Great ... another mascot ... 1st Bush the cheerleader, now Palin the beauty queen.

She seems to have forgotten that Obama has had other jobs besides community organizer. Maybe someone can remind her.

And what exactly were her most important responsibilities in her small town? Firing people who made her donors unhappy? Trying to ban books? Getting the town into debt over an underused sports complex?

Oh -- and she'll blow the roof off. She has her fan club there and her broadcast journalism training and some lines that will make them very, very happy.

Look, the speech is appalling--read the damned thing. Avoid tuning in. Her delivery is incidental to reality.

This speech is "Checker's II," with fetus supplanting cocker spaniel.

Push back the media spin!!! This isn't even her speech. To paraphrase McCain: Today we are all robots. Her true "policies" are chilling.

Republicans will have their night. No doubt.

But personally, I'm looking forward to driving this Bush clone into the ground in this election. No more social conservatives!

Right as usual, Steve.

This speech will be easy for her because it's a totally supportive environment where everyone will cheer whatever she says.

Democrats in general and Biden in particular will have to pay close attention to the claims she makes and hold her feet to the fire later on specifics that undermine those claims. All while being polite and respectful. Not an easy task, IMHO, but Joe is up to it.

Right as usual, Steve.

This speech will be easy for her because it's a totally supportive environment where everyone will cheer whatever she says.

Democrats in general and Biden in particular will have to pay close attention to the claims she makes and hold her feet to the fire later on specifics that undermine those claims. All while being polite and respectful. Not an easy task, IMHO, but Joe is up to it.

Palin is smart and a good speaker, she will probably do well tonight if she can keep her nose from growing. Republicans eat this "I am just from small town" crap up with a spoon, in part becasue so many of them are from rural areas.

Sarah Palin reminds me a great deal of George W. Bush -- underwhelming qualifications, overwhelming confidence. It's a combination that makes exceeding expectations pretty easy. —Steve Benen

Perhaps, but I don't think she's going to last much past the convention as the VP candidate. She's already being investigated in Alaska and I'm pretty confident that more at least questionable details about her family and/or her term as mayor will come to light within a week's time.

Her choice as VP reminds me a lot of Shrub's nominating Myers for the Supreme Court. You can have a do-over for something like that and it doesn't much matter. But once you dump a VP choice, you're candidacy is pretty much over.

I don't think any Democrat has bought into the low expectations. Jesus, all she has to do is read a speech off a teleprompter in front of a friendly audience? The low expectations as such were unavoidable for someone who has such a low national profile. Nothing we could do about it.

But here's a little news flash

I hope that she starts jabbing her finger at the audience like she did on Friday. It makes her look awful and confrontational.

She's going to attack Obama? Ha, ha, ha, ha. Seriously? The mayor of Dogpatch? Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Oh wait, the Republicans truly believe she's more experienced than McCain? They are idiots.

Obama's reponse to Palin:

BRING IT!

She's going to wow them tonight for sure. They will love her.

I have a feeling she won't stay on the ticket very long though. Too many reporters and there's too much baggage in tow.

Blame the media? Bring it on. Rule #1 in politics: Never bring a knife to a gunfight.

The media will destroy her and McSame. Look what they did today to every GOP slag on CNN, just because McCain dissed Larry King.

At the end of the day, she is still a power-abusing, pork-loving, education-hating Winger. Some people may be entranced for a little while, but the McCain campaign is on the defensive, and nothing she says tonight will stick with swing voters, who already view her as a corrupt liar. I can't even tell you how happy I am to see Republicans on the defensive for once in my life. No one deserves it more than McCain, and he is throwing a public hissy fit over it too, which enriches the experience exponentially.

BRING IT!

She's going to wow them tonight for sure. They will love her.

I have a feeling she won't stay on the ticket very long though. Too many reporters and there's too much baggage in tow.

Blame the media? Bring it on. Rule #1 in politics: Never bring a knife to a gunfight.

The media will destroy her and McSame. Look what they did today to every GOP slag on CNN, just because McCain dissed Larry King.

what's worse is having a bunch successful business women and politicians introduce her, any of whom would have been a better veep choice.
The perils of identity politics. I guess the irony escapes them all.

