Mother, fighter, small town girl, patriot, reformer, energy expert, hockey mom, McCain attack dog, America’s political sweetheart  she did everything she had to do, and more. The Alaska Governor was poised, stirring, charming, confident, snarky, cozy, well-rehearsed, biting, utterly fearless, unflappable, and self-assured. She read the teleprompter like a champ, with fine, varied pacing and conversational projection. Touched on her family story and then veered into a forceful political presentation, going hard after Barack Obama and selling John McCain with flowing admiration. She rocked the hall (and likely the country) with a tough, conservative message, steely offense, glowing optimism, and boundless charisma. The start of something truly big  or the best night of her candidacy.
I can’t find the link, but someone else really enjoyed her crisp, clipped Northwest delivery. She reminds me a little bit of Marge Gunderson, the policewoman from Fargo.
I still can’t post any comments here, which is frustrating, because y’all are doing great work. Don’t think I’m not reading.
Here’s KP on the hypocrisy of the left.
Megyn Kelly annihilates editor from US Weekly.
But inadequate animal husbandry cannot finally be blamed for the shocking stampede we have been witness to this week. The spectacle reveals a deep rot at the heart of the political press, and has been among the most shameful chapters in the history of modern American journalism. Not everyone has joined in, of course, but essentially all of the important institutions of our political press have played their part in one way or another. We can only hope those involved have begun to come to their senses, and that they recognize the magnitude of their failure this week. That doesn’t mean they should go easy on Palin: it makes sense to look into her past (as it would make sense to look into Obama’s past at some point before November too), and she certainly needs to prove herself tonight and beyond, as any vice presidential candidate has to. But the treatment she has received is not what just any VP candidate would get, and the attitude and assumptions underlying this week’s amazing assault raise very troubling questions about the cream of the crop of political reporters. They have shown themselves to be too insulated and too solipsistic to help the public better understand our politics, and too self-important to report on events as they happen. This is far more than media bias. Let us hope it is a passing episode.
Iowahawk has a round-up of MSM and big blog reax.
La Malkin on Wenner & Obama. Fight some of the smears!
Gross condescension from Sally Quinn and company at Breitbart.tv.
Jake Tapper: McCain campaign is spreading the smears about Palin. [h/t Hot Air]
Russ Douthat has advice that mirrors mine:
I’ll have more to say about Sarah Palin’s speech at some point tomorrow - I saw it live, from the press stand in St. Paul, which was perhaps not the ideal venue from which to judge its television impact - but based on the reactions I’ve heard and read to date, let me just reiterate the advice that Reihan offered to Democrats when she became McCain’s pick for veep: Do not attack her. Stop referring to her as a just a small-town mayor and a neophyte governor who’s unqualified to be President; in fact, stop referring to her at all. Attack John McCain, John McCain, and John McCain. Attack him all day, all night, and on weekends too. Behave as though Sarah Palin does not exist. Pray that the media will find some Palin-related scandal even more shocking than the perfervid theories aired this week (they’ll be looking for one, no doubt), and in the event that they fail to do so, do not under any circumstances allow yourselves to be drawn any deeper into a debate (which the McCain campaign plainly wants to have) over the relative qualifications and accomplishments of Barack Obama and the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Nothing that’s happened this week has changed the fact that it’s going to be very, very hard for the Democrats to lose a race between Obama and McCain - and as a result, the Obama-Biden ticket has vastly more to gain from changing the subject away from Sarah Palin than they do from placing her candidacy, her qualifications and her background front and center in this race.
To thor, since, as I mentioned above, I can’t presently comment, I find it very humorous that Baracky goes on TV and starts comparing himself to Palin when she was Mayor of “Wasilly”.  What a putz. More, that Joe Biden, his running mate, preferred McCain till he was picked, and described O!, famously, as a clean, goodlooking guy and now speaks of Palin as “good looking”.
The biggest target of Palin’s succession of happy little kicks in the groin, of course, was Barack Obama. She painted him as a vapid, self-obsessed fog machine of words. He was on a “journey of personal discovery,” whereas McCain was running for office to serve. She made fun of his presidential seal, his two memoirs, and, most pointedly, his remarks at a San Francisco fundraiser. “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.”
The message was clear: Who is this guy? When she said that people in small towns are “always proud of America,” it was clear she was referring to Michelle Obama’s claim that for the first time she was proud of her country. (Laura Bush let Michelle Obama off the hook, but Palin won’t. That’s the difference between first ladies and Iron Ladies, I suppose.)
VDH Unbound: read it all
Comment by thor on 9/4 @ 2:13 pm #
She’s like Tom DeLay with booobies!
At least she’s not black and doesn’t hate America.
Comment by S. Weasel on 9/4 @ 2:14 pm #
I thought of the Upper Midwest, too. I didn’t realize that’s what Alaska sounded like. Not my favorite accent, but *perfect* for this candidate.
Officer Marge. Why didn’t I think of that?
Comment by Jake on 9/4 @ 2:19 pm #
To echo a sentiment expressed last night; There’s no greater accolade.. no higher praise of Palin’s performance to be had than the bitterness and fear streaming copiously from The Left this morning…
… or, to paraphrase Eric Cartman of South Park.
