The RNC Sarah Palin Speech Thread

Great Debates
41

I think she did what needed to be done. And if uninformed fence sitters watched this they would be fans she lit a fire I guess for them. I also think the same thing about Clinton and Obama’s speeches last week. So meh, all this last few weeks are is pandering to the home team.

She did fine, no flubbing, warm and humorous. Looking through tinted glasses I guess I could see what others are saying here, but looking through them in a detached manner, she passed. As a voter I am waiting until the debates, there I will see who really wants to help my family. I hope. :slight_smile:

42

Let’s see what McCain has to say. She attacked. Biden attacked. That’s what VPs do. But by all means, keep comparing her to Obama, proving that picking her was brilliant. I love her.

And, Dio, seriously, she did an amazing job. And when you consider how much pressure she was under, double-amazing. Even Chris Matthews and Rachel Madow (sp?) and the other female commentator with him grant that. One even said she hit it out of the park. Do you think it is possible for that you (and others here) might be a tad biased and not accurate judges of how that speech might have come off to those less biased?

43

Yeah…I noted that too.

Unfortunately the answer to that is a lesson in the Illinois political process. How many do you think will bother to inform themselves of that? All too few and Guiliani knows it.

Although, I think it could be an opportunity for the Obama camp. I forget where I saw it but McCain as been conspicuously absent from the Senate for the last year. The way I heard it he was at less then the guy in second place and he missed votes because he had a brain aneurysm. Add in to that McCain’s beating the drum on his care for our soldiers and warrior status and lookup his remarkable lack of presence at Senate Armed Services Committee meetings.

If the board was not so screwy I’d search out the cites I have seen here previously (if they still exist in the database). Otherwise I’ll post cites tomorrow of the numbers…they are shocking frankly.

44

They did a great job re-writing that speech for her at such sort notice, and she read it with nary a stumble. When do we get to hear her give a speech of her own?

45

That’ll be the true test. That and when she starts to get grilled by the press and hits the talk show circuit. But this hurdle she cleared very well.

46

If you are pleased at comparisons of Obama and Palin as being favorable to Palin I want what you are smoking. Only if you are thoroughly in her camp on the issues anyway does that make sense. Otherwise a side-by-side comparison blows her out of the water by any measure (as regards them as candidates).

And please note that while I am admittedly in the Dem camp I praised her performance tonight. I don’t like her politics at all but she did a good job tonight…more’s the pity. Guess snubbing Schlafly to practice her speech paid off.

47

Obama supporter here…

I thought Palin did a good job delivering the speech they gave her. I’m interested to see how she does outside of a friendly convention hall. How will she handle the national media (if the McCain camp will ever let them interview her)?

I do think she came off much too mean and snarky in this speech tonight. She should have kept it more of a bio and policy speech. The tone and red meat is just going to give Biden an opening to throw the gloves off in the debate and he’ll tear her to shreds. I know that the VP is supposed to be an attack dog (pit bull w/ lipstick) but, my partisanship aside, I think McCain made a mistake in letting her go after Obama so hard.

I heard Olbermann make this comparison but I haven’t seen it here yet… He said that she reminded him of Tracy Flick from "Election." Can’t say I disagree with him there.

48

I hate attack ads. I don’t want you to tell me why your opponent sucks; I want you to tell me why I should vote for you. You can even pull out all the cute/warm/fuzzy/adorable kitten shit. That tactic probably won’t sway me, but it’ll sway me more than telling me why the other guy is shit.

Palin’s speech was a 20 minute attack ad, so…yeah…no, not impressed. I can get better snark here.

49

If Palin is the one who picks up the receiver, we are all in world of shit.

And then some.

50

I swear I am going to puke if I hear the “red meat” meme anymore.

Reading the CNN opinions of last nights speeches I think most of them used that phrase. Heard it again tonight during the commentary and now several times here.

It was cute the first few times but wears thin is all. What ever happened to “kick ass” or other catchall phrases? Mix 'em up people!

(And no offense to those who have used it here…just saying…)

51

Sarah Palin is Marge Gunderson, but without the moral standing.