This, on the other hand is too early for the convention open thread, but I hope some of you heard the speeches by the 'token black Republican official' and the Puerto Rican delegate. Michael Williams may have given one of the dumbest speeches ever, and Fortunato gave a great speech on 'oil independence' -- except he didn't realize that the policies he was praising were Obama's, not McCain's.

As for Palin's speech, I'll listen -- and expect her to do a good job rhetorically. If I liked 'drinking games' I'd also take a shot every provable lie she tells -- but then you wouldn't hear from me until next Wednesday -- oh stop cheering and urging me on.

small town
family values
life
walked the talk
energy independence
fought corruption
McCain the heroic change agent (quick change artist)
national security
nattering nabobs of the press
conflate dems, bad press, bad bloggers -- enemies of country first and defenders of the status quo
Oh yeah, almost forgot God.

Very predictable. All delivered in a strong but grating voice.

But still will not prevent her from shattering the floor -- of McCain's credibility.

Just to be clear - there's nothing missing from my post above. She's beneath notice. It doesn't matter how often she self-importantly she tries to compare herself to the top of the Democratic ticket. She's at the bottom, and wouldn't be there except that the top of the Republican ticket is grossly unqualified to choose which tie goes with his socks, let alone a candidate for VP.

Sorry Steve, I'm with Felix on this one. I haven't heard anyone say that she's going to mess up reading off a teleprompter. Bit of a false narrative that one.

The question is will her speech change anything? I kind of doubt it. She's a competent performer and she'll be enthusiastically received. But she's unlikely to convert anyone and one more juicy story breaking from Alaska will drown out the media follow-on from her own speech.

what's worse is having a bunch of successful business women and female politicians introduce her, any of whom would have been a valid veep choice.
The perils of identity politics .... I guess the irony escapes them all.

Ah-- and her followers are going to start shouting, "Yes, we can!" Whatcha bet?

Almost all of the Republicans that are interviewed speak of how Palin's nomination has brought energy into the arena that they did not expect to be there because the party faithful do not really like McCain. Its remarkable to me how this feeling was not covered extensively in the lead-up to the convention the way the Hillary\Obama split was. And, despite this, the Repub's have the balls to argue that the press is unfair to them. God help us.

I haven't read one democratic or progressive blog that has not said she will exceed expectations. I'm interested in finding out where you've seen these comments. I'm sure she will be a hit with the crowd and the media. That's how it's being spun everywhere. And that's why I'm not watching (I also can't stand the sound of her voice). The script is written. If she doesn't fall or vomit on stage she will be seen as reenergizing the convention and the party. And all you bloggers are obediently following the script. And tomorrow the so-called progressives will wring their hands and talk about how we're all doomed. It's become so tiresomely predictable. I'm glad that Obama won't be headed toward the fainting couch with the rest of you. I WISH THE PROGRESSIVES WOULD MAN UP.

What complete bullshit. Every fucking word of those excerpts is complete bullshit. Somebody needs to grab these people by the head and scream in their faces: YOU'RE DELUSIONAL.

Does anybody out there actually believe she wrote a word of it? She's a puppet for these GOP bastards, just like Bush has been and just like McCain has become. She's just a storyline they can use to add a new element to their image. She has nothing else to offer, and they don't need her to offer anything else. Just read the script, seem enthusiastic doing it, and hope to pull a snow job on the idiots at the ballot box — again. Sickening.

As with debates, the only people who watch are those who have already made up their minds. The important thing is whether the news media report this as a success or a failure. I have no doubt they will have received talking points by the morning. I'm hopeful some are still upset by the "blame the media" theme, but frankly most of them play along, pretending that they actually are the awful liberal media.

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

Tell me about it. Between banning books at the local library, waging the culture wars at the municipal level, and lobbying Congress for unneeded pork projects and yet somehow leaving each of your residents with $3000 in civic debt ... where does a woman find the time to go moose hunting?

The idea that she had "responsibilities" as mayor is laughable. I live in a town twice the size of Wasilla and we don't even have a mayor.

If the McCain camp had any sense (or maybe just any decency), they would just try to brush under the rug the experience issue they played up so much. I'm feeling an eerie sense of deja vu, does this remind anyone else of how George W. the draft dodger managed to paint himself as a strong wartime president and his opponent John Kerry the decorated war hero as un-American?

