Month: September 2008

Former McCain advisor Mike Murphy speaks out:

I think she’ll ultimately be a polarizer. After last night’s smash, Republicans are in deep love. Nothing thrills ‘em like a good “us vs. them” speech. But I’d guess that most Democrats had the opposite reaction. In a year where the Democrat generic numbers are 10+ points better than the Republican, I don’t like the math of a strategy that just polarized the election along party base lines. Among the vital sliver of voters in the middle, I think Palin’s rock solid social conservatism will be a turn off. And while voters may value vision over experience, Palin’s inexperience is a weakness, denying McCain an argument that has been helping him against Obama.

Will Wilkinson thinks about Palin and talks to his gut.

Andrew Romano, along with Marc and Ben Smith, wants to know about Palin’s press strategy:

If Team McCain does shield Palin from the spotlight for the remainder of the month, voters could react one of three ways.

If they 1) don’t notice or 2) say "good for you, Barracuda"–a likely response, given the way most members of the human race feel about the MSM–McCain wins. It’s all about message control and reducing the risk of gaffes. If, however, a critical mass of swing voters starts to suspect that Palin can’t handle the heat, it could reinforce the idea that her selection was a cynical political ploy and undercut McCain’s "straight talk" appeal.

Either way, it’s worth noting that in times like these, the political press corps–as despised as it might be–is actually important. As I wrote earlier today, Palin’s relatively skimpy C.V. means that the greatest test of her readiness for office–as it was for Obama–will be how well she performs in the presidential pressure-cooker.

A reader writes:

Way back in the heat of the Democratic primary, I told all who would listen that if it came down to Hillary vs. McCain I’d vote McCain.

If Senator McCain was still around, I suppose I wouldn’t regret that claim, but somewhere along the line, Senator McCain got replaced by Candidate McCain.

I was dwelling on this a bit today and it struck me. One benefit of this long campaign is that it really does show a person’s character. And I realized. We have two men running for president right now. One has stayed true to himself throughout despite all the pressure. The other really hasn’t or maybe we’ve just seen what he really was all along.

Obama said at the outset that he wanted a civil campaign on the issues. He said he would avoid the politics of person destruction. He demanded a cool, no drama organization — much like himself.

He organized a strong team. Set clear goals. Adopted a sound plan and stuck to it. Reasoned, careful. Solid judgment. And in the intense glare of things like Wright and flags pins, he stuck to it all. Above all, Obama really has stayed true to who he is.

McCain on the other hand, despite his calls for a civil campaign, injected personal attacks. He cosied up to the same religious extremist he once decried. People like Hagee. And when that wasn’t enough, he brought onto the ticket a evangelical with extreme views on abortion, contraception and sex education — positions well to the right of most of the people in the Republican Party.  And he hired the same polarizing, no-holds-barred political assassins that George Bush unleashed on America and McCain himself.

Senator McCain didn’t stay true to himself. He morphed into a right-wing, polarizing ideologue campaign. And why? On the one hand, he’s ambivalent about his ambitions, but often he’ll lose sight of his values and overreach for the sake of those ambitions. In other words, he falls victim to the allure of power and loses his good judgment. He doesn’t stay true to himself.

I dearly hope American’s will come to appreciate this about these two men. One has stayed true to the better angels of his nature. One succumbed to the darker angels of his. Which one would make a better president in these sad and trying times?

"This is the most compelling and exciting Republican politician in a generation," – Jonah Goldberg, National Review, on Sarah Palin.

A reader writes:

I’ve been reading your blog for years and consider it one of the best and most objective political blogs on the web.  I truly admire your expertise and understand many of your criticisms of Palin and McCain’s vetting process.  But enough is enough.  Your comments during Palin’s speech were beneath your integrity.  There was no need to poke fun at her family, especially her baby, and compare her speaking skills to that of a high school student. 

Despite your doubts, she is on Obama’s level.  There is no question about it.  Not only is this woman a fine orator with confidence and poise, but she also had the guts to shake up the corrupt political establishment in her state.  Obama should get credit for passing ethics reform, but has that reform really made a difference?  Palin passed an ethics reform bill as Governor but actually took action against her own party.  She kicked out a corrupt incumbent Governor, fired the Attorney General, and forced the head of the Republican Party to resign, who was also fined.  That takes guts.  When did Obama ever accomplish something similar?

Regarding the budget surplus in Alaska, there is no question that the oil revenues have contributed to it, and that the state has a major problem with earmarks.  But Palin has made significant budget cuts.  In 2007, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of construction in the state’s history, amounting to nearly $250 million. I also agree with her refunding of the surplus to the citizens of Alaska.  Shouldn’t the residents share in the state’s wealth and not just the Government?  Didn’t you also advocate an oil tax as Palin has done?  Her work on energy and especially with pipelines will also be a plus in this election for the Republicans.

