The Power of Authenticity

Authenticity is the one word threat to the Obama-Biden ticket.

There is something going on this weekend which traditional pundits, traditional consultants and traditional politicians are simply missing. All of the normal biography-oriented and issue-oriented analysis misses an emotional gestalt event comparable to when Ronald Reagan in 1980 crystalized his leadership in New Hampshire when he seized control of the GOP debate.

In one sudden moment Friday, John McCain fundamentally changed American politics in a manner that transcends issues and details.

The great threat to the Obama-Biden ticket can be captured in one word: authenticity.

There is something unaffected and "unsophisticated" (in the Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and University of Chicago meanings of the word) about Governor Palin. She really was point guard of a state championship basketball team. She really is a competent hunter. She is a hockey mom. She has one son about to go to Iraq.
She has 13 years in elected office

By any practical standard she has done far more in the real world with much more spontaneity and practicality than Barack Obama. And there is something deeply real and courageous about John McCain ignoring most of his advisers and all of the "insider wisdom" to reach out to a younger woman whose greatest characteristic is undaunted courage and a willingness to clean out the corruption in her own party.

This is a moment of stunning authenticity versus a sad collapse on the part of the Obama campaign from " change you can count on" to politics as usual, as marked by Obama's choice of a senator first elected when Palin was 9 years old.

As I wandered around from a family restaurant to the dry cleaners to a variety of other non-political places, people kept walking up to me and talking with energy and enthusiasm about their reaction to McCain’s choice of Governor Palin.

As I sifted through their emotions and the intensity of their reaction it hit me that they were responding to "the real thing." The power of Palin is that she is so out of the establishment, and so out of the talking-heads, inside-the –Beltway-elite mindset, that the 80 per cent of Americans who believe we are on the wrong track suddenly can identify with someone who isn’t part of what got us on that track.
Palin will make mistakes. The old media and the Obama researchers will find things to attack. But if she stays relaxed and continues to be authentically who she has been for 44 years, the country is going to love her, and they are very rapidly going to get disgusted with the cynical negative nastiness of politics as usual.

Finally 2008 really has given us "change we can count on."

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The Fighter Pilot and the Moose Hunter

McCain’s V.P. pick has electrified the base—for good reason.

By putting the relatively unknown governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, on his presidential ticket, John McCain has demonstrated that rarest of all political qualities: willingness to take a real risk on a serious new venture with great potential. It’s a sign of confidence, not desperation.

If the response from the conservative base is any indication, McCain has hit a home run with the Palin selection. A sullen GOP, set to vote reluctantly, if at all, for the “maverick” (some say unprincipled) senator from Arizona, has suddenly become electrified.

In the first 36 hours after McCain announced his pick, $7 million in new contributions poured in online. This isn’t because Palin is making history as the first woman on a GOP ticket. It’s because of the type of woman and politician that she is.

She’s a normal person, a mother and wife, who entered politics in 1992... [snip]

In summary, Palin worked her way up the political ladder, rising on talent (she’s likable and a good speaker) and incremental achievement. She didn’t marry into power, and no one handed her anything.

She brings real reform credentials, authentic Reaganite conservatism, small-government values, and the pragmatic ethos of a middle-class mother of five.

It couldn’t get much better than that.

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Media almost unanimous on Palin

The media are almost unanimous: Palin was a stupid choice.

Considering the history of the MSM over the past decade and their fading influence upon the public, the media's take on the choice of Palin as McCain's running mate seems prima facie evidence that it was, in fact, a brilliant choice.

One of the female talking heads on Meet the Press this morning made a crack about how Palin may influence the vote of working class women but not that of those who are college educated. [you know: smart][snip]

But some of the "journalists" on the program seemed rather positive about Palin.

Especially Maria Bartiromo who had gone to Alaska for a one-on-one working visit/interview. She commented on how Palin is especially strong on energy issues, perhaps more so than any of the other candidates.

When the camera went back to Tom Brokaw, he seemed none too happy...

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Liberal media hate Sarah Palin (who knew?)

Think the liberal mainstream media don't like the thought of Sarah Palin becoming president? Check out the editorials blasting John McCain's choice as vice president on the GOP ticket: The New York Times:

"Governor Palin’s lack of experience, especially in national security and foreign affairs, raises immediate questions about how prepared she is to potentially succeed to the presidency. That really is the only criterion for judging a candidate for vice president."

[like Truman's experience prior to FDR's death? Ironically, yes. I'll take honesty, conviction and courage over inside-the-beltway 'experience' any day; such are amply armed to rise as needed]

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Clift Reveals: In 'Many Newsrooms' Palin Greeted by 'Laughter'

Newsweek's Eleanor Clift disclosed on the McLaughlin Group -- seemingly without any compunction for how she was outing her fellow journalists as behaving the same way as Barack Obama's campaign staff, but I suppose we already knew that intuitively -- that John McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for VP was greeted by “literally laughter” in “very many newsrooms.”

