Sarah Palin – Shock and Awe

Okay, this is way too much fun to not weigh in on!  Though the proof of the wisdom in the choice of Sarah Palin for a Vice Presidential candidate will or will not be borne out over time, you have to admit – the choice of Palin was a little bit brilliant on a couple of fronts . . .

Timing is Everything  So you have your 4-night Democratic National Convention, right?  The Dems are all fired up from their speeches about how out of touch the Republicans and their candidate are, Hillary gives up any hopes of an internal uprising and flawlessly gives Barak Obama her full endorsement in a memorable oration, and all culminates in an amazing spectacle on the last night with a colossal set in a stadium full of 75-80 thousand Americans settled in to hear an historic speech by the Country’s first black Presidential candidate.  Wow.  It really was something.  And as hard of a time as some give the Obama camp for the spectacle that it was, one does have to admit that it was fitting that so many should have the chance to witness the historical event for what it indeed was.  Too bad the Candidate’s speech was less memorable than was the setting.  (You can view Obama’s full speech HERE.)     Oh well . . .

By Thursday night the fireworks had fired, the confetti had fallen, and the Dems and the Nation waited to see what the anticipated “bounce” in the polls would turn out to be and what the pundits would have to say about the convention’s overall effect.

Then came the announcement Friday morning of John McCain’s pick for his Vice Presidential running-mate:  Sarah Palin.  And you could almost hear the air starting to seep out of the Democratic Machine’s balloon on Friday.  Indeed, by Monday, the Machine’s behavior was more like a balloon that had been fully inflated and then let go abruptly and was wildly darting to and fro in space.  McCain’s timing was the hand that let go that balloon, and the actual choice of Sarah Palin is what caused its wild and erratic behavior.  And one could hardly remember the events of the week before – indeed even the events of the night before.

 And one more observation about Monday:  The McCain campaign decided to put the first day of the Republican convention on hold due to the forcasted impending doom of hurricane Gustav heading almost directly for New Orleans.  Monday was also the day that the announcement of Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy was made, the timing of which had the effect of diluting all three stories – the hurricane, (and the media’s incessant propensity of comparing it to Katrina and never failing to blame everything bad that happened then on the current Republican administration) the delay of the Republican’s convention and its possible fallout, and the pregnancy of Palin’s daughter.  There was simply not enough time for the mainstream media to do its usual saturation hit-job in all three areas simultaneously.  Brilliant.

Dilemma for the Dems  What to do with Sarah Palin?!  Her debut on the national stage was flawless . . . she’s likable, intelligent, witty, attractive.  And all the things the Dems hate:  Pro-Life, Pro-gun, fiscally conservative, and a Christian - to name just a few things, and worst of all, she’s not afraid of them. 

They’ve tried to impugn her for giving birth to a Down’s Syndrome child, having prior knowledge of the child’s condition, but the argument has fallen short because “Pro-Choice” has been exposed to be “Pro-Abortion” because Palin did make a choice . . . she chose to let her baby live. 

 

Palin and her family further infuriate the Left by sticking to their convictions in the case of daughter Bristol’s pregnancy, in that her baby will also be permitted to live.  Two choices for life with skin on . . . kind of makes abortion more real when you can see what’s birthed when an abortion is not chosen, eh?  Not all theory and conjecture and rhetoric anymore . . . we’re talking about living, breathing, squirming, soft and round babies, not just some unwanted chunk of cells needing to be “dealt with”.

And the whole issue of Palin being a woman!  How is a Dem to deal with that?!  How do you knock her down just because she’s not the right kind of woman?  Or, more accurately, not the Left kind of woman?  Just how do you pull that off without looking like a complete hypocrite to the public-at-large, who thinks you “progressive” on these kinds of issues?

 And what of the “experience” issue?  How, as a supporter of Barak Obama, do you point out Sarah Palin’s supposed lack of experience without exposing the gaping expanses of his inexperience in reality?!  Hee hee hee . . . yes indeed . . . this has been very fun to watch!

And Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention - wow.  (You can view Palin’s full speech HERE.)  Impressive in its content and delivery, even more so when you become aware of the fact that early on in the speech, the tele-prompter had not been paused during the lengthy periods of applause, and much of her speech was given from memory.  Her connection with the audience was impressive and her sense of timing in the delivery of the “zingers” in the speech were flawless.  She won the hearts of millions that night.  Including a handful or two of Dems, if I had to guess.

Time Will Tell  So is Sarah Palin a “shock and awe” choice for VP by McCain?  Time will tell.  We have nearly two months and three debates and a lot of campaigning to get through still.  As I heard Glenn Beck say the other day while commenting on Sarah Palin, “Oh please, please, please be who you say you are!” 

One thing’s for sure – a ho-hummer of an election for me where I was resigned to putting a clothespin on my nose and going to the polls and voting for McCain has surely gotten a LOT more interesting. 

It is said that a candidate can in part be judged by the campaign he/she runs . . . McCain has been doing a lot of things right for a good stretch of time now, even before the choice of Palin for VP.  Either he’s really smart or has gathered some really smart people around him.  Either way, he’s demonstrating administrative prowess which is serving him well.  And a lot of us out here are taking the clothespins off our noses and ordering our McCain/Palin yard signs and bumper stickers.

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