by Teh Nutroots | Meanwhile, a prefab McCain ad about the debate went up and nobody cared enough to bother noticing that something was missing. Here's what it says:
"She killed. It was her evening. She was the star."
[/s] Famous Person [see it here]
"Famous person" must have been hanging out at one of those meth labs for which Wasilla, Alaska is becoming famous. Also via Wonkette, maybe it's a reference to famous-among-right-wingers Rich Lowry and the "starbursts" he felt while watching Palin speak. Man, he needs to get out more. But as he says, you either got it or you don't. Getting winked at via the TV screen by McScreechy might be all he's got:
“It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America.” (The Corner)
The east coast elites, on the other hand, dissembled the revulsion they no doubt felt under fulsome praise. Daniel Larison at Eunomia comments on Palin-skeptics and east-coast "elites" David Brooks and Peggy Noonan, now falling all over themselves to praise her for speaking in complete sentences. As Larison says, some of their praise might well, at first blush, be construed as sarcasms.
After all, Palin pretty much promised to represent the class of American who don't know or care about how government operates or what the constitution says, any more than Palin herself does.
The fact is, both Brooks and Noonan know sweet F.A. about the heartland or its denizens and simply assume that everyone in the red states self-identifies as a shiftless (but church-going!), beer-swilling lout (Joe Sixpack or his missus). That ain't true, though.
Noonan and Brooks actually fall over themselves trying to compliment Palin on the modest success of being coherent, but these excerpts are striking in that someone might have written them as withering, sarcastic criticism and instead they are supposed to be a celebration of her virtues. Noonan complains that Biden showed too much forbearance, but this is exactly what Noonan and Brooks show in their efforts to tip-toe around the obvious that for all her mastery of the non-answer and glittering generalities, to borrow Halcro’s language, she did not do very well. Incredibly, her fans don’t seem to mind debasing the meaning excellence if it allows them to call what we saw last night excellent.
My idea of "excellent" will be watching Noonan and Brooks fall all over themselves unsaying what they just unsaid after just a few more unscripted Palinterviews.
Ross Douthat observes, and is right:
In the Couric interview, Palin mangled her talking points so badly that all anybody noticed was the mangling itself; the points themselves receded into the background. Her much-improved performance last night, though, had the paradoxical effect of throwing the weakness of the GOP message in this election cycle into sharper relief....
...The fact that Palin didn't really have a substantive point (beyond vague references to paying teachers more and making NCLB more flexible) can be attributed in part to her lack of knowledge on the subject, no doubt, and perhaps to her lack of interest in policy detail - but it also reflects the fact that the McCain campaign hasn't put any energy into developing a clear, consistent, and popular message on education.
This one's from Susan of Texas:
John McCain made a very, very big mistake.
Why did this fool choose Palin? I think that McCain, who almost entirely owes his career to luck, privilege, rank and expediency, chose the woman who would reflect best upon himself. He actually picked the prettiest girl in the room to stand by his side, so he'd be the BMOC. He could have picked one of a dozen older, less attractive conservative women to become vice-president. It's utterly astonishing in its vanity, hubris and disregard for country, party and colleagues. He's going to make DC and New York bow down before a lower-class young beauty queen from the hicks with no commiserate qualifications. Palin will sit in Dick Cheney's office with Dick Cheney's laws and Dick Cheney's budget and Dick Cheney's personnel, and there is nothing that will be able to stop her.
Nah, because neither one will ever be elected.
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