May 17, 2012
FSM HOT TOPICS
Exclusive: Saturday, September 6
by PRESIDENTIAL WATCH September 6, 2008
The Natural
Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard.com
That was easy. Sarah Palin delivered what may have been the most important speech ever by a vice presidential candidate and made it look like she'd been performing on the national political stage for years. And she made John McCain look good for having picked her as his running mate.
Yet, as governor of Alaska, Palin had never addressed as large a crowd as she did last night at the Republican convention. She'd never before given a nationally televised speech in prime time. And she'd never had to deal with a situation filled with such political peril for her, McCain, and the Republican party.
So how in the world could this 44-year-old woman with no national political experience handle the whole thing with poise and composure and seeming effortlessness? Simple. She's a natural, gifted with the ability to connect with people in a way that few politicians can and to perform under extreme pressure. She has star quality.
Political figures like this don't come along very often. And heaven knows Republicans haven't seen anyone like Palin emerge from their ranks since Ronald Reagan first attracted national attention in 1964. That's a long time to wait. They've been starved for a leader with charisma and a knack for leadership. Now they have one. Read article.
With a Smile on Her Face … and Steel in Her Spine
Andrew C. McCarthy, NRO.com
We are in a war against terrorists, and the other side has nominated a man who has been a friend and business partner of an unrepentant, America-hating terrorist. The press lauds Obama as post-partisan when even a cursory glance at his record shows he is as partisan as it gets. The press lauds him as post-racial, but he sat comfortably for years in Trinity Church, drinking in the racist ravings of Jeremiah Wright, and he sat comfortably for years in rough-and-tumble Chicago, playing by-the-numbers race-based politics.
Obama blathers about “change” but then chooses as his running-mate a Washington relic who has managed in 35 years to be wrong on just about everything while compiling a record nearly as slavishly Leftist as Obama’s. In an era of complex, vicious, asymmetrical threats, Democrats give us a “community organizer” without a shred of executive experience who, in his years as a state legislator, voted “present” when it was time to make the tough calls. Except, of course, when it came to life: In a nation repulsed by partial birth abortion, Obama decided to make his stand enabling the practitioners of infanticide.
It is positively absurd that such a candidate should have a snowball’s chance of becoming president of the United States. But he has a very good chance because Americans haven’t been rallied.
Well, they’ve been rallied now. And rallied, at long last, in a way that resonates: By an attractive winner with a smile on her face and steel in her spine. By a proud woman living the ups and downs of an American life — a woman the other side spent a week trying to destroy by coming after those she loves most. With grit and good humor, she brushed those critics aside like so many Styrofoam columns.
It wasn’t snide. Sarah Palin was grace personified. And now, finally, even we American Taliban have hope. Read article.
The Significance of Sarah Palin
Peter Wehner, EPPC.org
There is a lot to say about Sarah Palin's performance last night, but perhaps the place to begin is with this observation: Boy did Democrats choose the wrong hockey mom to pick a fight with.
1. It's always difficult to judge these things in real time, but my sense is that what happened last evening was a genuinely important political moment. It was important above all for Sarah Palin, who, under enormous pressure, delivered her speech flawlessly, with grace and style, in a way that was elegant, effective, and accessible. She is a supremely gifted political talent, both captivating and tough. And her conservatism seems organic rather than manufactured, ingrained rather than recently imbibed. After seeing her last night, you can understand why her approval rating in Alaska is at 80 percent. (What on earth is wrong with the other 20 percent?)
It's also worth pointing out that Governor Palin did what no one else, in 18 months, has been able to do: land clear and extraordinarily effective blows against America's best known community organizer, Barack Obama. Governor Palin did it with mocking good humor, charm, and devastating lines. Not bad for a former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.
To put it another way, it is as if last evening served as a circuit breaker for the last three years, a very bad stretch that began with Hurricane Katrina and may have ended with Hurricane Gustav.
It's important to insert the caveats: last night consisted of only one speech, the national spotlight can be withering, and Governor Palin still faces lots of questions, as well as a vice presidential debate. And it's important to recall that most moments in politics that seem special and memorable at the time are ephemeral. All true. And yet one cannot help but think that what we saw last night was a woman who strode onto the national stage in a dazzling way, and who may dominate it for a long time to come. Read article.
A star is born - The country 'fell in love with Sarah Palin tonight'
Art Moore, WND.com
Sarah Palin introduced herself to America last night as "just your average hockey mom," but to the roar of ecstatic Republican National Convention delegates her convention speech rose above the expectations birthed last week when John McCain stunned the nation by choosing the Alaska governor as his running mate.