One small point: I did not make fun of her baby. I was appalled at the way he was used as a political prop. On the larger issue, I’m sorry but she is, alas, not even close to Obama’s level. Yes, I am an elitist in as much as I would like the president of the United States to be halfway educated and have more than eighteen months experience in a state of 700,000 people. Of course she can give a good speech written for her. She was a sportscaster. Public speaking is one thing she knows how to do. But as for the guts to take on the GOP establishment, please. They were in her way. It doesn’t take guts to shake a corrupt and dead tree when it’s the only way to advance up the ranks as swiftly as she has. She used classic populist boilerplate to gain power and has subsequently showered oil money on Alaskans. As I’ve written, I hope fairly, I don’t think her record in the eighteen months she has been governor is that bad at all, although it’s not that hard to be governor when your main task is figuring out what to do with a massive surplus.

Look: I don’t know much about her, and neither does anyone outside Alaska. But I’ve learned a lot these past few days and I am alternately underwhelmed and alarmed. I do know that she proposed nothing of any substance as a policy proposal Wednesday night and has no record of any interest in foreign policy or economics apart from the oil sector. Maybe she will show greater knowledge or skill in the coming days and weeks. A blog is a process. I will keep my eyes open. Stay tuned.

A reader writes:

Immediately after the speech, I remarked to my wife that the tone of it was of a person looking back on a career, not beginning a new one.

That’s how it felt to me too. And I don’t blame him.

A reader writes:

As a young Democrat, I’m a little confused after this speech.  I think I finally saw in McCain’s speech what the Republican party could represent. What a stark contrast to the other speakers at the convention. Brilliant but sad. 

He really was talking to America and not his base.  Still doesn’t have my vote, but a little more respect.

What makes me sad is how so many young people have no idea any more what conservatism could mean if it were true to itself. (I gave it my best shot in my book, "The Conservative Soul.") But the corruption of this party is so deep – morally, ethically, philosophically – McCain can’t do it.

I’m sure conservatism will one day recover – because it is right about the main issues: government needs to be kept in its place, taxes should be low and budgets balanced, individuals should be able to pursue their dreams as free of government control as possible, families do matter and need to be free from government interference, free markets and enterprise are the only guarantees of prosperity, moral choices – and their consequences – should be faced by the individual responsibly, and we have to be strong in our defense and prudent in foreign policy. This is the conservatism I still believe in. Deep down, I’m sure McCain does too. But it will only come from the ashes of this fundamentalist, mean-spirited, parochial, arrogant, big-spending, irresponsible shambles of a party. We have to repudiate the party of Rove and Abramoff and Romney and Dobson and Cheney and Bush II.

Burn it down and start over.

Michael Crowley:

…this is a very underwhelming speech. Familiar points explained in pedestrian terms. No overarching themes–right now it’s sounding like a State of the Union laundry list. Even the crowd in the hall isn’t jazzed. This is the sort of reception Tom Ridge got.

Hugh Hewitt:

In a strong speech that crescendoed to a stirring close, Senator McCain laid out a classically conservative series of policy objectives, with a large emphasis on education reform –a very smart priority for the fall campaign. And his pledge to shake the spending culture of Washington to its roots is as sincere as it is overdue.

Peter Suderman:

If anything is true in this world, it’s that Republicans don’t do stagecraft. How can you tell? The puke green background was back!…when combined with the white shirt and yellow tie, it has the effect of making McCain’s skin look sickly and yellow –  not exactly what you want when a crucial worry about your candidate is that he might be too old.

Bull Dog Pundit:

Got to be honest here folks.  Other than the heart felt love of country expressed near the end while talking about his time as a POW (that gave me a lump in my throat), and the discussion of public education being the “civil rights issue” of this century, and the part about Georgia, I can’t say I loved the speech.  It’s not that I didn’t like it, but it didn’t excite me very much. Then again he had a hard act to follow.

Tim Cavanaugh:

A fitting anticlimax for a pretty low-energy week, I think. McCain’s speech was good, very gracious, moving in parts, and generally serviceable.

Ramesh Ponnuru:

His major theme, that he is a non-partisan fighter for the public interest, is a good one–the best one he could adopt, I think, certainly better than running on experience. And there were a lot of good elements to the speech. But I don’t think he did anything tonight to shake up the race some more.

Steven Taylor:

School choice and getting rid of bad teachers is great applause line to a Republican audience, but it is getting a bit hackneyed, as the President has previous little to do with the issue. He isn’t running for school board, after all. Given that now Child Left Behind has simply resulted in more bureaucracy in our public schools, I am not sure that we need for federal meddling. At a minimum, I have no idea how McCain thinks that he is going to change the entire structure of the public school system in the United States by being elected president, especially since that policy arena is almost fully in the hands of the states and localities.

JPod:

He has chosen bipartisanship as his key political strategy; it’s necessary, because he will have no choice if he wins, but it’s also very much part of his own political history, as angry conservatives will remember when they nearly lost their minds over the “gang of 14? deal to get some judges confirmed…
 

Jay Carney:
 

Not sure what the protesters’ goal is — unless it’s to elicit sympathy for McCain among the viewers who tuned in to hear his speech. His response — telling the audience to ignore the "static" and that "Americans want us to stop shouting at each other" — let him come across as reasonable and cool-headed.

Megan:

McCain claims he’ll cut government spending.  I’ll believe it when I see it.

(Photo: Robyn Beck/Getty.)