Now That's A Convention Speech

A couple of days ago I said that Palin’s speech Wednesday night was no longer big, it was HUGE.

Pregnant daughters, organizations promoting secession, DUI’s, improper firings, blah blah blah blah blah.

The avalanche of negative press surrounding Palin was historical. Think about it. Even Dan Quayle, the previous record-holder for media battering, didn’t have this type of smear directed his way in such a short and concise period.

And quite frankly, it is all genius.

How? Let’s quickly look at the past week.

Thursday: Obama breaks all standing records for self-congratulation and delivers a speech of epic emptiness to, appropriately, 80 thousand empty-headed worshippers.

Friday: Palin is announced as VP. The world is talking about Sarah Palin. Even the previously mentioned empty-headers can’t help themselves.

Saturday: Internet rumors swirl about “trooper-gate”, “AIP”, “DUI”, and that baby Trig’s mother is not Sarah, but Bristol.

Sunday: The news programs and papers start hammering away. “She’s an unfit mother!” “She has no experience!” Even Obama plays in, ignoring her experience as governor and claiming he has more experience because he manages a campaign (he does not) and she only has been mayor of a small town. The sharks continue to circle.

Monday morning: Bristol Palin is preggers. Shit storm ignites. “Trooper-gate”, “AIP”, “DUI”, “unfit mother”, “no experience” – there’s nothing else in the media except for anti-Palin. Where is Sarah? She is no where to be found. Thusly, it keeps up. The storm increases. “UNWED MOTHERS” “TROOPER GATE” “AIP” “DUI” “UNFIT MOTHER” “NO EXPERIENCE!!!!!”

Tuesday: The convention resumes. The attacks remain. Sarah Palin is still no where to be found.

Wednesday: The buzz is building. The reclusive Sarah is speaking tonight. Everyone is talking… Where has she been? What will she say? How will she handle it? Still, she is silent, ignoring even friendly press questions at the walk through on the stage.

Wednesday Night: Confidence. Charm. Strength. Composure. A party invigorated. A nation abuzz.

Thursday: Not a paper in the country without Sarah Palin’s face on the front page. The consensus: HOMERUN. And the shit storm from Monday and Tuesday? A retraction from the New York Times. The rest? It was relegated to one line in a stories that highlight the woman, highlight the speech, and rather than give credence to the smears, focus on how she overcame them.

So, how did it all happen? The GOP played their cards brilliantly. They knew of the troubles when they appointed her. They let the press run wild. The press had nothing else to report about Sarah Palin aside from the negative. Then, by Wednesday morning it all ready started to run its cycle and die off as the actual speech took, well, center stage. By Wednesday night, the smears were an afterthought. By Thursday morning, they are a side note. By Friday morning, after McCain’s speech, we’ve got ourselves a race.

The campaign begins Friday. The campaign bumps in the polls will have evened themselves out. And the shitstorm is old news. They let it build, they let it die, they buried it with a MONSTER speech. And America was watching. Over 37 million people tuned it to watch a VP candidate deliver her speech. A VP candidate almost matched “the messiah’s” numbers.

And what about that speech?

From the moment she took the stage, she dominated the arena. People could not take their eyes off her. She walked on to the stage and when the cheers finally died down, she made it clear that she was in control. No more press, no more bloggers, no more liberal smear machine. It was the Sarah Palin show. In mere moments, there wasn’t a single doubt, from even the most jaded critic who harped on her lack of experience, that she belonged on that stage. Every single comment over the past week about her inexperience was instantly trumped. Sarah Palin smothered them. She did it with wit, she did it with charm, she did it with force…but most of all, she did it with a confidence and a level of composure that matched or bested even the very best and most seasoned politicians that Washington DC has to offer.

She dominated in a way that McCain can’t do, in a way that GWB can’t do, in a way that Dole or GHWB never could do. You see where I’m going with this. It’s been a long time since someone from the GOP has taken the stage and performed like that, and the slightly tired and ambivalent base watched it and were enlivened by it.

I’m not saying that Palin is the next you-know-who. I’m just saying that on this night, the Great Communicator is up there smiling.

So, what does it all mean? Is she the answer to Obama’s eloquence? Is she the sparkplug that will awaken a dormant party? Will she inspire women voters? Will average Americans flock to her, seeing more of themselves in her than they do in the elitist, Obama?

The Dems are hoping not. But as of today, they’ve got a lot to worry about because the smear gun is quickly running out of ammo…and now they have to face her.

With Friends Like These...

Dear Diddy,

Thank you very very very much. Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

John McCain

A BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING

I set out to write a post this morning about the pros and cons of the Palin pick, one that in my opinion was a great move and will prove to be the one of the best moves in recent political history.
But then, while perusing the Fox News website hoping for good Gustav news and thusly good convention news, they broke the story that Palin’s 17 year old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant.
I’m now having a hard time writing my glowing article.
In fact, I have to be completely honest when I say that my first thought was the reaction of the voters if Palin announced that she must be with her family through this tough time and stepped down. I’m not counting that out right now, but after considering it and allowing a cooler head to prevail, I realize that it may be more problematic than if they attack it head on.
Palin’s appointment rallied the conservatives. Donations have skyrocketed. That all-important “buzz” is finally surrounding the McCain campaign. How will this news affect that? How will the campaign spin it?
Are we now fucked?
Is my opinion of Palin different now than it was yesterday, or earlier this morning even? Not at all. Teenagers are idiots. I know I was. Let’s not pretend that teenage sex doesn’t happen.
What I’m concerned about is the reaction of the public. We know that the dems will do their typical hypocritical horseshit, suddenly becoming bastions of family values and berating Palin’s parenting (and surely telling us that gay parents could do it better). My real concern, though, is will the energy, the buzz, the feeling of “holy shit, we can win this thing!” go away? Will the conservative base become ambivalent again? And more importantly, the swing voters who were all of a sudden leaning toward McCain now sprinting back in the other direction?
This is now a really big week. And I mean REALLY big. It was big before, but now it’s fucking huge. How are they going to play this? The McCain camp has said that they knew of Bristol’s pregnancy prior to the appointment, which makes me think either they have a great plan for it, or they are simply out of their fucking minds. Either way, I’ve gotta believe that the idea of sending her to a cabin in the far reaches of the Frontier state and not mentioning her again until November 5th had to have crossed their minds. But these things never stay secret and they always come out and when they do, the fallout is always worse. So maybe this is the correct course of action. Get it out there early and move on. Maybe she’ll become more compelling, allowing her to have an even bigger stage when she speaks on Wednesday, and give her even more of a chance to win people over.
Back to the glowing post, she can deliver a speech. She is tough, she is beautiful, she is extremely interesting to even the most nonchalant of political participants. If she can put together a real homerun of a speech, in front of an intently focused crowd, will she solve her own problem?
Like I said, this week is now HUGE. I really hope that on Thursday I can come back here and write that glowing article that I intended to write this morning.