-The crowd loves her, no doubt about that.
-She looks confident, and her delivery solid.
-So far, however, it is has been about McCain. We know about McCain. We need to hear about her.
-Now we have transitioned into some personal stuff.
-A lot of the bio stuff (apart from introducing the family has been a bit vague to this point).
-To this point I am not thinking “Vice Presidential.” Not that she isn’t giving the speech well, it is just to this point that I am not sure what she has said to this point to make the argument that she is ready to be president should the need arise.
-The close-up of the youngest daughter with the baby are quite cute. She is clearly not listening to Mom.
-Palin is likable, that much I think is clear from the speech. However, I am still not sure that she is making a case to be VP.
-BTW, have I mentioned that she reminds me of Bonnie Hunt?
-She tosses out some of the ever-popular red meat on Obama.
-Yes, the jet on eBay story is pretty good.
-Look, McCain deserves credit for what he went through in Hanoi, but does every speech have to mention the ordeal?
-The speech is longer than I expected (I wasn’t the only one to notice, it would seem).
Basic initial reaction: she comported herself better than I expected. She was pretty dynamic, and this speech will further solidify her popularity with the base. I remain unconvinced, however, that the speech will do anything to reach out to voters outside that base. She praised McCain, attacked Obama and told us some of her bio, but did not make the case that she is ready to be the president should a tragedy befall a President McCain. I thought she needed to do that, but then again, no one called to consult with me, either.
The transcript of the speech can be seen here.
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September 3rd, 2008 at 10:23 pm
…but did not make the case that she is ready to be the president should a tragedy befall a President McCain.
Refresh my memory…did Biden make a similar case? Or are we just to presume that since he’s been in the Senate longer than most Americans have been alive, he must be ready to be President?
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Attack is the only way to describe this speech. We didn’t learn anything about her philosophy, her intellect or her ideas. She just offered personal mean-spirited jabs. Watching a crowd of self-righteous conservatives cheer a “Christian” woman as she denigrates an admirable man is nauseating. Republicans showed their true colors. America should be very afraid.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Boyd,
To me, it is irrelevant as to what Biden did or didn’t do, as I am trying to evaluate Palin’s speech here, not Biden’s.
But, if you want to go there, in terms of Biden, fair or not, I don’t think that he was in a position to have to do that.
Of course, if Palin had multiple decades in elected office, then we wouldn’t be asking these questions of her, would we?
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I believe the speech would have been better executed if she wrote it herself. I fell asleep waiting to hear about her plans for the economy and the struggles America faces right now. I must say that I was distracted by her baby which should have been in bed. I only now realized that the majority of the crowd were older folks, were the young people and black Americans participating in the protest?
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:40 pm
I have to disagree. This might in fact be the last political commentary I make for a good long time, at least in these parts.
Palin did everything - everything - that she could possibly have done with her spot. In fact, she did much more than I thought possible for a VP speech.
It was by far the bravest speech I’ve seen a politician deliver in my lifetime. Tear me a new one if you want to - but I’ve never seen anything like that. Ever.
Palin took the change ball away from Obama, and told her to meet him at the playground at noon if he wants it back. And to bring all of his friends. She absolutely threw down the gauntlet and picked a fight.
I like this woman, and based solely on what I know of her governorship and her speech tonight, I would have no more qualms about her being president than McCain, Obama, or Biden. She is at least as fit as they are, and I think is more fit than some.
Furthermore - with the exception of the 60’s era uber-feminists, she is going to appeal to an awful lot of female voters. I’m not talking about the women who teach womens studies on college campuses; I’m talking about the rest of the women in America.
I didn’t really understand what McCain was thinking in picking her fully until I saw her speech. The republicans just shot a huge hole in the democrats’ balloon. They now have to try and figure out how to plug the hole up, or they are going to continue to lose air every day between now and November.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:19 am
Dr. Steve,
What could or should she have said last night that would have resolved the issue of “readiness” for you? This is an honest question and not a snide remark.
Everyone assumes that McCain has one foot in the grave and Sarah is going to have to move into the WH before Cindy even gets unpacked.
The argument is that she isn’t ready for VP because of lack of experience but Obama is ready (and oh, by the way, he got a guy who sat in on alot of foreign policy meetings so don’t worry folks about that teeney matter of the rest of the world out to get us).
I felt it last night, that thing people say happens once in a generation, that thing where my heart was busting open with pride and tears were streaming down my face with joy. She is what we have been waiting for. Some were praying she would be Eagleton. Not! She isn’t Quayle by a long shot. She is, dare I say, Reagan. Not Reaganesque or Reagan-like or Reagan wannabe. She never said his name. But I felt the wave crash over me that McCain had the judgement (and lack of self ego) to pick this woman because he saw it too.
ps. Captain D - great post. Love the playground remark!
