Fish out of water.

[icarus]

Typed as I watched Palin's speech:

Welcome to amateur hour. She's totally out of her league. She's not used to being on camera and keeps twitching her hands in a weak sort of hammer motion. Her voice is nasal and strangled. She's not very dramatic as a speaker and has the pedantic manner of a first grade teacher. Her hair is in her eyes. She keeps smirking at her own jokes.

She can deliver a cutting remark. But falls apart when it's supposed to be inspiring. How is she able to kill a section on McCain's torture and survival?

A well-written, should-be-stirring, but poorly delivered speech. She knows it's dying. Her manner is scared and growing dispirited. She's not able to hide it either, she just doesn't have the experience. The audience seems more professional than her.

Ah. They've trotted out her family. That works. What a cute baby.

McCain just came out. Oh, what a relief to see him. Here is a pro who belongs at this level.

Palin is a fish out of water, more like a city council member than a governor. I guess Alaska is pretty low-key and local. There's no way this woman could handle beltway politics.


ETA: Republican bloggers say that she seemed off-balance because her teleprompter broke. That story is bullcrap.

Comments

[skipmcgee.livejournal.com]

That community organizer line really annoyed me. SO. MUCH.

The whole thing was so, so negative - and I do get the need for 'red meat'. Still bothered me.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

It was very petty and small-minded. But I was watching her, and then watched the crowd. She laid an egg.

[skipmcgee.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what worries me. The way the whole crowd laughed.... It seemed divisive in a way that makes me proudly uncomfortable. I saw a clip of, of all people, D.L. Hughley on Larry King Live, and he said the RNC made him think "I don't know if I can vote for this group, because they don't seem to know or care about someone different from them; this is an America I don't know". That's what her speech made me think of.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Well... it's a convention. The whole point is to show the unity of the party, so everyone's going to say their lines and laugh at the right points. The glue holding the Republican party together is derision aimed at the enemy. That's what they've got.

It's a pretty weak glue. It's not enough to win on.

[bramble-rose.livejournal.com]

So how do you think she'll come across in the vp debate w/ Senator Biden?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha!

Actually, it would very difficult to not seem mean or condescending.

[bramble-rose.livejournal.com]

*g* ah. So maybe we won't be hearing so much anymore about her vast experience governing vs the inexperienced newcomer Obama?

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

From the Guardian reporter Oliver Burkeman's convention liveblog: "The "reform" line that Palin made plain tonight is crucial to them. It's what justifies McCain's selection of an outsider; alchemically, it turns a lack of experience into a plus point."

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

If you have to work to turn weaknesses into a plus, doesn't that mean you have weaknesses in the first place? I mean, they shouldn't have to spin her credentials out of the gate.

[bramble-rose.livejournal.com]

I don't think I understand. That's good? Is it a distancing thing from the current administration?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I think that's the strategy: a fresh outsider to take on Washington, by golly! They need to deal with the fact that most people feel the country is going in the wrong direction, and that the Republican party got us into this mess in the first place.

Too bad she showed up for the fight in oven mitts instead of boxing gloves, eh? She didn't come off as someone who could take on Washington at all.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Oh, that line's an outright lie. She was mayor of a town of 9,000 and governor for exactly 1.5 years. She's bush league.

[elf]

Oh, but she had nearly a decade of experience on the city council first! Of a town of, my, several thousand people, all of pretty much the same religion and cultural heritage, with strong social ties to each other! (The town's pop has been estimated between 6500 and 9000, depending on when in her "career" you look.)

...I think the Yuletide Treasures coordinators have more management experience.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Yultide coordinators for VP? *waves a little flag*

I lived in DC for some time, and beltway politics are ruthless and brutal. If she and McCain won, she would be so lost.

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

I missed the speech...but from her interviews I didn't figure she'd hold up well against Biden. They'll have to give her a real crash-course in debate. Pity. They had so much good will going for them after the whole Hillary snafu with the Dems. They could have really made up some ground. I'm not at all political, but it is annoying when really smart people do really stupid things.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Debating with her's going to be tricky because you don't want to come off as mean. Kerry took the gloves off in his third debate with Bush in 2004, and Bush kept losing his train of thought. I watched, shaking my head, that Bush couldn't think in a straight line. But people felt like Kerry had bullied poor Bush and Bush came out on top.

There are so many more qualified female candidates, especially when you look to state governors, the house.... The only reason I can see for them to pick her is her ties to the religious right.

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

She has that following sewn up. It was a concern for the McCain ticket...he's not really very popular with the religious right. I find her views some what scary, but then I find most political stands scary.

[elf]

She has 'em sewn up unless she makes some major mistake. Which is possible, given her lack of experience on the national scene; being in touch with rural middle-class values of the fundamentalist right is not the same as being in touch with urban upper-mid-class values of the same religious group.

What she considers "too important for compromise," and what she considers "negotiable," may clash with some of her current followers. I think she's trying very hard to say, "look at me, just like you--solid family that's been through a few rough spots but sticks together," without discussing what she actually believes about anything.

She likes being a vocal attention-grabber. I think the McCain handlers will work hard trying to keep her blue-collar small-town "quaintness" from being too visible.