Making it seem easy to deliver a speech watched by millions worldwide amid a media frenzy over her personal life, she told her story and framed the argument for a McCain-Palin White House, delivering carefully crafted one-liners to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's doorstep with a resolute smile.
McCain's assessment of the speech was clear as he appeared on stage afterward with Palin's husband Todd, their five children, and their pregnant teen daughter's fiancé.
"Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?" McCain asked. "And what a beautiful family."
WND took a sampling of reaction from the convention floor after the speech, speaking with a dozen delegates, including Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, former Gov. George Allen of Virginia, Rep. Peter King of New York, former Rep. Bill McCollum of Florida and Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett.
Texas delegate Matt Hayes of Dallas seemed to typify the mood at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.
"I'm more energized than I think I ever have been politically. I'm bubbling, I'm excited, I can't contain myself," he said. Read article.
Palin Strikes Back at Critics
Fergus Shanahan, The Sun.co.uk
A week ago nobody had ever heard of her.
Today she is the most talked-about woman in the world. And with good reason.
Sarah Palin's sensational performance at the Republican Party Convention may turn out to be the tipping point of this rollercoaster American election.
Obama fans hoping she would fluff her big night were in for a nasty shock.
This speech has turned the election upside down. It was simply stunning.
Democrats and their Lefty media backers had been sneering that she was a small town nobody, a hick from the Alaskan sticks put into a job way beyond an inexperienced woman.
Believe me, you will not be hearing that again.
Palin turned out to be an electrifying mix of intelligence, passion, energy, optimism and plain speaking.
Full of self-assurance and aggression, she popped Barack's balloon big-time.
From the moment she walked on stage in this cavernous bear pit, bandbox smart in cream jacket, trim black skirt and black heels, she proved that John McCain knew exactly what he was doing when he picked her as running mate. Read article.
Sarah Impaled the following Democrats to Thunderous Applause
Dick McDonald, DickMcDonald.Blogspot.com
Harry Reid – his hate for JM is a great endorsement
Barrack Obama – American Presidency is not a journey of personal discovery
Barack Obama – This world of threats does not need a street organizer
Barack and Biden – There is only one man who has ever fought for you - JM
Michelle Obama – Small town people are always proud of America
Bill Clinton – When I ran for city council I didn’t need polls and voter profiles
Barack Obama – small town mayor are like a community organizer except you have actual responsibilities.
Barack Obama – In small towns we don’t know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening then talks how bitterly they cling to the religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.
Barack Obama – we tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco. Read article.
Five Reasons Sarah Palin is a Terrorist (to Liberals!)
GunnerSykes.com
Progressives who are much smarter than you and not afraid to say so are terrified that Sarah Palin, whose paltry resume includes being a mayor and the governor of Alaska, may be elected Vice President of the United States and be only a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
Here are five reasons why:
1. She is a Christian. There is something about Christians that terrifies progressives who are much smarter than you and not afraid to admit it.
2. She is a Creationist. Progressives who are much smarter than you and not afraid to admit it know that all Christians believe that the universe was created in seven days and that the earth is 6000 years old. This belief is called Intelligent Design. They are much too smart to buy into the false notion that Intelligent Design is the teleological analysis of living things, primarily because they have never bothered to look up the word teleological.
3. She believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Progressives who are much smarter than you and not afraid to say so are surprised that the American public is too stupid to understand that the right for same sex marriage was right there in the constitution all along and we just missed it.
4. She was Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Wasilla, Alaska has a population of about 6000. Progressives who are much smarter than you and not afraid to admit it are terrified that the former mayor of a small town might become Vice President for good reason. People from small towns, by definition, have small town mentalities.
5. She has no foreign policy experience. Progressives who are much smarter than you and not a bit afraid to admit it realize that governors should concern themselves with foreign policy in case they are called on to be a Vice Presidential candidate. How a governor should gain foreign policy experience, since foreign policy is the domain of the federal government remains a mystery, but that does not stop them from being terrorized. Read article.
Estrich and Ingraham Slam Media’s ‘Vicious Attacks’ on Sarah Palin
Brad Wilmouth, NewsBusters.org
During FNC’s Republican Convention live coverage, former Dukakis campaign manager and liberal FNC analyst Susan Estrich voiced her disapproval of the "vicious and mean-spirited attacks" on Sarah Palin by the media as she appeared late Tuesday/early Wednesday night with anchor Greta van Susteren. Estrich: "I’ve never seen anything this bad in my life . I was with Geraldine Ferraro in ‘84 – and this is worse. . I have never seen from some of my friends such vicious and mean-spirited attacks on her most personal choices, which is what they are."
