Miscellaneous

The RNC Recap -- Day 3 (More Palin)

I won't deny the effectiveness of Sarah Palin's speech last night. She was well spoken, articulate, and like Barack Obama, very clean. And made excellent use of sarcasm, to the point that I wanted to slap my television a few times. Though I do now find it odd that they are continuing to depict Barack Obama as the celebrity when, during the last week, Sarah Palin has been on the cover of Us Magazine, OK Magazine, People Magazine and The National Enquirer. So, she's definitely getting the celebrity gossip vote. And, when I woke up at 6 a.m., on CNN -- of all places -- they couldn't help but to do ratings-grabbing puff pieces on her and her family.

Sarah Palin is the next Paris Hilton.

Not that I'm trying to minimize her speech. But, I lump her into the Sanjaya Malakar phenomenon. Two seasons ago, Sanjaya Malakar -- an incredibly untalented singer -- managed to remain on "American Idol" long past the point his talent warranted. But each week, Simon Cowell -- like the media with Sarah Palin -- attacked Sanjaya with brutal honesty. The audience at home, recognizing that Sanjaya kind of sucked, voted for him all the same, partly because they felt sorry for him and partly because they wanted to see the train wreck continue. Ultimately, the "AI" voters came to their senses and voted Sanjaya off, as I assume the American public will also do when it comes to Palin.

And while I will, again, concede the effectiveness of her speech last night, her sarcasm and cynicism may have fired up the Democrats as much as Barack Obama's acceptance speech last week. The speech certainly inspired a lot of fury among the left, and even among the more independent types, like John Williams, who I think nailed it when he wrote on ASWOBA:

To hear Rudy and everyone else talk about the elite media and political correctness over and over again, like it's 1993 and this stuff is even remotely interesting, was pathetic. To hear Palin attack Obama's soaring rhetoric when hers is pitched at that PTA level she's so proud of, was pathetic. To hear them rail against the establishment in Washington when the establishment in Washington has been led by a Republican for eight years, was maddening. To listen to ancient arguments about government intrusion when Obama goes out of his way to argue that government can't solve all our problems, was a sign of intellectual bankruptcy. To listen as John McCain's incredible and brave experience as a POW was trotted out as an argument in itself for giving him power, as if he were Jesus and had suffered for our sins, was creepy to say the least.

And can I note, also, that the biggest problem (or gift) with Palin for the Republicans is that no one is speaking about the guy at the top of the ticket. It's been six days now, and McCain has been all but drowned out by Palin. And dollars to donuts says that Palin's speech last night fetched a lot more viewers than McCain's acceptance speech will, tonight.

Full post as published by Quiz Law on September 04, 2008 (boomark / email).