A GUIDED TOUR OF SARAH PALIN'S HOMETOWN

PALIN: PIT BULL

What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lip stick.

-Sarah Palin


I imagine Sarah Palin's RNC address surprised a lot of people. She and her entire family have suffered a week of relentless media attacks, yet tonight, she spoke confidently, assertively, and passionately in a major speech that accomplished four vital tasks:

1. She defended herself, her family, her state, and her values.
   
2. She aligned herself with small town, working class America. From this point forward, as far as the GOP will have voters believe, an attack on Sarah Palin is an attack on rural, working class American values.
3. She vigorously attacked Barack Obama, rehashing his infamous "bitter" comment in San Francisco, mocking him as a celebrity, and furthering the claim that he is an elitist.
4. She evoked admiration for John McCain, breathing fresh life into his P.O.W. mythology.

The bar for Sarah Palin was not set that high, and she took advantage of that fact tonight with a speech that most certainly defied almost all expectations.

The Democrats are in a pickle--Sarah Palin has circumvented their early attacks. She can level harsh criticisms against the Democratic ticket, and at this point, they can't do much to refute her without seeming to alienate an entire, vital demographic.

Sarah Palin created a persona tonight that will be a huge boon for the Republicans. This could spell danger for the Democrats if they don't find a way to neutralize her rhetoric.

TUESDAY MORNING READING: THE PALIN PICK

The New York times reports today that John McCain may have been a little careless about vetting Sarah Palin before appointing her to be his running mate:

"Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice."

A little hasty? You be the judge.

Palin: Dynamite, or Dud?

At several weekend gatherings, I had the chance to discuss Sarah Palin with a wide variety of progressive voters. The opinions I heard were all some variation of, Worst possible pick for McCain.

At the same time, I have to think that there has to be some method to this seemingly mad decision. I have to believe that the people in charge of such decisions must have more information than I do. So allow me to speculate on what I feel are the three major advantages of having Palin on the ticket.

First of all, Palin can mobilize disaffected voters and register new ones. The GOP can only count on a tiny handful of angry HRC supporters to defect to the Republican ticket. But there are thousands of Republican women who were probably going to sit on the sidelines for this election. Now perhaps they have a reason to vote. Ditto with evangelicals. Likewise, while the Democrats have seen surging voter registration, the Palin pick at least allows the GOP to try and recruit some young Republicans from college campuses around the country. This may be hard for some of you to believe, especially if you are reading this blog from one of the coasts, but I teach at a large, Midwestern university, crawling with thousands and thousands of young conservatives with energy to spare.

Secondly, Palin can make people pay attention. Before this pick, how many people were really going to tune into the Republican convention? How many were going to watch the Vice-Presidential debate? Palin is a strange, possibly foolish choice. But an exciting one for a lot of voters. This election just got a lot weirder (read: more historic) and millions of people will tune in to watch. Right now, the McCain camp needs every minute of face time that they can get with the American people, and Palin brings a lot of attention to the campaign--certainly more than Tom Pawlenty would have.

Lastly, Palin brings two secret ingredients to the ticket: Biography and Change. Presidential campaigns--particularly this one--are all about biography. Which candidate can we root for? Which candidate can we identify with? You might think that Palin might not fit either of these criteria--but let's face it, you are reading an Obama blog right now. Wrap your mind around the idea that there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who are thrilled with Palin, excited by the prospect of having someone in the White House who shares their values.

This election has been boiled down to one issue: Change. Until last Friday, if you wanted Change, you needed to vote Obama/Biden. Now, at least it appears, Republican voters can get that change without defecting from their party.

It may not be the sort of Change with a capital C that Barack Obama has been talking about for years now, but it's change nonetheless, even if only superficial change. For plenty of GOP voters, it might be enough to convince them that it's worth coming out to vote in this election. That alone could be dangerous.

Sarah Palin, Game Changer?

You have to hand it to the Republicans--they wasted no time stealing the show. John McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Will the 44-year-old Republican rising star be a game changer?

• She is the first female candidate on a GOP presidential ticket, possibly appealing to disgruntled Hillary supporters who prioritize putting a female in a higher office over individual issues.

• She is strongly against abortion rights and gay marriage, which could galvanize the Republican evangelical base.

• She is strongly in favor of opening up Alaska to drilling and pipeline construction, placing priority on balancing environmental sustainability with economic development, which earn the GOP points on energy, if not the environment.

• Most importantly, she is a relative unknown, and just about as far from Washington as you can get, which could help convince dissatisfied Republicans that change--the mantra of this election--could actually stem from the GOP.

At very least, this is going to draw a wide audience to the GOP convention next week, an event that would have been widely ignored by most Americans. Palin has actually been a personal favorite of right-wing numbnut Rush Limbaugh, who as early as February called for Palin to join the ticket.

Here's a choice Rush Limbaugh exchange from that February 28th show:

RUSH: Sarah Palin. Okay.

CALLER: Yep. She's been heralded throughout the state as being personable, likable, intelligent, strong, and conservative. And she crosses over from conservative to liberalism not in thought, but because she stands by what she believes in. And, surprisingly enough, she has been at the forefront of ethics reform in our great state --

RUSH: Yeah, plus she's a housewife, before that, she's a babe. I saw a picture.