52

If you don’t know what a community organizer does, then why are you sneering at them?

Obama worked for a faith-based community program called the Developing Communities Project. Read all about it, then come back and sneer some more.

There are many other kinds of community organizations. Maybe you’be heard of ACORN? Habitat for Humanity? Or how about the Christian Coalition?

A community organizer is somebody who leads a community organization. Pretty simple, huh? Precisely what they do is dictated by the specific goals of the organization. It commonly involves advocacy for a given goal, working to recruit and organize coalitions within a community and quite often (as when I did it) hands on work actually putting together and running something like an after-school club, or building a Habitat house or recruiting volunteers to clean up a park…or build a new one.

Does this satisfy your curiosity? Does it all still sound meaningless?

53

First off, Olbermann’s an ass. He’s the left’s version of Sean Hannity, and the sooner he disappears from the airwaves the better off we’ll be. I could totally hear Rush saying that if Palin was a Dem.

I’m a lefty and Obama supporter. I think Palin did much better in this speech than I expected. I thought she’d be soft, maybe a little wounded from all of the scrutiny her family’s been under… but she came out swinging. Hard.

This speech was a difficult one, because she had to satiate the base (the folks in the room) and introduce herself to the nation at the same time. I think she came across as tough and willing to take a chunk out of Obama. I think he’s smart enough not to take the bait, as is Biden. There are plenty of surrogates who can go at her hard while they take the policy-based approach.

I do think that the problem that people on my side tend to have is that they think the Pubbies aren’t that bright. We always underestimate them, and get our ass (literally) handed to us in November. This is a warning shot that Palin isn’t the lightweight she was assumed to be.

Having said that, I think there’s problems ahead. There’s more evidence that she sent e-mails complaining about her ex-brother-in-law to the official in charge of public safety, and the bridge to nowhere debacle isn’t as clean as she claimed. I also agree that the whopper that Giuliani told about votes was dumb, dumb, dumb.

I actually thought Palin and Huckabee were the best speeches of the convention so far. Everyone else pretty much bored me to tears. The GOP really needed a superstar, like Arnie, to electrify the crowd.

Whack-a-Mole, I think the point that magellan01 is making is that the more people see or hear Palin-Obama comparisons, it’s going to essentially either elevate P as being an equal of the Dem nominee, or bring O down to the level of the VP pick. Obama doesn’t need to be seen discussing how he’s more experienced than the other side’s VP, and you know that question is coming.

54

While I’ll take a governor over a senator of similar time on the job any day, you miss my point. The point is that you’re comparing the top of the Dem ticket to the bottom of the Rep ticket. Regardless of who ekes out in that comparison, the Dems lose. It places McCain in a more vaunted position. (Albeit one he deserves.)

*I just went to the next page and saw that Hippie Hollow explained this for me already. My thanks, HH.

(bolding is not working on the new and improved boards)

55

Okay, she’s on.

She’s starting out very stilted, obviously uncomfortable reading from the teleprompter.

Dig at Obama – “He [McCain] would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.” What an offensive implication.

Kennedy reference – “Our candidate is a true Profile in Courage.” Who does she think she’s fooling with this?

Oh, she’s grooooowling now. Ooooooh, I’m skeeeerd.

Oh yes, not a single Democrat has a son or daughter in Iraq. Please.

What’s with the snarly face she keeps making?

Oh, an advocate in the White House for families with special needs children. Goody. What does that even mean?

Tepid applause to touting her husband’s proud Union membership. Does she still not know what audience she’s addressing?

Nice introduction of her parents. They look like nice folks.

She’s snarling again. Really, what’s up with that?

Ok, small town farmers and factory workers are always proud of America. What does that have to do with your platform, or anything else for that matter? And that got a standing ovation?

Joke about the difference between a Hockey Mom and a Pitbull Lipstick.

Now she’s alleging that her opponents look down on her mayoral experience. That’s a lie. They just don’t think it qualifies her to be vice president any more than Barack Obama’s background qualifies him.

Oooo, a deep dig at Obama, dredging up the “bitter” remarks, this time not focusing on the words themselves, but the fact that they were spoken at a private gathering. Ugly.