Jeez, she majored in teleprompter reading at North Idaho College. She better be good.

I'm hoping that someone in the media will point out that, while Obama talked about running on issues and not personality, Palin (and presumably McCain) went straight to personality.

But they probably won't.

Who said Palin might have a deer-in-the-headlights moment? Everybody expects her to show up in her game face ready to fight. The speech is GOP boilerplate, and the choir will rejoice.

I do believe it will be all downhill for Gov. Palin from there.

Well, wouldn't you expect an unsportsmanlike (unsportspersonlike?) woman who shoots wolves from planes, where they often die slowly and painfully from buckshot fired too far away and with poor aim, to be a meanie underneath the smiles? I think Sarah Palin has the potential to be another Jean Schmidt, just higher up the food chain!

Of course her speech will be a big hit with the GOP faithful tonight. Put her on a Sunday news show with Campbell Brown or George Stephanopoulos without a script or a teleprompter, then see how she performs. And it's ludicrous to think that the McCain campaign is going to dump her. Ain't gonna happen.

Blame the media? Bring it on.

Amen. Please, attack the media, Sarah. I beg you - attack the folks who buy broadband by the truckload and ink by the tanker. Do it. I dare you.

I've formally decided to underestimate her. she may be a Wingnutthrob, but the only people she will excite are the ones already kinked in her rightwing direction. When she starts hitting those high notes and the screeches start people nationwide cringing she'll be revealed as the little hater she is.

Let's get crackin'.

That's Just What I Said

I think Palin as attack dog will play well to the GOP base. I don't know how well it will play with the rest of the voting public. Indeed, I think it will play poorly (Palin strikes me as better in the victim role than the aggressor role, but I'm basing that on scant evidence).

Also, I think giving her an angry speech is another example of McCain's angling to win a news cycle, but not necessarily an election. That is, an angry Palin speech will open the door to an aggressive attack by Obama that won't be seen by the public as mean-spirited or bullying, and that will work to Obama's advantage in the long term.

And no matter how successful she is tonight, Palin's performance won't stop the growing inquiries into her past. I do wish, however, that liberal blogs would have begun heightening expectations for her speech days ago. Doing it now (and I've read half-a-dozen blogs today that, opining on the subject for the first time, predict a very successful speech for Palin) would have made it a little harder for Palin this evening. As it stands, I think Palin is in roughly the same spot as Obama was just before his acceptance speech: He let the GOP attack him for weeks and weeks, letting the public image of him suffer in the meantime, so that his very strong acceptance speech -- set against particular expectations (e.g., Obama doesn't fight back; he isn't patriotic enough) -- seemingly destroyed the GOP. Palin could do the same thing tonight.

Of course she'll be a big hit with the GOP faithful tonight. But put her on a Sunday news show with Campbell Brown or George Stephanopoulos without a script or a teleprompter and see how she "performs." And it's ludicrous to think the McCain campaign is going to dump her. Ain't gonna happen.

Fiorina is on right now - why didn't McCain pick her, for example? Too urbane, too normal?

I have to grudgingly admit a certain sick admiration for the Rove Spawn running the show.

It is now crystal clear what they have been setting up. For two days, 24/7, it has all been "sexist! media is sexist! Dems are sexist! anyone who dares attack pretty Sarah is sexist! everyone should be on hair-trigger lookout for sexism in anything but Sarah-love!"

Then they have her be the traditional VP attack dog. (i'm sure my use of "dog" there was, to Team McCain, a sexist attack.) And they will dare Team Obama or any other Dem to fight back, because they've rigger a meme-trap that attacking Sarah is sexist.

These guys aren't just pricks, they the absolute cynical pinnacle of prick-dom.

On one happy note, however, I hope others saw the David Gregory/Gov. Pawlenty interview a little while ago. Gregory asked a question about how Palin was being received and Pawlenty, right on cue, decried the way the media has asked inappropriate questions, over the line questions talking about things like Palin's daughter. Gregory, apparently annoyed about the manipulation looked at Pawlenty and said "Actually, Governor, that's the first time its been brought up this hour, because you brought it up."

pwnd!

I beg you - attack the folks who buy broadband by the truckload and ink by the tanker. Do it. I dare you. -Blue Girl

The right wing attacks the media all the time. It just makes the media try even harder to get their approval.