Her supporters will continue to be vocal. Those she loses, will probably just mention quietly to their friends, "well, I just can't vote for her. Not voting for Obama, of course, but I may just stay home. Or vote for [write-in of choice]."

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

being in touch with rural middle-class values of the fundamentalist right is not the same as being in touch with urban upper-mid-class values of the same religious group

True.

You know what I find telling? That the Republican party is rushing to defend her. Shouldn't Palin be able to defend herself?

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

Some of the media is now reporting that the wrong speach was loaded on the teleprompter, and when the right one finally was loaded it was behind where she was speaking from her notes. In the interest of fairness, that could explain some of her discomfiture.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I'm not inclined to believe them, but her poor performance last night doesn't matter in the face of her poor performance in Alaska.

She left Wasilla deeply in debt, spending money on big ticket showpieces (a park, a stadium) when they needed a sewer system. Instead of steadily building roads over a five year period, which would have required no borrowing, she borrowed heavily and put the small city into debt. She had the city build on land the city technically didn't own, and that's now been in litigation for seven years, draining Wasilla of funds. She left most of the daily work running Wasilla in the hands of an admistrator.

She has consistantly abused her power persuing petty grudges: first when she was mayor, she went after the librarian's job because the librarian refused to ban books. There was an outcry in the town and Palin was stopped.

She's currently enmeshed in a scandal as governor where she demanded a state trooper (who'd divorced a family member of hers be fired). She claimed she had nothing to do with that, but now it's been proved that there were two dozen contacts demanding the trooper's firing. She then fired Alaska's top cop for standing up against her. Her recommendation for his replacement was a man with a charge of sexual harrassment. He was withdrawn after a public outcry.

She's known to be vengeful and speaking out against her in small town rural Alaska is guaranteed to be met with reprisals.

Her vaunted "maverick" and "warrior against corruption" is based solely on her quitting an oil commission job. But she has a long history with earmarks. Locals say she just hated the job and the commute, and found an excuse to quit.

Her level of experience is so very low, and her performance has been poor at every level.

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

For someone that the McCain camp supposedly "completely vetted", it would seem that she brings a lot of unpleasant baggage with her that can only harm a presidential run. Why, when there has to be other women (if that was the aim) with right-wing/evangelical (if that was the aim) affiliations with a less problematic past did they choose her?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. And I think they're bonkers.

Apparently that adorable baby of hers has Downs syndrome. My aunt Marianne had a mentally disabled child -- taking care of him was time-consuming. What is Palin going to do as VP? Dump him on a nanny?

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

I would imagine she already has them built in...she has lots of older children and a husband. It's not like he's going to be an oil worker once they're living in Washington. I wonder how those conversations go over at the dinner table. I can't imagine most men being very happy with that sort of spot light on their family dynamics.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Yep. I was right to doubt it.

The teleprompter story is bullcrap (http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0908/The_teleprompter_did_not_break.html). It scrolled a little fast but that's normal for teleprompters.

[elf]

I suppose a possible debate tactic would be to come off as sympathetic... "Mrs Palin, given the great deal of energy your new son is going to take in the coming year, how will you find time to do the research necessary to understand the issues involved in international trade law?"

Or since Biden would be answering a lot of questions without directly speaking to her, play up that he has the resources to devote his full attention to the job. "That's a very complicated issue, and while I've worked on it in my years in the Senate, I know that I'd need more study to address all the aspects I'd be facing as VP. To that end, I would of course put in extra hours in the days before meeting; skipping a bit of sleep to keep up with changes doesn't bother me."

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Did you know that adorable little baby has Downs syndrome? I just found out. My cousin is mentally disabled and my aunt... it took all her time to care for him. Any baby takes a lot of time but a Downs baby-- multiply that by five. How is this "family first" candidate supposed to take care of him when she's vice president?

[winterthunder.livejournal.com]

Why would a "family first" candidate even take the job offer knowing damn well the scrutiny it would bring to her oldest daughter for the remainder of her pregnancy. If I were that girl, I'd be so pissed at Mommy right now...

[elf]

Yep. It was one of her big press release points--she knew it had Downs and didn't abort; doesn't that make her the coolest pro-life person on the planet?! She stuck to her principles in the face of adversity!

Of course, now she's fobbing off childcare on... who knows? She's got a baby that desperately needs stability and constant attention from a person (or more, but at least one) whom he can count on, and Mom's not going to be that primary caregiver. Dad's working full time, so it's not him either. I suspect that Bristol is getting crash-course in parenting, which is going to result in Trig feeling horribly abandoned when she has her own and he doesn't get to be the center of attention anymore.

All of which should be private family gossip, not for public consideration--except that she's running on a "family values" ticket. I really do want to know where Trig gets placed in those values.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

The primary caretakers for the baby are....

...hold on...

...the pregnant teenager and Palin's mother-in-law.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're kidding.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Alas, no. Evidently poor Bristol was yanked from school sometime during the winter due to mono (which sparked the initial "the kid had the baby, not the mother" rumors) and was deemed fit to care for her baby brother despite being ill. Todd Palin's mother was the kid's other caretaker, despite being pro-choice and thus denied her daughter-in-law's backing for mayor of Wasilla.