CALLER: (laughing)

RUSH: Well, it's undeniable.

CALLER: Well, it is undeniable, and that's why the paradox is there for me. I think that because she's intelligent, number one, conservative maybe number one also, but she is photogenic, she is likable, she is engaging. When you meet her, she is interested in you, she speaks well.

RUSH: By the way, wait a second. I'm not diminishing any of those things by pointing out that she's a babe.

CALLER: Oh, no, no, no.

RUSH: The babe is the icing on the cake aspect, something the Democrats can't claim on their side.

CALLER: Exactly, especially when the highest Democrat that you can speak of is Mrs. Bill Clinton.

RUSH: You said it, not I. I just advanced the theory.

CALLER: Well, I can tell you that Governor Palin doesn't have to lift her chin up to 12 o'clock to get a good photo of her.

RUSH: I just love you. I love you, Julie. I love listening to women talk about other women like this.

CALLER: I am not berating Mrs. Bill Clinton, I am just --

RUSH: No, of course not. You are elevating Madam Palin.

CALLER: (laughing) Exactly.

RUSH: Absolutely.

CALLER: She can't take a bad picture not even from the back end.

RUSH: (laughing) She can't take a bad picture even from the back end. All of which you say is true.

Yeesh. To think that Rush Limbaugh has been the shepherd of the right in this nation for more than two decades. Wow. I think I need another cup of coffee and an aspirin.

Stay tuned...just when you thought this election could not get more historic...it did.

BIDEN DELIVERS!

Joe Biden put to rest any doubts. Delivering the most scathing attacks on John McCain so far, Biden led cheers that McCain would only be "more of the same." He warned that four more years of Bush/McCain politics could set American back a decade, and repeated emphatically that on every major national security issue of the past six years, John McCain was wrong, and Barack Obama has been proven right.

During one light moment of the speech, Biden warned the audience about "voting for Bush--McCain--," and calling the error a "Freudian slip," much to the amusement of the DNC audience.

Obama joined Biden and his wife on stage at the end of the speech, gearing up the audience for what should prove to be an historic climax at Mile High Stadium tomorrow night. It took three days to pass the torch, but now that he has it, the White House is within reach.

He Chooses Old Washington: What Makes Obama/Biden the Winning Ticket?

I definitely wasn't the first to know.

I don't how how the Obama campaign managed to fumble the "Be the First to Know" campaign, but that's another story all together--we all know now that it's going to be Delaware Senator Joe Biden. He has many strengths for reasons that I won't belabor here...foreign policy experience, a generally liberal voting record, as well as blue-collar, Catholic roots that will be helpful in states like his native Pennsylvania. (He's originally from Scranton, by the way.)

While all of this is nice, his veteran status in the Senate, while providing a nice balance to Obama, is contrary to the campaign's message of change. You would need to look at either Hillary Clinton or Ted Kennedy to find a Democratic Senator who is more of an insider than Biden. Choosing Joe Biden meant that Bracack Obama chose "Old Washington."

Biden voted to authorize the invasion of Iraq, a vote that Obama has repeatedly criticized as irresponsible, although it's worth mentioning that Biden has been a fierce critic of the Bush administration's mishandling of both wars.

Lastly, Biden has a history of unbelievable verbal gaffes, many of which we are certain to see replayed through the weekend. Hopefully, the news networks get all of these out of their system shortly, so that we can move on to the here and now.

Overall, Biden is a safe choice. At his age, he's not likely to seek the office of the president himself--an interesting trend developing. There is plenty to criticize, but at this point, if the McCain camp is going to spend time and dollars trying to bring down Biden, it's not likely to be money well spent. Campaigns are rarely made or broken by the VP, and Biden might serve as something of a decoy for the McCain campaign, while providing many Americans with a sense of security that there will be some of the "Old Washington" in the Oval Office.

BlueTicket: Barack Obama and Tim Kaine?

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is emerging near the top of Barack Obama's list of VP picks. Here are a couple quick clicks for more information:

• Tim Kaine @ The Washington Post
  
• Tim Kaine @ Wikipedia
  

Frustrating finance...

So HRC can swallow her pride and get along with Obama. Does that mean he (read: his supporters) should forgive her debts? She should be paid for her cooperation with larger party goals? Should future candidates be encouraged to spend recklessly knowing that at least their opponent might pay for their mismanaged campaigns?

It's all the evidence I need that our system is broken. I speak for a lot of Obama supporters when I say that I didn't pledge much, but it was what I could, and now to see potentially $10 million handed over to old-school Clinton loyalist media groups, well, that's upsetting.

Is it too much to ask that my $50 will be spent promoting Barack Obama?

At least Bubba is out of the country, back to his foundation work. So he can go from heaping criticism and lewd remarks toward Obama on a daily basis, and then shift rhetoric to talking about global poverty. Very ex-presidential. Witness Clinton returning to his assumed role as this sort of hyper-powerful global CEO with no accountability. I think he could probably raise that $10 million himself with just a few speaking engagements.