The political Quote of the Day comes from Josh Trevino who was at the GOP convention and writes about Vice Presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech. He starts out by noting how disappointing the Republican convention was — up until Palin’s “electric” appearance:
Know this: every cheer you heard on television was magnified a thousandfold in the great hall. She was quite nearly perfect, faltering only when stepping a bit too quickly over her own applause. She slid the knife into her opponents with a sly deftness — how delicious it will be to see her up against the groping, pompous Senator Biden! — and she presented herself with a disarming candor. Her diction was that of the upper Midwest, and her demeanor was of the stern but friendly mom. She invoked the memory of Harry Truman, and if there was presumption there, there was also truth. Sarah Palin is all up front, and we saw her this evening in full. Neither nervous nor quick, neither stricken nor strident, she led the crowd along with a confident cadence, till, at the end, they were in her hands.
When she finished, they cheered.
When John McCain emerged, they cheered louder.
When he commented on her greatness, they cheered loudest of all.
But it still wasn’t all picture-perfect:
The stage design was crude and inept. Mercifully inapparent on television was the absurd and awful PowerPoint slideshow that played on the jumbotron behind her. Over and over, we saw: the Washington Monument, Old Faithful, Mount Rushmore. The stage upon which she stood looked like a cheap dance club — black plastic rimmed with a glittering hot pink stripe. Meanwhile, in the crowd, functionaries could be seen openly passing out pre-printed “handmade” signs, and spotting the repeats was too easy.
Worst of all, in the long run, is the difference in enthusiasm between that for John McCain, and that for Sarah Palin. This evening, the Alaskan Governor could form an army from her faithful legions. John McCain is more uncertain. The Arizonan, in his few moments on stage, was squeaky and halting where she was firm and compelling, and his war-crippled movements went poorly with her practiced grace. Suddenly, unexpectedly, the bar for him tomorrow is set not by his opponent — but by his surprising, surpassing running mate.
We here at the RNC, this evening, are not so much Republicans … as we are Sarah’s people.
Palin seemed to be saying what Republican delegates and the party’s base wanted to hear, the way they wanted to hear it said, with the energy and style in which they have longed to hear it articulated. And Palin had this additional plus: she is perfect for the television age.
The bottom line:
Expect money to now pour into GOP coffers and into enough Republican funding mechanisms so all the previous talk about a Democratic funding advantage starts to fade. If the race was close before, it’s likely to be closer now as some balking Republicans come home with the support and wallets.
The question now: as the McCain ticket moves into the general election, is it going to go for another 50 + 1 election “mobilization election” where its goal is to electrify its base and get just enough votes to prevail or is it going to try and appeal to moderates and independents as well and seek a broader kind of victory (and governance)?
Will the campaign remain heavy on the mockery, sarcasm and zingers and personal characterizations or will there be more a substantive offering of alternatives on issues such as the economy? Is it correct what a McCain strategist recently said: that, in the end, issues aren’t what matter to voters?
Question for the Democrats: how do they respond to Palin and are they ready to do so? The success of her speech and, ironically, the controversies still swirling around her, guarantee she will get extensive news media (print and broadcast) coverage as she stumps for votes. And, as last night showed, she knows how to take advantage of it.
Meanwhile, there is an irony in Election 2008. In eight (or four) years could the country see a Clinton-Palin presidential race?
Cartoon by Riber Hansson, Svenska Dagbladet, Sweden
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.