September 4th, 2008 at 6:59 am
Ohio Granny,
I would have liked to have heard something about the actual job of being Vice President. I would have liked to have heard a direct confrontation of the idea that should a tragedy befall the president that she would be ready to lead the country in such a trying time. I would have liked to have heard her address broader issues of the problems facing the country. I would have liked to have gotten a better idea of what her actual governing philosophy is.
Yes, a tall order, but she wants a very important job but I think that as a voter I have the right to ask, as part of her job interview, if you will, the tough questions.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Dr. Steve,
Please reread the speech. All that is in there. Her governing style is the style of a govenor, like actually being a governor, of a state, and reforming it. She has a track record.
What makes Joe Biden ready? What makes Obama ready? I heard the MSNBC crowd saying no one asked her the hard questions, but what hard questions have they ever asked Obama? They whined that they couldn’t get at her for 5 days but for 5 months or longer, Obama refused all interviews, refused all questions, thought he could do the wave and smile dodge.
Ask the same questions of the other ticket that you are asking of her.
Did she address our energy needs? Check. Did she address job loss and home loss? Check. Did you want the same laundry list of tired ideas floated by Obama?
Since when is the VP the person who has to make all the policies decisions at the convention? She said Veto power works. And as VP, her job will be to sit in the Senate in case they need that tie breaker. And I’m fairly sure she is going to report back to the boss all the schenanagens (sp?).
My first thought is this: Alot of old guys are going to retire next time around because McCain knows where the bodies are buried. They can retire in dignity, or Sarah will be gunning for them. And that is what America wants. Not promises of reform, but real reform.
My second thought is this: Barack Obama woo’d a crowd when he was “The One” but now, he isn’t just ONE. He’s the top half of the two, and his bottom half is an old white guy who was one of the most partisan politicans in the Senate with no real accomplishments and alot of dirty tricks and back stabbing that the GOP won’t let him forget. For a campaign that calls itself the New Politics, and claims to be bipartisan, these 2 guys have no record of reaching across the isle.
For the first time in my political life, I believe DC can get shook up. That was what was in that speech.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Ohio Granny,
I was little doubt that I will rehash the speech from several angles.
However, I disagree that what you say is there is, in fact, there. I do think that the speech will reassure the base. I am not sure it will go beyond that, however.
And I am not trying to be harsh or anything else in saying the following: the issue for me here and now is not Obama or Biden, but Palin. In assessing Palin it really matters not one whit what one can say about the other actors in the race. It is a natural place to go (as did Boyd above) but right now I am interested in assessing Palin.
Although, to bring Obama into it for a moment, it is ironic to me that many have decided that Palin is qualified because of one speech, when we have been told by Obama opponents that we shouldn’t be impressed by nice speeches.
(And I am not an Obama booster, despite what one might otherwise think).
September 4th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Dr. Steve,
Only you know your gut reaction. Honestly, I have high regard for your opinions so I guess I am persuaded to try to persuade you because I think you, and Rove, and Krauthammer are too “inside the beltway” to see what a granny from Ohio sees in this woman, this choice for VP.
Since I’m part of that base that needed to be excited, and I really was going to sit on my hands this year in spite of the threat of an Obama presidency, then I am also tone deaf to what is going to play to middle of the road or slightly loc voters.
I can only tell you that I believe she appealed to Reagan democrats. I believe she appealed to Americans from small towns. I believe she came out swinging (back) and that is her number one qualifier for being POTUS in the event she needs to step up. She stepped up.
I can’t compare her speech to the Biden speech? Or to any other VP speech. What bar are you setting for her?
“Traditionally, the VP speech is an attack on the other side.” That’s what I read at another pol analyst site. But she was supposed to give us a resume, explain in detail the GOP platform, and tell us how long McCain is going to live?
What strawman arguement is it that McCain dies and Obama lives? If we really thought he was going to croak in months, not years, why even bother to nominate him?
September 4th, 2008 at 8:39 am
I am not saying that you can’t compare her to Biden. I am saying that one can’t assess the speech by saying “but Biden didn’t do x, y, or z”–that, to me, isn’t relevant to what happened last night. Clearly, over the long haul comparisons to Biden will be quite relevant.
and yes: VP speeches are typically attack speeches. But, and this is the main issue here: most vp nominees have been nationally known for more than a week before those attacks start. Palin’s debut on the national stage was last Friday, and her resume is empirically short. She has a lot to prove–she wants a rather important job. It is hardly a strawman to consider the possibility that McCain could die in office (as any president could). It is not unreasonable to think what it would be like for Palin to actually be taking the oath of office in the context of a crisis (the only way that she would be taking it).