Now she’s on to attacking the media. She thinks she’s being questioned just because she’s not a Washington insider. Pander, pander, pander. OH YEAH, TAKE THAT YOU BIG OLD MEANIES!

Alright, maybe we’re getting to some meat now. She wants to go to Washington to leave this nation better than she found it. Well, given that it’s in its current condition because of her party. . .

<sigh> No luck. We’re back to her standing up to lobbyists and big oil and good ol’ boys. She auctioned the luxury jet and fired the chef. Good for her. I wonder if she’s planning on selling off the furniture in the White House or something.

And now the lie about the bridge to nowhere. Why, after it’s been debunked thoroughly over the last few days, is she still telling that tall tale?

Good for her for building a pipeline for natural gas. Too bad it’s going to destroy the environment in the process. Hope y’all don’t like wild salmon and are okay with mercury-laden farm raised.

Pandering to the drilling supporters. Drilling not solving all of our problems is no reason to do nothing at all. I’m sorry, when did the Democrats say they want to do nothing at all?? Oh wait, you just ran off a list of everything on our platform! Go You!

Oh now we’re criticizing Barack’s “dramatic speeches and loyal followers”, then LIES that he hasn’t authored a single major law or reform, “not even in the state senate.” Fucking LIAR.

And again with attacking his patriotism. She’s really low.

Oh. My. G-d!! She has got SOME nerve! She wants to know what her opponents plan is, when she nor her running mate have said one fucking word about what their plan is. And then she has the gall to make some snide remark, asking what he plans to do after he parts the waters. Again, ugly.

Oh, and babe, you might check the 2004 Republican Convention and note the Greek Pillars behind George Bush.

Obama is against producing more energy?? Since when? This is really repulsive. Government is too big and he wants to increase it? What? First, who made it the bloated behemoth it is now, huh? And what policy of his do you claim is intending to increase the size of it further? Good grief!

And she’s still snarling. Hitting all the swing states. Pander, pander. More lies about Barack’s tax plan.

Zinger about “those who use change to promote their careers, and others like John McCain who use their careers to promote change.” More with the “high flown speech making.” They really have nothing substantive to attack him on, do they?

Is she serious?? Lobbyists have fought a McCain presidency??? They’re financing it – what is she talking about?

I’m SO looking forward to Obama’s rebuttals, tearing her to shreds.

Noun verb P.O.W. We knew it was coming.

Yep, she can read a speech with conviction. She’s forceful. Her speech writers hit all the right talking points.

She’s still an utterly ridiculous vice presidential candidate.

56

Finally something I can agree with. I’d also much rather see McCain lose the election than see my country lose a war.

57

What did she say about Michelle Obama?

58

Hatred of liberal elites has been electing Republicans into office since 1968. Republicans don’t know how to win office by doing anything else. Lying about your opponent is just an effective way to feed the blind hate.

It’s one hell of a shitty tactic, but you can’t argue that it doesn’t work.

I thought they might try something different this year, but no suck luck. Even with someone as inexperienced as Palin on the ticket they still attacked Obama’s experience.

Palin played GOP politics 101. She just fed the hate of liberals with her lies and half-truths. The big one being that Obama has no real accomplishments. Never mind the fact that he beat Hillary in the primaries.

I don’t think she was chosen primarily to court Hillary supporters. Her main job is to reassure the base so that McCain can freely reassure independents. If she gets a few Hillary supporters then that’s a bonus. I don’t see how she could have reassured her base and went after Hillary voters at the same time.

I really believe that it was a speech designed for retards. I’m not saying Palin is retarded, but she does know her audience.

59

Just out of curiosity, and I mean no snark in this, with all you have invested in this, will you be able to handle an Obama defeat if it happens? How will you handle it. You may want out chill out a little.

60

CNN Article:

Sounds a bit like a veiled way of saying “I said family is off limits… unless you wanna make them fair game”. I wonder if they’ll receive the message.

Ultimately I don’t think the country will be able to handle an Obama (not because he’s the savior but because unlike the others he’s* sane*).