Hidden Dissent Over Palin in the GOP Ranks?

One of the often annoying aspects of MSNBC’s production team is their cutaways following news segments as they go to commercial. They will usually cut to some sort of external panning shot, bring up some music and stay on that for an uncomfortably long time before actually cutting away. This habit wound up reaping some unexpected rewards recently, as NBC Political News Director Chuck Todd was interviewing a panel which included conservative columnist Peggy Noonan. During the panel discussion Noonan had some very complimentary things to say about Sarah Palin. During the cutaway scene, however, their mics were left open and Peggy’s tune changed a bit.

CT: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

PN: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this — excuse me– political bullshit about narratives –

CT: Yeah they went to a narrative.

MM: I totally agree.

PN: Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.

Later, Noonan wrote a column clarifying some other comments she made during the open mic sequence, but she didn’t seem to back down at all from the “not most qualified” and “narrative” concepts. I have to wonder if there isn’t a lot more of this beneath the surface among the GOP. Obviously nobody can afford to say it out loud, since Palin is clearly going to be the final pick and that train seems to have left the station.

During the Alaska Governor’s speech last night, while the 110% red meat content drew a raving response from the audience, that feeling was only reinforced. The attack dog job is a difficult high wire act for anyone to pull off well, but Palin clearly seems to lack the native instinct for it. Going after the opponent’s positions on the issues, flip flops, experience, and doing so aggressively is fine. However, Palin allowed her speechwriters to go several bridges too far and set them on fire behind her. Making fun of “community organizers” and pretending to not even know what the term means (to the howling, approving laughter of the assembled base) is absolutely going to backfire on Main Street, USA. If she lacks the restraint to recognize those boundary lines on her own, Palin is going to have a very difficult time of it during press interviews (assuming we are ever allowed to get any) and particularly in her debate against Joe Biden.

We’ll need three or four days to see how the polls respond to all of this, but it will certainly be interesting. Incidentally, in the six days since Palin was named, Gallup has seen a decline in swing voters on the face with Obama solidifying his lead, which has seen him climb back up to or near 50% since being virtually tied with McCain during the Democratic convention. The Palin pick may have done some work to solidify the base, but thus far it doesn’t seem to be helping McCain at all in the contested middle of the spectrum.