If you're expecting them to suddenly see the light and the error of their ways, I certainly wouldn't hold my breath.

As for Palin, wow, with all of that executive experience, maybe she should have picked McCain for her vice president. Yawn.

She'll do well tonight. Why wouldn't she?

I'm waiting for her first press conference.
And next week's edition of National Enquirer.

Here's a cute irony that could be used against Palin if the Alaska Independence Party angle pans out any better (BTW, did we ever really find out *for sure* if she was a member? I mean, those retractions by their brass didn't really convince me, see some comments in the relevant thread below.):

Pravda (yes, the Russians still have it) support Alaskan independence and several AIP talking points! They say, the original statehood vote was phony, etc. I will look for a link, it was in comments here, Drum, or Kos IIRC.

has anyone else noticed the strong resemblance between sarah palin and julia louis dreyfus from seinfeld?

just sayin.....

orange

Why didn't McCain just pick Bo Derek? I mean, she's gorgeous, Republican, rich, blond, she was married to a successful businessman, so that gives her executive experience or something. She ran around nude on a beach, so that makes her an expert on...uh...foreign trade or whatever.

The right wing attacks the media all the time. It just makes the media try even harder to get their approval...If you're expecting them to suddenly see the light and the error of their ways, I certainly wouldn't hold my breath.

Oh, I am not impeding my respiration. But there is a big difference in being attacked by the right-wingers they drink with in Georgetown, and another thing entirely to be attacked by some strumpet from the sticks.

I heard an interview with a conservative woman in South Carolina talking about Sarah Palin. She was so understanding about the daughter's pregnancy, how kids can mess up, still be good, we need to look past that...Almost like a sheep bleating. It got me thinking of how they can change any story to their advantage. What if her son was a draft-dodging, illegal alien in Canada, that attempted a terrorist attack?

Because she is scandal plagued, a sociopathic inveterate liar (see bridge to nowhere, next to prenatal controversy), ill prepared, a hypocrite, and a "fellow traveler" of an anti-American political party, I didn't think she would ever make the Checkers II speech. So I don't blame Steve and others for trying to broach the issue fairly late in the game.

(I love being able to justifiably say fellow traveler. Man that makes my McCarthy's ache.)

I wouldn't be at all surprised if she gave the speech well. I'd be very surprised if she writes/wrote the speech.

Earlier today C-SPAN ran the 1984 speech Gerry Ferraro gave and clearly she hadn't had a lot of national stage experience, but she did fair.

Since Palin has worked (IIRC) as a t.v. news person and has been a politician for some time, giving lots of speeches, and she was in beauty contests for a time on stage, she ought to be quite able. The only thing different for her this time will be the setting and I doubt that will shake her up much.

I'd expect a cautious delivery at a steady slightly slow pace, as Ferraro did, and overall good marks at the end. It's obviously not the time when McCain wants something explosive or dramatic and risky -- or is it?

It ought to be a little interesting just to see if it goes well, but really of little interest beyond that.

She's still only V.P. nominee. It's John McCain who is running for president and it's his show.

Tonite, the Republican Party will muster its forces and go marching off into the electoral wilderness, with Palin as their Moses.

"And by day, a cloud of ignorance shall lead ye; and by night, a flame of doctrinal purity; and the Lord your God shall not forget ye, although ye succeed not once nor ever again at the polls."

Romney just said the sun is about to rise in the West -- in Arizona and Alaska. We have bigger problems than Palin... wait... now he's saying we need change from a "liberal Washington" to a "conservative Washington."

Next thing you know he'll be running down promiscuity... oops! Already did.

Mitt is putting up such pathetic trite platitudes right now, I think maybe he's doing it deliberately out of spite for being passed over (and who can blame him?)

Why do the TV people never ask McCain's surrogates:

WHEN HAS JOHN MCCAIN EVER MADE AN EXECUTIVE DECISION?!

Sheesh.

Ellie Mae Snowbilly, going to attack Obama...

Joe Biden will destroy Sarah Palin in the Veep debate. I hope he
actually does fully go after her aggressively!

