I feel so comforted:
One knowledgeable source told TIME that Palin plans to deliver a relatively short, plainspoken address in the voice of an ordinary working mom. She’ll talk about challenging old-boy networks — oil companies, Alaska’s corrupt GOP establishment — and learning to lead. Raising five kids while making a career won’t necessarily earn you an invitation to the Council on Foreign Relations, but it does instill organization and discipline. That’s what Palin brings to the table, the source said.
The pre-speech spin is that expectations are so low that there is no way Palin can fail to exceed expectations. That type of spin kind of misses the point. What we’re really wondering is when she is going to drop out of the race and apologize to the nation, John McCain, her daughter, and the people of Alaska for making them all look stupid. Unless she does that in her speech, she will not meet the minimum expectations that people have for her. The selection of Palin is the worst political decision since George McGovern selected Thomas Eagleton. In fact, it’s much worse than the selection of Eagleton, who was better qualified and more mentally stable than Sarah Palin. I don’t think Eagleton was a Creationist.
I see my fellow bloggers are dutifully raising expectations by predicting that Palin’s speech will be well received. That’s just gamesmanship and spin. Nothing this woman does is going to be well-received where it matters…in the ballot box. Even her most ardent supporters will be humiliated because Sarah Palin is going to go down in history as short-hand for Epic Fail. Therefore, any move to appease the religious right will also be perceived as Epic Fail.
The selection of a running mate was literally the last opportunity the Republican Party had to stave off the coming realignment, and they added gasoline to the fire. Sarah Palin is a catalyst for realignment. She cannot even face reporters or do interviews and people expect her speech to be well received? The entire narrative that she is going to send out tonight has been rendered inoperative. And none of it has one thing to do with jobs, the economy, our foreign policy challenges, or anything that people care about.
Matt Stoller asks, What If They Put On a Republican Convention and No One Came? He need not have asked, since that is exactly what is happening in St. Paul as we speak. The GOP convention is shaping up as the least impressive political event of my lifetime, and Sarah Palin is not going to change that by dodging reporters and giving a speech about her experiences as a working mother. The people of this country have never been so pissed off with their government as they are right now. The GOP is offering us reality television and scandal. They are offering an extension of tax cuts to the supremely wealthy and nothing at all for anyone else.
They are out of steam. Their idea of good framing is to put George Allen and Tom DeLay on the television and have them talk-up the Republican Party. The people have already rejected the GOP. They couldn’t even recruit anyone to run for office this year. Even corporations are betting on Democrats. And the GOP thinks they can turn this all around with Mooseburgers?
