal bloggers criticized Palin for repeating her debunked claim that she "told the Congress 'thanks, but no thanks,' for that Bridge to Nowhere":

• Drum: "The speech's worst moment [was the] fact that Palin repeated her lie from Friday about standing up against the Bridge to Nowhere. There have been days and days of coverage thoroughly debunking this, showing beyond doubt that she was an enthusiastic supporter of the bridge and an enthusiastic supporter of the earmark, giving up only after the earmark was rescinded and Alaska was given the same amount of money to spend on other projects. She didn't turn down a thing. And yet she repeated the lie because she knows perfectly well that 30 million people will see the speech and only a couple million will read the fact check tomorrow. That's some straight talk for you."
• Daily Kos' BarbinMD: "Tonight Sarah Palin, obviously with the full approval of John McCain, repeated the lie that she opposed the infamous 'bridge to nowhere.' [...] Not just a lie, but a damned lie."
• Sudbay: "She's been lying about the 'Bridge to Nowhere' for days now. She's like George Bush -- just keep repeating the lie. [...] How many times can Palin repeat this lie before it really starts working against her[?]"
• Think Progress' Matthew Yglesias: "I understand that Sarah Palin's fans find her critics loathesome and our motives dubious, but I wonder how they feel about the fact that her two national appearances have been so packed full of lies. To cite the most obvious example, the story she's now told in both of her appearances before national audiences about how 'I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere' is an enormously appealing story. But to me, the appeal wore off when I learned it wasn't true."

PALIN VI: What's Wrong With Being A Community Organizer?

Liberal bloggers are also slamming Palin for making the following attack on Obama's background as a community organizer (which she may have borrowed from Geraghty!)

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

• The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates: "When did 'community organizing' become communism? [...] Why is it considered this un-American abomination? Isn't electoral politics, essentially, just 'community organizing?'"
• BooMan: "I used to be a community organizer and my old profession came in for some open derision and scorn tonight from both Rudy Guiliani and Sarah Palin. That's okay. I don't mind. I actually kind of welcome being singled out for special abuse. It validates everything I do, and have done, in politics and in poor urban communities. These people hate me and they hate the poor people I helped. I understand. I already knew that. I've spent a good part of my life trying to argue that case to people that were not convinced. 'They hate you', I said. Many couldn't quite believe it. [...] Now I'll have a much easier time making my arguments about that point in the future."
• FiveThirtyEight's Sean: "[Palin] mock[ed] the very notion of community organizing. So did Giuliani. This was the day after 'Service' was the theme, and Republicans fell all over themselves praising their party's commitment to give back to the community. Jarring.."
• Sadly, No!'s D. Aristophanes: "They overplayed the 'community organizer' slam. The party that wants to shrink government says service outside of government is worthless? The only service worth anything is as an agent of the state? The Dems need to start talking up community work, church work, charity work, volunteering to coach youth sports, etc. Palin and McCain say Little League coaches and scout leaders and food drive volunteers aren't doing anything useful?"

Atrios mockingly paraphrases Palin's argument: "Every single one of the thousand points of light is a big fucking loser."

Meanwhile, Daily Kos diarist billmon suspects that the GOP has ulterior motives for bashing community organizers: "Used the way the GOP speakers used the words tonight (i.e. with a sneer), community = ghetto and organizer = activist. It essentially was a coded way of pointing out Obama's work in, with and for the black community (see? even I'm doing it) on the South Side of Chicago. Also the fact that his work involved helping low-income people stand up for their legal rights, as opposed to a GOP-sanctioned 'real' job like business owner or career military officer (or moose hunter.) They were trying to put Obama back on the same level as Jesse Jackson -- i.e., the black protest candidate -- and mocking him for it. To cut right to the nasty, they were using 'community organizer' as a euphemism for 'poverty pimp.'"

MEDIA CRITICISM: The Liberal Media Strikes Again?

Conservative bloggers are accusing the media of being excessively critical of Palin in order to help elect Obama:

• Scott Johnson: "I think that John McCain was on track to lose the election to Barack Obama by three points or more before Sarah Palin's selection as his running mate. Now he has a fighting chance, and the media reaction to Palin's selection exceeds disgusting. The media have obviously taken it upon themselves to try to drive Governor Palin from the race on behalf of their preferred candidate."
• NRO's Yuval Levin: "I have always tended to think that conservative complaints about the media are a little exaggerated. [...] But this week has changed my view. I have never seen, and I admit that I could never have imagined, such shameful, out-of-control, frenzied, angry, condescending, and pathetic journalistic malpractice. The ignorant assault on Palin's accomplishments and experience, the breathless careless airing of deranged rumors about her private life, the staggeringly indecent mistreatment of her teenage daughter in a difficult time, the ill-informed piling on about the vetting process, the self-intensifying circle of tisking nodding heads utterly detached from a straightforward political event, have been amazing and eye-opening."
• The Atlantic's Ross Douthat: "Judging by my email, a number of readers seem to be under the impression that what we've been witnessing in the media and online over the past couple days is a very serious, nuanced and thoughtful exploration of Sarah Palin's record in Alaska politics, a comparison of that record to the record of her Democratic opponents, and a sober discussion of whether she has sufficient experience to step in and run the country should John McCain, God forbid, die in office. If that's what you seriously, seriously think has been going on lately, then you should probably look elsewhere for analysis of the media's Palin coverage, because you and I are living on very different planets."
• Townhall's Amanda Carpenter: "Let's face it. If Sarah Palin was a liberal Democrat all the media would be salivating over the 'woman who has it all.' Since she's not, they're using her status as a mother to disqualify her from breaking the hardest, highest of glass ceilings."