If the GOP begins whining about going after a woman who just gave
birth earlier this year, then here's how you counter:

1.) She's going to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

2.) She needs to be able to withstand the political attack from Joe
Biden, and questions about foreign policy. Otherwise, how the HELL is she
going to be able to have the fortitude to deal with the likes of
Putin/Medvedev, Kim Jong-Il, Hugo Chavez, and others who aren't Americans
and have an extremely unfavorable view towards America?

Reverend Wright, Meet Ed Kalnins - Palin's Own "Pastor Disaster".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0UQbA0ZmmM&eurl=http://www.zimbio.com/Ed+Kalnins/videos/4/Ed+Kalnins+Video+Playlist

"If Dems in general are expecting a deer-in-the-headlights moment, it's not going to happen. No one should underestimate her."

Doesn't mean I can't hope for it.

This is not an angry speech. Unless by angry you mean snotty. This is a snotty speech by a snotty person and should destroy any little bit of credibility she might have left with the American people.

Or else it will catapult her to the White House, with McCain in tow!

Jesus H. Christ, what a mess we're in.

Palin will give a great speech. It's what demagogues do.

My nightmare is that she will be so charming that people will forget ineptitude, scandal, fraud, abuse of power and elect her and the wrinkled, white-haired guy. Should I get depressed now?

I think the Obama campaign should wait until the 'afterglow' of the convention dies down just a bit and run an ad that goes after all the inconsistencies in Palin's fictional life story.

The great thing is they don't have to attack her, just give a documented history of how her actions dis-resemble her self-image; to an even greater extent than McCain's.

By the way. I also think that Barack Obama should come out and say that he was personally disturbed by Lieberman's speech filled with blatant lies about Obama's record in the U.S. Senate and that he is sorry he ever agreed to support Lieberman's campaign in Connecticut after being asked to help out. He shouldn't act at all angry, just disappointed.

"Clearly I have made some mistakes in the past and pledge to continue learn from them" is what Obama should say.

This is pure Nixonian politics of resentment. They are appealing to urban vs. rural resentments, theocrat vs. secular, "real america" vs. the Media. They want the "Libruls" to sneer at her, underestimate her, put her down. It is completely their plan. They are putting her family out there as bait, hoping to stir sympathy and resentment against the Media and those mean Democrats.

McCain's own campaign manager said this election is not about ideas.

This is the party of Nixon.

Trying to spin the Palin pick is like putting perfume on a pile of nuclear waste.

i suppose only time will tell if the Rovites are geniuses or idiots (assuming the released speech excerpts are even true and not just an effort to punk the press), but this looks very risky to me.

conventional campaign wisdom is (a) women have to be careful being negative less they be considered "shrill" and "bitchy" by an electorate that is not yet gender neutral and (b) that regardless of gender, a candidate has to establish their own credibility and better still their positives before they go negative.

to have Palin, unknown to most and in some amount of controversy from announcement to present, come out all snarky, against Obama no less who preached a loftier type of politics. . . either the Rovites know something about the electorate no one else does, or this could backfire really, really bigtime.

(please please please be the latter.)

Its great politically for McCain that nobody is talking about him at the moment, but do you think it is burning him up that his VP pick is garnering more attention than he is and the highlight of the convention will be her speech? I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't get to do anything but stand behind him and wave for the rest of the campaign...

What is she talking about? Did I miss when Obama questioned her qualifications?

"The substance is weak, but the rhetorical style is strong." Like Obama...and you know its true. It took quite awhile for substantive policies to be formulated and disseminated. Hope and change...bob and weave. Its politics...politics as usual.

Shouldn't that be "No one should misunderestimate her"?

Show me Trig Palin’s birth certificate, and no, I do NOT think that Steve Schmidt is using this as a smokescreen to hide Sarah Palin’s other manifold incompetence.

I also think this issue has legs, definite political legs, until we see a PDF of a birth certificate online somewhere.

Read my whole post.

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

Is it really a good idea to remind people of Obama's community service?

"While I was banning books and firing officials who did not agree with me, Obama helping to get asbestos removed from inner-city housing. What a prick."

http://sarahpalinisterrible.blogspot.com/

"Romney just said the sun is about to rise in the West -- in Arizona and Alaska."

Does this mean God is flip-flopping?