A bit earlier at about 12:05 a.m., conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham had also complained of Palin’s treatment. Asked by van Susteren if Palin was getting "fair treatment," Ingraham argued that Palin is being "reviled and hated" because she is conservative and pro-life. In response to van Susteren’s question of "who’s reviling her," Ingraham elaborated: "Did you read the New York Times today? Have you read some of the left-wing blogs about her? Have you heard some of the comments on our competitor networks? It’s vile, it’s nasty, it’s vicious." Read article.
Andrea Mitchell: Only Hillary’s Uneducated Voters will Vote For Sarah Palin
Warner Todd Huston, Conservablogs.com
Tom Brokaw’s Meet the Press this week was as prosaic as ever, but for one little line uttered by the increasingly partisan Andrea Mitchell. In a discussion about the McCain VP pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, guest Doris Kerns Goodwin, plagiarist/historian, said that the choice of Palin is a “very strange choice,” showing how little she bothered to even think about the facts. But the most outrageous analysis came from Mitchell who said that only uneducated, female voters will be drawn to Sarah Palin, not those smart, college educated ones.
At about 5:57 into this clip Andrea Mitchell was brought onto Meet the Press with Goodwin, David Gregory and host Tom Brokaw to tell us all that Sarah Palin will only appeal to uneducated women, not educated ones.
After Brokaw asked Mitchell what this Palin pick means to Hillary voters, we find that Mitchell took the occasion to attack instead of answer the question with serious analysis. Read article - VIEW VIDEO.
Sarah Palin & the Philistines
Lance Fairchok, NMJ.us
Pundits are pontificating and as usual, they are focusing on Governor Palin’s origins while ignoring her accomplishments, making it all the easier to demean her, openly and outrageously on places like the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post and more subtly in the mainstream press.
Even on conservative venues, some of the criticism sounds like it comes from the Obama campaign. The hubris of the chattering class makes it hard to embrace the heartland and even harder to remember that it is the people who are supposed to run this country.
This “small town mayor” is in fact the governor of a very large state with international borders and the largest oil reserves in the nation. Alaska is center stage for the battle between enviro-fanatics and the reasonable use of resources. She has innate ability, not merely political grooming. Her humble origins are troubling for cynical commentators, especially because she is successful.
The press wants political caricatures, not elected officials who are honest and principled. Sarah walks the walk and talks the talk, all without handlers and image-makers, or the party operatives that specialize in hiding unfortunate votes, speeches, financial records and relationships. Sarah Palin is what our middle-class democracy is supposed to be about, by the people, for the people, not by the elites for the elites. Read article.
Mrs. Palin Goes to Washington
Clarice Feldman, American Thinker.com
I'm a sucker for Frank Capra movies, movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington "which underscore the difference an honest person dedicated to the common weal can make to his community and his country. While today the stories may seem dated and too black and white a depiction of good and evil, they resonate still in American hearts even after decades of public viewing.
We are cock-eyed optimists at heart. And we have been forever in love with the common man (or woman) who loves his family, his God and his neighbors enough to work hard to make their lives rich and full and better than they are.
I do not think I am alone in my love of these stories. And I think that's why the selection of Governor Sarah Palin as Senator McCain's running mate has struck such a powerful nerve among the electorate. She is not a part of any ruling elite. She comes from no moneyed family. Her family and its strengths and problems are familiar to us all. She's smart, courageous, honest and personable.
What is amazing to me is that it is so rare for such a fine, brave, likeable candidate as Mrs. Palin to make it so far. We didn't always have only very rich people or children of politicians running for higher office. Harry Truman, one of my favorite presidents, for one, was a failed haberdasher. I have been trying to figure out when and why we developed an almost iron clad rule that presidential and vice presidential candidates had to fit a certain template -- come from rich and/or politically prominent families, have Ivy League degrees and/ or have spent years in the House or Senate.
Personally, I blame it on the myth of Camelot. The JFK family was rich, politically prominent, young and the darlings of an adoring press. Of course, that narrative about them was very one-sided, not terribly accurate, and a tribute to their ability to manipulate media coverage. But it seems to me that ever since, anyone running for president or vice-president needed to have very substantial public recognition often because of the prominence of their family or long service in Congress and lots of money-inherited, donated or contributed. Maybe it's the polished, well-attired and groomed visage we'd grown to consider an essential attribute for those positions.
We've paid dearly for the notion that only a small cadre of Americans are among those fit to serve. For one thing, we have a boringly similar field from which to choose -- people increasingly out of touch with their countrymen and loath to risking anything to advance principled positions. It has made our campaigns tediously predictable and our voters understandably cynical and disengaged. Read article.