MEDIA CRITICISM II: Stop The Hissy Fit, Conservatives

Liberal bloggers are pushing back against the allegations -- made by both conservative bloggers and the McCain camp -- that the media is being unfair to Palin. Lefty bloggers believe the McCain camp is making a stink in order to deflect legitimate questions about Palin's record and views:

• Daily Kos' Devilstower: "The simple truth is, the McCain campaign is employing a tactic that's worked for Republicans so many times in the past: blame the media for everything they've done wrong. In doing so, they can enlist the full-throated howl of the GOP hate machine and the screaming fury of the radio blowhards. It's not anger, it's a strategy. [...] It's not a bad plan. First pal around with the press and treat them like your BFF, then scream that they don't love you anymore. After enough foot stomping and pouting on the part of the McCain campaign, some reporters are bound to get a case of the sniffles and plead to be let back into the fold."
• Marshall: "[It's] notable that while virtually all the aggressive questioning of Palin has been on her troopergate scandal, her manifest lack of qualifications, ties to a political party that embraces secession, etc. [McCain strategist Steve] Schmidt focused on stories that if you look closely were actually never written. Yes, there was a storm of speculation on blogs. And maybe reporters followed up with inquiries. But who published any of it? Think about that for a second. The McCain camp is using the rumors about Palin's family as a cudgel to beat back entirely legitimate questions -- which may amount to a feeding frenzy -- about Palin's political record, alleged pattern of abuse of the power of her office and political associations. When you see Steve Schmidt getting weepy, believe me, you're getting played."
• Drum: "I can't speak for the National Enquirer, but I've seen virtually no questions about Trig Palin's parentage in the mainstream press -- and for that matter, almost nothing in the blogosphere either. There was a shouted-down diary on the subject at Kos, and a weekend of insanity from (non-liberal) Andrew Sullivan, but that was about it. On the other hand, the mainstream press has been full of legitimate questions about Palin's experience, her lies about earmarks, how she ran Wasilla as mayor, whether she sympathizes with the Alaska Independence Party, her role in Troopergate, her daughter's unwed pregnancy (announced by Palin herself), her social conservatism, her fondness for raising taxes, and plenty of other perfectly legitimate questions about a vice presidential candidate who until a few days ago was a complete unknown to virtually the entire country. So please. Spare us the tears."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Should Dems Ignore Palin?

Douthat offers some "free advice for Democrats":

"...Let me just reiterate the advice that Reihan [Salam] offered to Democrats when she became McCain's pick for veep: Do not attack her. Stop referring to her as a just a small-town mayor and a neophyte governor who's unqualified to be President; in fact, stop referring to her at all. Attack John McCain, John McCain, and John McCain. Attack him all day, all night, and on weekends too. Behave as though Sarah Palin does not exist. Pray that the media will find some Palin-related scandal even more shocking than the perfervid theories aired this week (they'll be looking for one, no doubt), and in the event that they fail to do so, do not under any circumstances allow yourselves to be drawn any deeper into a debate (which the McCain campaign plainly wants to have) over the relative qualifications and accomplishments of Barack Obama and the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Nothing that's happened this week has changed the fact that it's going to be very, very hard for the Democrats to lose a race between Obama and McCain -- and as a result, the Obama-Biden ticket has vastly more to gain from changing the subject away from Sarah Palin than they do from placing her candidacy, her qualifications and her background front and center in this race."

LEST WE FORGET: Apparently, Op-Ed Writers Don't Always Mean What They Write...

Gawker's Moe Tkacik:

"Today America's prose stylingist pundit Peggy Noonan wrote a column about how all the 'inside the Beltway' 'chattering classes and political strategists and inside dopesters of the Amtrak Acela Line' were 'Bubbleheads' who were bound to 'misjudge' how well Sarah Palin would play in the 'nation of Wasillas' wherein she could potentially prove a 'brilliant' and 'magic' 'transformative political presence' if she avoided the nasty Republicans with 'no interest in protecting or advancing her.' Then our favorite brilliant and magical former Reagan speechwriter went on TV and apparently assuming no one was listening besides fellow Bubble Resident Mike Murphy basically called Palin an unmitigated disaster on the part of bubbleheaded Republican operatives who 'always fail' when they pull this sort of 'bullshit.' You stay chattering classy, Pegs."

Posted by Ian Faerstein at September 4, 2008 01:43 PM