Still, spare a thought for dear Sarah Palin. She has had exactly four days to prepare, and prepare for, the biggest speech she will ever make. At the same time she has had her daughter savaged by the press, her family shamelessly trotted out onto center stage of Republican politics, has had to accept a job that even she knows she is unqualified for, has seen some things brought into the light of day that she would rather remain hidden, and is probably not sleeping all that much, either.

Don't get me wrong, this was a world-class bonehead pick by McCain and I want them both to lose big. In the "meantime", she's going to be just as mean as any other Republican junkyard dog, and worthy of no pity. But just for the moment, would you trade places with her?

And spiny, you're right, and that's all she would ever get to do as VP. It would suit her.

If the expectations are low enough, then Palin will be a success if she just shows up and reads her lines. I agree with Steve, though, and Palin is showing it now: She's got the presence, got the gumption, and she's more or less got the knack. She's a little shrill at times, and she lets the smug smile linger a little too long (though she's no Giuliani on that count), but she's scoring points for composure and delivery. And I don't think she'll be going away any time soon.

Those of you who think Palin's going anywhere other than on the ticket are indulging in some high-quality wishful thinking. For the first time since he announced, McCain finally has some excitement associated with his candidacy, courtesy of the Christianist nuts who love her and the suburban sales managers who really do believe she makes top-secret military decisions for the Alaska National Guard. Which has in turn stimulated a higher level of campaign giving than he's had so far. If McCain were to dump her, all that would disappear overnight.

More importantly, John McCain's persona is completely wound up in the mythic status of the lone hero beseiged by dangerous, traitorous enemies on all sides. The criticism of his choice of Palin does nothing but energize him in a way that discussing issues rarely does. He relishes the fight, and nothing short of hard proof of criminal conduct on the part of Palin would pry her loose from the ticket.

I'm also completely disgusted that the Obama campaign has yet again voluntarily ceded the opportunity to define the opposition. The last four days have been a constant drumbeat of one embarrassing revelation after another about Palin (I'm not even talking about Bristol), and with Palin preoccupied with preparing for the convention the Obama campaign had a golden opportunity to actually use the information that's accumulated that thoroughly destroys the image of Palin as an earmark-fighting reformer, an opportunity to define her in the minds of Americans all over the country with simple, effective advertising using nothing more than her own statements and actions. Instead they did nothing. Now Sarah Palin will use the first opportunity that most of the country will have had to see her to define herself, and from now on that picture will be what vast swaths of the public will think of first.

When I think of David Axelrod, I'm reminded of the Union Civil War General George McClellan and his maddening refusal to take the initiative, even when circumstances were favorable. Given Obama's longtime relationship with him, there's little chance that he will get sacked the way Lincoln finally dumped McClellan. Pity.

I was very unimpressed with Sarah Palin. Because she had been a TV broadcaster, I was expecting a more professional job. She didn't even look and sound as professional as the women who ran PTA meetings at my daughters' school.

Obviously, the speech was filled with Republican lies, but we expected that. And too many people have heard too many truths about Sarah Palin in the last few days to believe her when she said "thanks but no thanks" on the Bridge to Nowhere.

The GOP robots in the hall loved it, and it fires up their base, but I can't see it swaying too many voters.

A national campaign ought to have at least some connection or relevance to the year in which it is run. This one in 2008 by the Republicans could have been run anytime in the last 40 years, and probably was. It is the same campaign they have been running for a generation: Wrap yourself in the American flag and American values, close your eyes and ears to the problems around you (because to admit problems is to "attack" America) and belittle your opponent as unworthy, not just of the office he seeks, but of citizenship itself.

Obama and the Democrats did a good job last week innoculating themselves against these lines of attack, I think, by making the case that serious times demand serious people and America just can't afford the familiar foolishness and trivialities -- the ridicule and character assassination and the rest -- that Republicans typically give us in these campaigns. I really thought that Republican speechwriters were spending the weekend redoing the script to scrub out the expected sarcasm -- and thought their cancelling day one because of the hurricane was part of that redraft. But I guess I was wrong.