So now the mother-in-law is out of sight, Bristol is pregnant AND seemingly still caring for her brother (at least until she's pregnant enough that they can't hide her belly behind her brother's receiving blanket), and Caribou Barbie is off to the races...even though she will give no live press conferences because the McCain campaign is spending all its free time coaching her on public speaking because her delivery is so bad.

Nice, no?

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Oh, one more thing...if one counts backwards, it turns out that Bristol Palin became pregnant at almost exactly the same time her youngest brother was born. So much for Gov. Palin being able simultaneously to give birth, run the state, and supervise her teenage daughter.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I wish one person who I trusted to do a competent job was running.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

*laughs, grinning ear to ear*

Well, that almost never happens.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Even so, I wish we had a better slate than the smiler, the plagiarist, John McSame and Serena Joy of Gilead.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

The plagiarist? He forgot to credit one quote in a speech. Biden is one of the good guys. I watched him two years on Foreign Relations committee meetings, and Biden asks point blank questions that you wish people would ask. He's tough, a little sarcastic, and honest.

We'll see what Obama turns out to be, but Biden's the sort of person I want around.

[helkamaria.livejournal.com]

The plagiarist? He forgot to credit one quote in a speech.

If this article from Slate (http://www.slate.com/id/2198543/pagenum/all/) is to be believed, that's not exactly the case. What I find distasteful isn't so much the plagiarising (though plagiarising five pages from a published article in a term paper isn't distasteful, it's downright stupid) but his lies about his academic qualifications.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Well... David Greenburg, the author of the Slate article, is a big Clinton supporter. Every article he's written about the presidental race has been pro-Clinton:

Memo to Obama Fans: Clinton's presidency was not a failure (http://www.slate.com/id/2183941/)
The Long Goodbye: It's too early to talk about Hillary's withdrawal (http://www.slate.com/id/2185831/)
Cold Fusion: History suggests an Obama-Clinton ticket could work (http://img.slate.com/id/2191942/)

He was against Obama, referring to his promises as a seduction (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011101414.html) of the public. He argued for an Obama/Clinton ticket. And in a moment that makes me want to pause for its irony -- let us all pause -- compared Obama to Biden (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/weekinreview/24greenberg.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) back in February.

Greenburg's pissed off that Hillary didn't get on the ticket, so he's dredging the pond from 20 years ago.

Reading the article, the education claims came out in an exaggerated rant 20 years ago and never said anywhere else. So it seems like there's some cherry-picking going on. I put that on the order of the whole Gore "I invented the internet" controversy. The whole Kinnock thing -- reading carefully because I know Greenburg's particular bias -- it looks like Biden went from crediting Kinnock... to partially crediting Kinnock... to not crediting Kinnock when he delivered the same speech several times. It was sloppy on his part.

Greenburg has enough of an ax to grind that we'll be hearing soon enough if Biden's done anything similar in the last 20 years.

[meniscus-lexie.livejournal.com]

We saw this speech on the news all the way in Australia!
She is a lot more exciting than our Detputy Prime Minister! But thats not very hard!

[sarcastic-irony.livejournal.com]

I just got a very interesting email about Palin from a citizen in Alaska who knows an awful lot about her career. I can send it to you if you want, but the woman requested to not have it posted online.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Please do. I promise not to post in online. icarus_ancalion at yahoo

Thank you.

[reedfem.livejournal.com]

The moms at the bus stop this morning were going on and on (and on) about what a wonderful speech it was and what a powerful speaker she is and what a wonderful job she will do... I might have thrown up a little in my mouth.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

It's funny how all you have to do at the end of a really lame speech is announce, "Wow that was magnificent!" and people will nod their heads and repeat.

The weirdest thing? They'll use the word "magnificent."

[mad_maudlin]

The Washington Post reported yesterday that the reason Palin's not been facing up to the media much is because McCain's campaign has had her locked up in a hotel room for days, coaching her on this speech and on the platform. That doesn't reassure me about her preparedness.

I just hope she knows how to spell "potato."

[moojja.livejournal.com]

Just remember, the guy who didn't know, got elected.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Totally different situation. That guy was running after the Monica Lewinsky disaster, plus -- he's George Bush's son. He had a reputation (at the time) for being a relatively moderate Republican (wow, was that wrong). He's part of the east coast ivy league Scull and Bones good old boy network... the only thing he and Palin have in common is their connections to oil interests.

The convention hype about Palin is total bullshit. And convention hype is always bullshit. In 2004, at the Democratic convention, John Kerry announced that he was "reporting for duty" as president. At the time everyone said it was a shining moment. Later it came out that in fact, everyone thought it was lame. (It was lame.)

Check out that video (http://icarusancalion.livejournal.com/790674.html). This is the massive gap between the analysis and the analysts' real opinions.

[bruinsfan.livejournal.com]

I have a sneaking suspicion that, between the new SNL season about to start up and Baby Mama just now coming out on DVD, Tina Fey is looking skyward and mouthing "thank you!" every time Palin appears on television.