Right Wing Nation

It’s 2004 all over again. The election is the whiny children vs. the adults. Last night’s speeches made that clear. But more than 2004, this election is about the weak candidate vs. the strong candidates. If you didn’t see Palin last night, you don’t know what strong is.

But I’m getting ahead of myself — and because this is long, the rest is below the fold.

Nobody’s talking about it because, well, Palin was so phenomenal she made you forget anyone else had been on the stage, but Rudy was really good. Not necessarily better than Fred good, but he worked the crowd and had them out of the seats cheering over and over again. He really was good, and I don’t want to gloss over him, even though Palin, Palin, Palin, my God, what a woman! What a speaker! I’ve been pulling for Palin for a couple of months now, and she knocked me out of my seat.

Michaelnotmike says

Earlier, she may have shown how to field dress a moose. Tonight, she showed how to field dress Democrats.

And our Canadian Andrew Coyne:

The best natural speechmaker since Reagan

[ . . . ]

Watching the tumultuous, ecstatic reaction in the hall, I was reminded of the famous words of the Admiral Yamamoto after Pearl Harbour: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant, and fill him with a terrible resolve.”

Sarah Palin walked out onto that stage under more scrutiny, with less preparation, and with more at stake, than any candidate in living memory. You’d never know it.

Chris Wallace (on TV) said, “A star is born.”

You want strong woman? You got it. She makes Hillary look like a weak-kneed whiny little Barbie doll. And she showed that she can not only stand up to the slime and the mud, but that she’s stronger than all of the monkey-cage shit slingers. On gaypatriot, cme says:

She just took all the enemies that have been railing against her the last few days, swept them up into a pile, and crushed them under her boot. It was a thing of beauty.

And more than a few women were crying — as they were cheering.

But Rudy first. His slam dunks.

One hundred and thirty times he couldn’t decide whether to vote “yes” or “no.” It was too tough. He voted “present.” I didn’t know about this vote “present” when I was mayor of New York City. Sarah Palin didn’t have this vote “present” when she was mayor or governor. You don’t get “present.” It doesn’t work in an executive job. For President of the United States, it’s not good enough to be present. You have to make a decision.

and

If I were Joe Biden, I’d
get that VP thing in writing.

and

So he changed his position again. And he put out a statement exactly like the statement of John McCain’s three days earlier. I have some advice for Senator Obama. Next time, call John McCain.

Poor Sarah. They just won’t stop cheering so she can start speaking — and nobody is sitting down. Zell Miller really got the crowd worked up in 2004, but this is way beyond enthusiasm. They’re completely in love with her. And as the camera panned past Levi Johnston, Bristol’s fiance, I saw he had tears in his eyes.

Speaking of love, the camera loves her. She’s a strikingly beautiful woman. She’s poised, she’s strong, and she’s confident. She’s comfortable in her own skin, and spoke fluidly. Brit Hume just said she’s obviously no amateur. Flawless diction. (Aside: She has a nephew in the service? I didn’t know that.)

This woman is no ordinary speaker. She’s a powerhouse. And I don’t mean just the text. I mean she’s a magnetic presence. You can’t take your eyes off her. She’s a public speaker, and she’s going to mutilate Biden in any debate. You can take that to the bank.

The whole thing was spectacular — better than I thought she’d be — even the AP admitted it.

Palin delivers star-turning performance at RNC.

Ace says:

How was even the leftist AP left fumbling for talking points?

The media of course gets its talking points from the DNC. They get half of their stores from the DNC, and all of their analysis.

The media trusts the DNC. They like the DNC. The DNC are nice people who do all of their actual work for them, leaving them free to to snort coke and pursue their hobbies of functional alcoholism and sleeping with each other’s spouses; why shouldn’t they like the DNC?

So the DNC and the Obama camp told the media that Palin was stupid and a bumpkin and all of that and the media got ready to write the stories, and analyze the speech, as they had been previously instructed by the DNC and David Axelrod.

And then the speech happened.

And the media was baffled, befuddled, and bewildered — the DNC and David Axelrod had given them the wrong script entirely! Even they could see that somehow their helpful friends in the DNC had badly erred.

But they had nothing to say, because the DNC and David Axelrod hadn’t prepared them for “Plan B” (as the snide/sarcastic line is now being called).

So the media just sat there in stupefied silence wondering what it was they were supposed to say. And not having been well prepared, they could only manage to do the easiest thing possible, which is to say the purely obvious.

And the obvious, as it turns out, was that it was a hell of a speech, and that she hit a grand slam, and certainly seemed ready for high national office, at least, that is, by the criteria established by David Axelrod and the DNC (to wit, that one is ready for high office if one can deliver a hell of a speech).

So why did David Axelrod and the DNC let down their nice friends in the media and leave them with nothing to say?

They just didn’t see it coming, either.

And lost for a reaction because they didn’t see it coming, they’re reduced to idiocy and panic (well, more than usual, that is). The media talking heads and Obama are apparently shocked! that somebody wrote her speech. Ace helps them out here.

Someone wrote Obambi’s speech, too, Hoss.

They were frightened before. After last night, they should be terrified. Many are.

[The] useless drearily liberal Timothy Noah whines, possibly correctly, that the media’s nasty full frontal attack on Palin has set her up to knock it out of the park.

I hope she hits the circuit and speaks and speaks and speaks, because every time she does, she’s going to pull votes.

Here were a few highlights.

Stick the knife in and twist it, Sarah!

A writer observed: “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity.” I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

I grew up with those people.

They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America … who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.

They love their country, in good times and bad, and they’re always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.

I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better.

When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.

We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

Serious red meat — or maybe I should say moose stew:

And I’ve learned quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

But here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.

And foreign policy as energy independence was really good.

I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.

And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.

That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

The stakes for our nation could not be higher.

When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.

With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies … or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia … or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries … we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.

And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we’ve got lots of both.

Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems - as if we all didn’t know that already.

But the fact that drilling won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we’re going to lay more pipelines … build more new-clear plants … create jobs with clean coal … and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.

We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers.

And then she went in for the kill.

I’ve noticed a pattern with our opponent.

Maybe you have, too.

We’ve all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.

And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word “victory” except when he’s talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed … when the roar of the crowd fades away … when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger … take more of your money … give you more orders from Washington … and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy … our opponent is against producing it.

Victory in Iraq is finally in sight … he wants to forfeit.

Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay … he wants to meet them without preconditions.

Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America … he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights? Government is too big … he wants to grow it.

Congress spends too much … he promises more.

Taxes are too high … he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.

That’s enough. Transcript is here, but you really need to see and hear this woman speak. She’s phenomenal.

So ladies and gentlemen, I present the powerhouse, Sarah Palin.