“Yes! Yesss!! Oh, let me taste your tears, Donkeys! Mmm, your tears are so yummy and sweet. Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness!”
Comment by Dan Collins on 9/4 @ 2:27 pm #
Hell, thor, she’s an Evangelical. That means she ought to be home in a coatdress raising her sprats. All the Washington journalistic elite say so.
Comment by sdferr on 9/4 @ 2:48 pm #
Sorry for being repetitive all, but this (posted on the mainpage under Palin speech open thread) seems to me like it fits here better.
“…Obama seems to have left out this job from his resume …†[a referral by Neo and then quoted by Psycho on Barry’s refusal to fess up to his work with Ayers at the CAC and other places]
Mickey Kaus has an interesting take on McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt’s complaints about the media calling him with questions seeking details of Palin’s child’s DNA and the like. Kaus posits a new phase or paradigm of media behavior, in which, unlike their behavior in the Edwards adultery story where they ignored rumors floating about in the blogosphere (and the N. Enquirer) and printed nothing until it was too late to claim credit for being on top of things adn looked like they were hiding Edward’s misbehavior to boot, they have, according to Kaus, gone to printing the rumors and sorting the garbage from the truth right out on the front page (at least wrt Sarah Palin).
Here’s Kaus directly: “…In that world, the line between “checking out†tips and open discussion of at least the non-actionable rumors can’t really be maintained and shouldn’t be, given the truth-divining virtues of widespread publicity (which functions as an APB to the citizenry to come up with evidence). …â€Â
The problem with this, it seems to me, is that the MSM are doing nothing with that little problem Obama has with the story underlying the quote at the top. Indeed, Kaus himself does not mention this story at all in this piece. Curious.
MSM: “Ayers-Obama you say? What ever are you talking about? Silly personâ€Â
Comment by BJTexs on 9/4 @ 2:48 pm #
thor: You are like Jeffrey Dahmer, without the discerning palate.
Hey, this is kind of fun. Can I go to the Comeback Convention too?
Comment by Ric Locke on 9/4 @ 3:03 pm #
Most of the criticism of the MSM going down right now misses the point, although a couple have come close.
What’s happening is that we don’t have a “Press” any more. All we have is tabloids of one or another level of sophistication (none very high). They understand celebrities and celebrity stories, including who’s had whose baby tag-teaming; they have absolutely no idea what a Tony Rezko might be, and William Ayers — pah! Who’s he slept with? Nobody? Borrrr-ring.
Heckuva note: the National Enquirer is doing a better job, because for them celebrity stories are old hat and real journalism a new venture.
Regards,
Ric
Comment by thor on 9/4 @ 3:31 pm #
Hell yeah dude, you’re the kid of comebacks.
You’re like that dude in Comeback Mountain, both dudes actually.
Comment by thor on 9/4 @ 3:34 pm #
Hi Dan, feel any tingles running up your honch last night?
Personally, I though Sarah looked a little labored.
Comment by BJTexs on 9/4 @ 3:39 pm #
You know, thor, so many bright, shiny blue targets, only so many rounds in a clip…
Comment by Bob Reed on 9/4 @ 4:04 pm #
I…I…I…must be dreaming
Could we eeeeeeeeeeevil Rethuglican, Chimpy McBusHitlerBurton McSame Lovin’, Wingnutz be so lucky this year???
Not only do we have a new, Reagan-esque national star in the party, but are we to be the beneficiary of a middle American, silent majority, backlash ! served up against O! and the libs due to their hubris and the hand-wringing, breathlessly desperate, with-hunt disguised as “press vetting” ???
Could We Be So Lucky ??? in such a “Democrat” year???
God willing it will lead to a landslide in the fall. And, having their rampant and hypocritical bias exposed, signal the death knell of the MSM’s credibility FOR EVAH!!
Press vetting, INDEED, When are they gonna get to Obama ?!?!?
Comment by thor on 9/4 @ 5:05 pm #
I’m going to continue mocking Sarah until her belly bloats.
Pingback by Agree / Disagree: Sarah Palin and the “sexism” double standard? on 9/4 @ 5:44 pm #
[…] See also, Hot Air; Darleen, and Dan — who in addition to providing commentary also provides a nice round-up of reaction. Posted […]
Comment by thegeezer on 9/4 @ 6:38 pm #
Woof. The Megyn Kelly interview was wonderful. By the time the idiot US editor was done, he no longer had genitalia of any kind.
Comment by thegeezer on 9/4 @ 6:42 pm #
Like all the major Brit papers? Maybe tabloidism is symptomatic of national decline?
Comment by B Moe on 9/4 @ 7:50 pm #
They understand celebrities and celebrity stories…
Exactly. That is why they are so impressed with Obama’s shrieking, sold-out stadium performances. Even if someone tried to explain to them that it takes a lot more people than that to get elected, especially since many of those people won’t actually vote, they would never be able to assimilate the information. Their brains just don’t work that way.