[he (oops) she who laughs last...]

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Yeah, About that 'Experience' thing...

Only a fool would question Sarah Palin's experience as a basis for her readiness to be Vice-President, especially as compared to Barack Obama's experience as a basis for his readiness to be President.

Never has such a scurrilous set of accusations been less founded. Those who argue them, such as the Obama campaign, because they know the truth to be irrefutable end up rendering themselves silly...

[Recommended > ]

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The Coming Trials of Sarah Palin

Democrats and the old media can no more accept a Sarah Palin vice presidency than they could Clarence Thomas as a Supreme Court justice. They can no more accept a conservative woman a heartbeat away from the presidency than they can a conservative African-American interpreting the nation's laws.

Expect the long knives to be out, and stay out. [snip]

The forty-four year old Palin is in the vanguard of the new generation of conservative politicians. Louisiana's Bobby Jindal isn't far behind. The Palin nomination puts the lie to the argument that conservatism is headed for the dustbin.

The Governor's nomination will serve as a clarion call to younger women and men who find her dynamic, upbeat personality, rootedness and strong advocacy of real world ideas appealing.

Sarah Palin's candidacy represents a new and important chapter for the nation. And how will you know this? By the volume and ferocity of attacks to come against Governor Palin leading up to the November elections...

[I heard an old media pundit ask the question; 'how can someone who's never been on Meet the Press be qualified to be VP?'

They just don't get it: being a product of politics and Washington is the problem.

Hence Obama's pitch for 'change' and McCain's claim to be a maverick - they know it, and are trying to sell it.

Sarah Palin is 'it', and that's a threat to everyone involved in our current two-party system and the sycophants that cover it.

Yeah, the knives will stay out - we'll need to pay attention...]

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History Changer

Every time I come close to despair, I derive strength from the wisdom of the American people. After listening to purveyors of the “conventional wisdom” disparage Senator John McCain’s selection of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, I grabbed the remote control and returned to that one reliable dispenser of the public’s common sense, C-SPAN. [snip]

As they trash McCain for selecting to run with a most talented understudy, those talking heads we see on television purporting to report what American people are thinking, missed the real story. Palin is not so much as a game changer, but a history changer.

In an instant, McCain, injected into his party what it so badly needs, a new face, new energy, and a reshuffled deck — both for now and for years to come. It’s past time to retire the parade of television professional “strategists” and bring on the callers.

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Kerry attacks Palin as "Cheney-esque"

Democrats have come up with a new line of attack line against John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin, saying she's another Dick Cheney. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) described Palin as a member of the "flat-earth caucus," ...

(Snip) "This Week." "He’s chosen somebody who doesn’t believe climate change is man-made."

[oh no: an apostate...]

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The Victim Nation

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This election all depends whether the “victims” finally outnumber the non-victims.

There’s an old saying in politics. If you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on Paul’s vote. Barack Obama doesn’t know much, but he’s figured that out. The question is: Are there still more Peters than Pauls (all of whom feel entitled, because they are, of course, victims)?

In Victim Nation, nobody ever got a break, even if they’ve gotten nothing but free rides their entire lives. No graduate of Harvard Law School can credibly claim to have been oppressed by a “mean” nation. So in their speeches, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Deval Patrick all just ignored the inconvenient truth about where they picked up their second Ivy League degrees.

It’s amazing. These biographical rewrites are like a Witness Protection Program for Harvard Law grads who want to change their identities in order to pass themselves off as victims in good standing. [snip]

Remember Stutterin’ Joe Biden’s acceptance speech, in which, to no one’s surprise, he invented a whole series of imaginary kitchen-table conversations, one of which involved “Mom” moving in with her kids “now that Dad’s gone”?

Wouldn’t it be great if Sarah Palin points out in her speech that one reason Mom can’t afford to live in her own house anymore is because her property taxes have tripled to pay for the salaries and benefits of avaricious public-sector union members?

Talk about the real victims in Victim Nation. It’s the people who are going to have to pick up the tab if Barack wins - the taxpayers.

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Indian outsourcing sector can get badly hit if Palin ever becomes the US President

Indian outsourcing sector is in the decline especially in the IT Sector. (Snip) McCain’s choice of Palin is something that can crush the last hopes of Indian outsourcing companies. [snip]

Palin is leader that is not shaped or formed by the Washington beltway.

Unlike US president George Bush and Senetor Nccain she will put US interest first before allowing ruthless outsourcing at the expense of American well paid jobs...

[this is an Indian paper referring to 'ruthless' outsourcing and cringing at the prospect of an American putting American interests first. This is why Palin is terrifying to the establishment(s)]

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etc.

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Future Vice President of the United States

{' I may be broke but I'm not flat busted '}















do you want to 'negotiate' with her >?

what a country

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