Month: September 2008

Profiles In Poignancy

"I wish that the news about Palin’s daughter had been released the first day — the day Palin was announced. I wish it had been part of the general news about her and her family — the introduction. Why? Because the dribbling out of the news a few days later . . . makes the ticket look somehow sneaky. Deceptive. The news taints the whole Palin roll-out, just a bit. It takes the bloom off the rose, just a bit. Plus, many people don’t believe that the McCain team knew about the pregnancy, in advance. And, frankly, I don’t blame them. That said, Palin is a sensation — something that the Republican party has not seen much of in a long time. I’ll have more to say (which is just as much a warning as a promise!)," – Jay Nordlinger, NRO.

The drama that could unfold in the next few days is simply immense. The emotions involved – especially among the Christianist base who have immediately bonded on purely religious and cultural terms with Palin – are epic. What I fear is some kind of pure emotional-religious wave that redefines the GOP for ever as a purely religious party, swamps all genuine questions about governance, celebrates this woman as the epitome of modern conservatism and rides the tidal wave of fundamentalist fervor to the White House.

This is not what McCain intended or wanted.

He wanted a reformer. He’s got a saint. He doesn’t understand the profound forces he has unleashed with this pick, especially when all the facts are on the table. I predict that as this story develops, it will be Palin who is effectively running for president for the GOP. Or if she is forced to withdraw, McCain will be forced back to Romney, but they will blame Palin’s demise on the librul media, and hoist Palin like a martyred mascot on a freight train.

But, hey, I don’t know. This whole thing feels like a South Park episode to me. The real question: whose side is Cartman on? (Yeah, of course: Romney’s.)

Heckuva Job, Rick

The standards of competence of the Bush administration are now up for a third term:

“They didn’t speak to anyone in the Legislature, they didn’t speak to anyone in the business community,” said Lyda Green, the State Senate president, who lives in Wasilla, where Ms. Palin served as mayor.

Representative Gail Phillips, a Republican and former speaker of the State House, said the widespread surprise in Alaska when Ms. Palin was named to the ticket made her wonder how intensively the McCain campaign had vetted her.

“I started calling around and asking, and I have not been able to find one person that was called,” Ms. Phillips said. “I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. Not one of them had heard. Alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but I haven’t found anybody who was asked anything.”

Lyda Green – who’s the State Senate President and a Republican – and Sarah Palin are mortal enemies – just so you know where she’s coming from. When two far right shock-jock radio talk show hosts, interviewing Palin on the air, described Green on the air as a "bitch," Palin could only giggle and say she would be "honored" to host the two men at an event. Here’s Green’s take on the Palin pick:

"She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?" said Green, a Republican from Palin’s hometown of Wasilla. "Look at what she’s done to this state. What would she do to the nation?"

And here’s what Lyda Green said after the staggering news last March – greeted with stunned disbelief by Palin’s staff and the entire Alaskan establishment – that Palin was seven months’ pregnant:

"It’s wonderful. She’s very well-disguised," said Senate President Lyda Green, a mother of three who has sometimes sparred with Palin politically. "When I was five months pregnant, there was absolutely no question that I was with child."

Read the whole Anchorage Daily News story from that day here. Let me repeat that: read the whole thing.