Look, if a pro football team hired a new coach who had a few years as a high school coach, and then two seasons as a IAA head coach, people would be wondering what the deal was. Sure, the guy might be a prodigy and ready to rock, but somehow I think fans of that team would want to be reassured that the new coach was ready for the big leagues.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Yes, time will tell. She is new to the biggest stage of all.
Let me, once again, say that I don’t think it was her job to say, at this point, “Hey America, as soon as John McCain croaks, this is how I will govern”.
If she were a man coming on to the national stage, like say, the governor of Arkansas, or the govenor of Georgia, no one would be questioning her right to fight for top of the ticket. But because she is “new”, unlike some guy who only spent a few months in the Senate but gave a great keynote speech in 2004, then she must be ready on day one to take over as POTUS, instead of the job she is applying for as VP.
Well Dr. Steve, get out of your own bubble and go to the small town of New Philadelphia,Ohio where Obama spoke yesterday, and ask the people at the car wash what they thought. Because I know people in New Philadelphia, and they are thinking she makes them think, or re-think, their choices this election. Her introduction to the world stage aroused them and made them stand on their chairs screaming at the TV with Power to the People and Right On comments.
Time for me to concentrate on laundry and floor mopping and grocery shopping, so I won’t be posting more comments.
Hope I at least gave you another point of view. Thanks for your thoughts.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Let me, once again, say that I don’t think it was her job to say, at this point, “Hey America, as soon as John McCain croaks, this is how I will govern”.
I am not I would put it that way, but I do think that it is a question that requires addressing in some way.
And trust me: I live and work in a locale where I suspect that Palin’s speech will be well received.
There is a difference, however, between how specific individuals react and what the aggregate response will be in the electorate. This is really my point.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Dr. Steve,
Know I said I wasn’t going to say more, but I wanted to share with you more from my family who are life long Democrats, who saw or heard the New Philadelphia speech and then the Palin speech.
They did feel he was clean and articulate. They pulled the lever for Hilliary in the primaries, but he’s no Hilliary. They said they were uncomfortable with his attacks on McCain, because he hasn’t earned the right to attack a man who did serve his country as well as McCain, all politics aside.
They said they thought he was a guy who would be light in the loafers when it came to slugging it out with American enemies. They said he wouldn’t know a cow patty from a clump of dirt and he didn’t appear to be a guy who knew sweat or getting dirty as it relates to “work”, “hard work” and “honest work”.
They said they voted Democrat in spite of the whole abortion thing but they knew people who felt that was important.
Most importantly, they said they would do boiler makers with Hilliary in a heartbeat and they’d look forward to chugging beers with Sarah, but they think, no, feel, that they are being asked to Vote Obama only because he is a black guy and it would make history and oh, by the way, he’s also a democrat. And that they hated being called racists!
They tell me that this is old Jimmy Carter politics that didn’t work then and they don’t want a repeat now. So, it is nothing new here for them.
Sarah is fresh and honest and pretty much them. She went straight to their hearts.
I promise, I’ll try to contain myself but I just wanted to share that with you.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
No need to contain yourself.
And, I have no doubt that there are a number of people who reacted well to the speech. My wife liked it, for example, and reacted quite well to Palin herself last night.
We’ll see what that means in the long term, which is my point.
Indeed, that was my point from the beginning. Just like last Friday and Saturday a lot of people were excited and then a bit worried by Monday afternoon, I would submit that it is too early to make final judgments.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
To me she came off as not confident, and as if reading a speech that was mostly prepared before the reader had been selected.
Anyway, speeches are not important, as the Reps like to remind us at every step about Mr Inspirational himself. (I actually thought that was kind of stupid of the VP candidate’s speech to refer to Obama derisively as being inspirational, as though there’s something wrong with that.)
And I was positively offended by the derision she heaped on Obama by wondering what he would do after “turning back the waters and healing the planet.” I mean, offended as a Jew. Whether the speech-writers were too ignorant or not to know it, I do not know. But every Jew’s mandate in this life is tikkun olam, which is sometimes translated as “healing the world.” Obama’s references to this concept, like his past work as a community organizer (also a target of Palin’s derision) is precisely why Obama resonates with Jews, the scurrilous attacks that have been floated around our community notwithstanding. (He would be the “first Jewish president” in the same way Clinton was famously described as “the first black president”!)
That line in her speech just touched a nerve very badly. I suspect I was not the only one, though I will concede that anyone for whom that nerve was touched is unlikely to vote for this ticket in any case.
Anyway, if she was put on the ticket to be Ms Derision, mission accomplished.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
[...] that is much of what I was getting at when I stated that the speech didn’t help us know what kind of VP she would be (and, by [...]