She did a great job and delivered on all of her objectives. She introduced herself to the electorate, spoke well, and had the crowd eating out of her hand. I say this even though whole paragraphs- like the "bridge to nowhere" one- were utterly false.
But here's my beef: the Republicans have clearly decided that they're going to fight the culture war, full-throttle, brandishing religion like a battering ram, bashing the media and playing the anti-elitism card at every opportunity- even if it entails Rudy Giuliani slamming big-city cosmopolitanism or Mitt Romney doing battle with Eastern elites. From now through November- nothing but mockery for Obama, Biden, and liberalism itself.
The Fox News, talk radio and blog crowds love this, and indeed, they're playing very successfully to the base. But in this election, with this electorate, they can't win that way. Especially since winning that way is utterly at odds with everything McCain has stood for for the last decade. Peggy Noonan was right on that count.
I'll have more on Palin's nomination in a North Star column later this week.
Posted by Stephen Silver at September 3, 2008 11:48 PMAdmittedly I don't have every line memorized, but where in Palin's speech did she even talk about religion? If she did, it was just a line or two, and it certainly wasn't a major theme of the speech.
Posted by: Tom G | ballssticksstuff.com at September 4, 2008 10:03 PMI totally agree with this. She is an excellent speaker. But also a total crazy lady I really don't want just a heartbeat away from running the country.
Posted by: Hannah at September 4, 2008 10:46 PM