What I like about Palin
David Warren, The Ottawa Citizen
As everyone with access to the mainstream media knows, the Alaskan 17-year-old, Bristol Palin, is pregnant by a high school hockey jock named Levi, and is going to have the baby and marry him.
The august, liberal New York Times carried three big "analyses" on this yesterday, in which their top correspondents had a go at performing journalistic "gotchas" on Sarah Palin, John McCain, and the Republican Party. They don't need to find any example of wrongdoing or irregularity in Ms. Palin's past. For their purpose is to reduce her candidacy to a soap opera, so that readers will not be tempted to listen to the woman, or form any judgment of their own about her qualifications to be on a presidential ticket.
One begins to understand why women other than Hillary Clinton are seldom considered for such positions. For the American liberal media grant themselves a free pass on all traditional principles of decency, and every feminist talking point besides, when they are confronted with a woman not in the feminist stereotype. Similarly, should a black man be put forward for an important office, who is not ideologically one of theirs, he will be received, journalistically, as Judge Clarence Thomas was back in 1991 -- publicly lynched.
I cannot think of better illustrations of the way women and blacks are reduced to stereotype by the American media, and all the other institutions of "political correctness." Read article.
Hillary's Gift to Women
Editorial, NY Post.com
Hillary Rodham Clinton, to use her own words, put "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling" in the Democratic presidential primaries - demonstrating clearly that America is indeed ready for a woman on a national ticket.
But this year, at least, that woman will be Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin - Republican presidential candidate John McCain's choice for veep.
This has given both Democrats and the media (to the extent they're distinguishable) dyspepsia.
Suddenly, we're told that the mother of five children (one an infant with Down Syndrome) is neglecting her kids. Or, conversely, that her parenting responsibilities wouldn't allow her enough time to be vice president.
Talk about sexism. Barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen, anybody?
Speaking of pregnant, remember the understanding that politicians' children - like, say, Chelsea Clinton - are "off limits" to media scrutiny?
Bet 17-year-old Bristol Palin would've appreciated such consideration.
Ha. Her mom's a Republican. Read article.
Heepism vs. Elitism
George F. Will, Newsweek.com
We are so very ' umble.
—Uriah Heep In "David Copperfield"
Cognitive dissonance—believing, sincerely and simultaneously, contradictory ideas—might be considered a genteel mental disorder were it not such a nearly universal phenomenon that it seems less a disorder than part of the natural order of things. It afflicts—if it really is an affliction rather than a normal accommodation to life's ambiguities—individuals and collectivities, such as the American electorate.
Today, Americans seem to demand a government that is an omnipresent and omni provident cornucopia of entitlements, but that also is small and imposes low taxes. Dissonance? This is cognitive cacophony.
Now Americans are about to choose a president who—judging by political rhetoric, which responds to voters' expectations—is supposed to be an economic wizard, a national pastor, a Florence Nightingale in providing health care and a diplomat of Metternichian guile and Franciscan goodness. But Americans also are being plied and belabored with dueling warnings that the two presidential candidates from whom they must choose, both of them U.S. senators, are—Heaven forfend!—not common men. Read article.
It's Still the Economy, Stupid
Tony Blankley, JWR.com
In national politics, the side that can make its point with a slogan usually beats the side that needs two paragraphs to rationally refute (or at least plausibly rebut) the slogan.
In the remainder of this campaign, the Republicans have to avoid two traps. The first trap is to defend the current economy. Even though as of now, the economy is not in recession but in fact is growing slightly, it would be electorally lethal for Republicans to deny what at least two-thirds of the country feels: The economy stinks, and they want it fixed.
The second trap is to permit McCain and the Republicans' message on the economy to sound like merely a continuation of Bush's policy. The obvious problem is that the continuation of Bush's tax cut policy is a necessary part of any economic recovery policy.
Currently, the United States has the second-highest corporate tax rate of all industrial societies, after economically anemic Japan. The U.S. federal rate of taxation is 35 percent, and when the average state and local corporate tax rates are added, American corporations pay, on average, a 39.27 percent tax on their incomes. China is at 25 percent; Mexico is at 28 percent; socialist Sweden is at 28 percent; and prosperous Ireland is at a mere 12.5 percent.
If these comparative rates continue for much longer, the United States economy will mortally bleed jobs and prosperity to a world — both nominally socialist and free market — that has learned the low corporate tax lesson from Reagan's America that current Washington has forgotten. Read article.
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