Palin And The Punditry

The short version from the Right: she rocked. More on that later.

If you look at the MSM/Left, it's a bit more varied. I've seen everything from semi-panic to grudging admiration for her performance. I think it's safe to say that everyone on both sides now knows she came to play hardball.

Amazingly, the New York Times seems to have a pretty objective report about the event, with lots of good quotes. The Washington Post isn't quite as nice, with that underlying sexism that we've seen so much of in the past few days. It starts out fine, but about halfway through we see this:

For all of Palin's charm, however, it was three men who had tried to deny McCain that nomination who first delivered the searing attacks on liberalism, the media and Obama that the conservative crowd desperately craved.

Ironic, isn't it? Once again it is the Left that displays the sexism. If they don't tone it down a bit, they could drive a whole lot of women over to the red side, thus shifting the balance of power for a very long time. It's possible...

The Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell offers an interesting spin on the speech that comes off as almost comical. While seeming to be complimentary, she extends a hand of congratulation to Palin right up until the point where she slaps her. For example:

Sarah Palin may come from the backwoods of Alaska, but she has the heart of a street fighter.

So Democrats shouldn't get entangled in the Republicans' "experience" ploy. Palin isn't on the Republican ticket because she has been the governor of Alaska for two years.

The people who cooked up this scheme don't care whether Palin will be a heartbeat away from the presidency if something happens to the 72-year-old McCain.

Palin's on the ticket because she's a woman and she isn't afraid to engage in the Republicans' mean-spirited personal attacks.

Whiplash, anyone? It goes on like that. It's kind of surreal to read the whole thing. The Boston Herald's biggest problem with the whole thing? Her hair. My, what withering criticism, clearly the result of intelligent critiquing by professionals...! This article is so stupid that it makes me wonder if it's satire. Other criticisms include the substantive issues of the fact that she didn't write the speech locked away in a room by herself (as if ANY politician ever writes, edits, revises, and delivers ANY speech without input or assistance from professional speech-writers) or that she's shrill and sarcastic. I'd like to point out that they're not attacking any of her positions or the issues, but they're attacking her. It's all they've got.

Now, what about the conservative reaction? As I said before, it's almost universal praise, though that praise ranges from very cautious to overly exuberant. The bottom line is that the base is energized and united for the first time. I've seen more than once statements to the effect of 'I was supporting McCain because I didn't want Obama, but now I have a reason to vote for McCain'. This is key, because this was the GOP problem in 2006 - the base didn't have a reason to vote for them, only a reason to vote against the Dems, and that never works as well. The question is: will this anecdotal support translate into concrete support? If it does, we'll know in the next couple weeks through things like increased donations and a big bump in the polls. We'll see.

Palin had several things she needed to do: introduce herself and her family, prove her experience, and prove she could handle the pressure. She did all three, (despite a broken teleprompter). I've seen a lot of talk about her being the new face of conservatism, and even some similarities drawn between her and Ronald Reagan. They're not altogether unwarranted, as she has already been able to create a definite resonance with the base. As Hugh Hewitt says:

There will be reverses for McCain-Palin along the way, but enjoy today as the egg-on-face media elites and Democrats try to pretend they haven't spent 96 hours savaging a woman that America turns out to like, and respect, quite a lot.

That's key, and will remain key if McCain-Palin is to win in November. A good representative sample:

A week ago nobody had ever heard of her.

Today she is the most talked-about woman in the world. And with good reason.

Sarah Palin's sensational performance at the Republican Party Convention may turn out to be the tipping point of this rollercoaster American election.

Obama fans hoping she would fluff her big night were in for a nasty shock.

This speech has turned the election upside down. It was simply stunning.

Democrats and their Lefty media backers had been sneering that she was a small town nobody, a hick from the Alaskan sticks put into a job way beyond an inexperienced woman.

Believe me, you will not be hearing that again.

Palin turned out to be an electrifying mix of intelligence, passion, energy, optimism and plain speaking.

Full of self-assurance and aggression, she popped Barack's balloon big-time.

Her speech commanded viewership bigger than any other VP speech, and close to the Obamessiah's numbers. She has become the media star on the Right to counter the Left's Obamessiah. In my humble opinion, the Obama campaign is going to have to be extremely careful not to let this comparison be framed. If they do, they will essentially be saying that their number one guy is seeking to prove he's better than the GOP's number two...which means, logically, that the GOP's number one is head-and-shoulders better. I'd love it if this happens, but only time will tell.

She delivered a fantastic speech last night, and launched herself very, very well. In the words of one Fox analyst I saw, 'she hit a home run in the first inning'. That's very true - this is only the first inning. Now, she needs to follow up the home run with another in the second inning (live interviews), third inning (television interviews), fourth inning (town hall-type meetins), and so on. She will have to be on top of her game especially in the debate with Joe Biden, who is known to be a good debater. Of course, he's also known to say a lot of stupid stuff, so I think it's very possible that she could make him look like a total buffoon. The important thing is that she has to do it.

The success or failure of selecting Palin as a VP will depend on her own performances in the coming weeks. Fortunately, I think she's up for it, and for the first time in well over a year, I'm starting to get a good feeling about November.

There's my two cents.

***UPDATE***
I just saw a link to a YouTube video of her complete speech: