One thing that you'll see common to many of the reactions below is that the GOP is going to try, one more time, to run on a cultural divide: the rural heartland vs NY/Washington elites. Starting with Nixon's Silent Majority, it's been a winning formula for 36 years. Has it played itself out? Will it work this time? What do you think?
{10:30 Update} Check out my reaction to the conventi0n and her speech: Enough!
John McCain has been a fixture of Washington, a darling of the media, and, for a time, an excellent spokesman for a progressive economic agenda ... But tonight opens the beginning of a sharp, sharp turn. When McCain ran for president this cycle, he made many concessions. He backed down from his investigation of Jack Abramoff to protect Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed; he embraced supply side economics and flip-flopped on immigration. Alas. that was only the beginning of his transformation. Tonight, he presided over an unending stream of raw right-wing populism: attacks on the ivy leaguers and cosmopolitans and media and Washington and elites. Welcome back to Nixonland. To their credit, they were disrespectful and angry with humor, albeit a sophomoric humor. (Giuliani would have done a splendid job at a Dean Martin roast.) But it’s clear where they are headed. They will respond to the Democrats' economic populism with cultural populism. Where Obama talked about “One America,” they will run in the polarizing mode of Rove and Atwater. In an election where they don’t have much of an economic case, this was their best card to play. I have a sinking feeling that it will work and we’re in for an ugly eight weeks.
If Republicans were the party of fear in 2004, tonight they became the party of sneer. Sarah Palin has the knack of delivering strong shots with a light touch ... But Palin's speech was laced with inaccuracies ...
Palin laid out a positive agenda only on energy issues, her area of expertise. She's a passionate and effective advocate for the new Republican catchphrase: "drill, baby, drill!" ... Unlike many candidates with thin resumes, though, she made no attempt to display a broad range of substantive knowledge.
The Republicans, ..., are using a familiar cultural polarization strategy. There are, however, times when the GOP strategy of polarization does not work, and this may be one of them. The GOP message consists almost entirely of mocking Obama and reminding people of McCain's war heroism. They have done very little to position McCain in the center, in a year when he needs a strong margin among independents to overcome the larger number of self-identified Democrats. In a way, they may be making the polar opposite of the mistake the Democrats made [of being too soft on McCain]...
Some years this stuff doesn't work. Palin is a great base-mobilizing pick, but partisan polarization is not likely to work for the Republicans this year. Some of McCain's ex-advisors have been warning as much for months. John McCain has turned himself into George W. Bush with a war record.
Reform Day was, of course, tailor-made for Palin, who is all about reform. Particularly, reforming the Republican party. Normally, in a democracy, the way you reform a party is by tossing it out of power until it learns its lesson and gets its act together. But the McCain-Palin plan is to reform Republicanism by keeping Republicans in control of the White House and most of the powerful posts in the federal government. That’ll show them.
Also fiscal reform. How many times have you heard McCain promise to slash taxes and pay for it by eliminating unnecessary programs? And who better to help carry out that agenda than the governor of a state whose residents pay less taxes than anyplace else in the union due to their genius in making the federal government pay the tab for virtually everything?
The more that has been thrown at Palin, the more the McCain team has seen opportunity to use her critics to turn her into a figure of sympathy. After several days on the defensive, they tried Wednesday to go on the offensive, with Palin's address the culminating event of the day.
With her speech, Palin clearly passed her first test in the national limelight. But in some ways, it may have been one of the easiest she will face in the 60 days until Election Day. Will a woman who inspired the faithful in the Xcel Energy Center wear as well with millions of undecided voters while enduring the daily buffeting of a campaign that can cause even the most experienced to stumble?
One Democrat watching the speech predicted that even Wednesday's performance may end up hurting her. He argued that the first impression she has made could be judged as too partisan, too harsh and too political.
And from the liberal, elite media ... the NY Times editorial board:
Running Against Themselves
Three days into the Republican National Convention, it is clear that the G.O.P. has settled on a message: “Washington is not working.” The phrase is included in virtually every speech and every statement in St Paul.
We agree completely that Washington is in desperate need of renewal and reform. We’re not even going to quibble about the fact that Barack Obama said it first. The problem is that American voters have yet to hear — from John McCain or his warm-up acts — any serious ideas on what, exactly, is wrong with Washington, apart from the fact that a Democrat might win the White House, never mind how to truly fix it.
The difficulty for the Republican ticket in talking about change and reform and acting like insurgents is that they have been running Washington — the White House and Congress — for most of the last eight years.
Sarah Palin, the vice presidential nominee, was a combative and witty relief at a torpid convention. But it was bizarre hearing the running mate of a 26-year veteran of Congress, a woman who was picked to placate the right-wing elite, mocking “the permanent political establishment in Washington.”
and then Roger Simon of the Politico:
On behalf of the elite media, I would like to say we are very sorry. We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.
We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?
We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?
Bad questions. Bad media. Bad.
It is not our job to ask questions. Or it shouldn’t be. To hear from the pols at the Republican National Convention this week, our job is to endorse and support the decisions of the pols.
Sarah Palin hit the nail on the head Wednesday night (and several in the audience wish she had hit some reporters on the head instead) when she said: “I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment. And I’ve learned quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.”
But where did we go wrong with Sarah Palin? Let me count the ways:
First, we should have stuck to the warm, human interest stuff like how she likes mooseburgers and hit an important free throw at her high school basketball tournament even though she had a stress fracture.
Second, we should have stuck to the press release stuff like how she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere (after she supported it).
Third, we should never have strayed into the other stuff. Like when The Washington Post recently wrote: “Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body. … Palin had promised to cooperate with the legislative inquiry, but this week she hired a lawyer to fight to move the case to the jurisdiction of the state personnel board, which Palin appoints.”
Why go there? What trees does that plant?
Fourth, we should stop making with all the questions already. She gave a really good speech. And why go beyond that? As we all know, speeches cannot be written by others and rehearsed for days. They are true windows to the soul.
Unless they are delivered by Barack Obama, that is. In which case, as Palin said Wednesday, speeches are just a “cloud of rhetoric.”
Fifth, we should stop reporting on the families of the candidates. Unless the candidates want us to.
Sarah Palin wanted the media to report on her teenage son, Track, who enlisted in the Army on Sept. 11, 2007, and soon will deploy to Iraq.
Sarah Palin did not want the media to report on her teenage daughter, Bristol, who is pregnant and unmarried.
Sarah Palin thinks that one is good for her campaign and one is not, and that the media should report only on what is good for her campaign. That is our job, and that is our duty. If that is not actually in the Constitution, it should be. (And someday may be.)
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