Palin's speech may have played well in Peoria, but I suspect on second review people will see in its heavy doses of sarcasm (it reminded me of a Saturday Night Live skit) precisely what the Democrats warned about last week -- a party, the GOP, that is fundamentally unserious about the grave issues facing this country, and can only run a campaign which tears their opponent limb from limb. Palin offered a flattering portrait of herself, an ugly one of Obama, and except for connecting with small town values offered virtually nothing of substance to improve the lives of small town voters. This was a "political" convention not a "governing" one, and the Democrats showed last week what the latter was all about. All in all a disgracefull performance.

"GRANDSLAM...out of the park...across the street...over the buildings" That is what keith loserman would have said if it had been a DNC speech. Get over it. It was a good speech that will fire up base. She did what she needed to do and it will resonate with small town America. Now the Dems need to repond. It's going to be hard for Obama to shake the "God and Guns" comment they need to re-energize

I think she seemed snotty, angry, sarcastic, arrogant and pretty unlikable. I was sort of surprised that they didn't try to make her more likable, just do a great bio speech and give her a chance for people to really admire and respect her. Their mistake was overlooking the fact that her audience wasn't just the Republican true believers in that room, it was her introduction to the world-at-large.

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

This is the comment of a raving idiot who has never met citizens on their terms or turf. If she means this - and I have to assume she does because she said it - she doesn't understand the responsibility that comes with looking your neighbors in the eye every day, expecting you to help them address their problems at a very personal level. And the community organizer answers his own phone.

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

This is the comment of a raving idiot who has never met citizens on their terms or turf. If she means this - and I have to assume she does because she said it - she doesn't understand the responsibility that comes with looking your neighbors in the eye every day, expecting you to help them address their problems at a very personal level. And the community organizer answers his own phone.

She think helping citizens of color in a large urban area is a complete waste of time. That's what that really means, I'm afraid.

Kind of like not "reading terrorists their rights" when you can simply lineup your young people to be mowed down by them instead. USA, USA!

I have to admit I was much more worried about her before her speech. Now? Not so much. I would have thought they'd have her give a speech about her ideas about America, her heartfelt beliefs about true American values, about making a better world-- you know, something about what brings her to politics. But no. It was all vitriol, all bile, all rage against everyone who isn't a Republican. They made a mistake introducing her to the world with only the GOP base in mind. They missed a huge opportunity by not trying to broaden her appeal as wide as possible.

At the very least she was tough, sarcastic and angry enough that they'll have a much harder time playing the "victim card" whenever she gets criticised.

Her deficits need to be glaringly exposed during prime time when she's not being spoon-fed by a speech writer.
A agree that she insulted thousands of dedicated and hard-working community organizers across the nation by implying that community organizing doesn't involve responsibilities and accountability. And most critically, she failed to explain how she and McCain bring 'change' to Washington.

Yes, I too expected more from the speech. Much of it seemed inauthentic, and my, isn't that voice irritating? Of course, even wih that "terrible" voice she could have delivered an extremely powerful deluding dose.

I started thinking it was genius choosing her: I've cycled back to "what were they thinking?"

While never forgetting Potatoe Man or Idget in Chief . . .

G-d save us.

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

WOW! I can't believe she said that! Truly, I can't believe half the sh*t she said but that one really rankles. Out of touch, Cold, Snarky and shows she has ABSOLUTELY no F'ing clue how people really live in this world.
What a sad, cynical debut for Gov. Palin. I shake my head in disbelief!! Ship her back to Alaska. (Wait until Nov. 5th, though. She truly is the gift that keeps on giving!)
In other news....The Dem base is now fired up. The McCain people badly misread the public mood. All those "community organizers" with no "responsibilities" will no doubt have to find something to do with all that time on their lazy, shiftless hands. Maybe a little GOTV??! The gloves are off and the ground game shifts into high gear!!
I just dropped a little something into Baracks campaign chest tonight. Won't you do the same?

"Orwell," you blithering idiot, the red meat of hate she fed wingnuts like you turns off swing voters.

With a untied Democratic Party behind him, Obama used his speech -- watched by more people than the opening of the Olympics -- to reach out to the middle.

Palin's full-bore, Rove-style attack is a clear indication the Repubs are worried about her negatives, and also indicate that the base still needs firing up this late in the game. We're long past the point dead-enders like you can pretend your rancid belief system enjoys anything like majority support in this great nation.

FAIL.

Dude,

What is up with that awful "newsflash" line? Who wrote this speech, a high school student?

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