It’s been fun to watch the political left and left wing media experience a mental breakdown in broad daylight. John McCain’s choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate has caused the Democratic Party, its interest group bosses and its media friends to experience their worst nightmare.
For years the radical social left and the growth in government industry has thrived off of Republican Party incompetence. Their victories have enjoyed extra weight due to the fact that there was little standing in the way of the myth that the GOP is an enclave of boring white guys who, to say the least, lack courage or principles.
Since McCain’s courage has never been questioned, and since most elected boring white guys really didn’t like him either, his ascendancy to the Republican nomination has helped to weaken that image. McCain’s choice of Palin – someone who is known most for her fight against Republican corruption – only strengthens the ticket and weakens the myth.
Personnel is policy and Republicans have suffered more personnel problems than almost any organization can survive.
And now we’re seeing a lot of evidence that “Bush Derangement Syndrome” is being replaced with Palin Derangement Syndrome right before our eyes. The symptoms are childish reasoning, blindness to facts, and a use of logic that strains the hearer.
No issue is too outrageous for them to attempt to capitalize upon. Palin’s 17 year old daughter is pregnant? McCain didn’t properly vet her! She’s a terrible mother!
Actually McCain and his vetting team knew all about the pregnancy, as did the Palin family’s hometown. The pictures of John McCain meeting the father of that teenage girl’s baby in Minneapolis this week are priceless.
Evidently small town Alaska and the McCain camp understand that young women have been getting pregnant before they should for millennia. The political left seems to think that standards are invalidated when someone falls short. As with all issues, they miss the point.
Standards exist to suggest that particular actions should be avoided. The fact is that the young couple will have to face challenges they shouldn’t have had to deal with so soon. The standard isn’t invalidated, it’s actually confirmed.
Tonight Sarah Palin addresses the nation as the Republican candidate for Vice President. While she introduces herself once again to the nation, she will be able to address some of the firestorm of the past few days.
A lot of Republicans wonder if she can pull it off. Will she hit a home run or strike out?
I have to say I was nervous back in 1988 when George H.W. Bush stood to address the convention as the presidential nominee when he was 17 points down in the polls. I was nervous again when George W. Bush stood to do the same in 2000. Both men knocked it out of the park and went on to win.
Tonight I am not nervous about Palin’s moment. For the first time that I can recall I have full confidence in someone who will help lead our party and our nation. Answering the question ‘why?’ might have something to do with reverse sexism. For so many years I’ve watched boring white men talk after listening to their b-team staffs. The result has been mostly failure and damage to the party brand.
This time around I sense the game is changed and we’re finally going to take a step up from the tired leadership of the past. David Brooks in the New York Times yesterday made the comment that the GOP is philosophically exhausted.
Brooks is wrong on this point. Rank and file platform supporting Republicans are the ones who are sick to death of timid leaders who don’t know how to communicate and thus wind up doing more damage than if a Democrat had won.
Heather MacDonald, a writer whose work I’ve also enjoyed, penned a piece yesterday criticizing the Palin pick calling it a bad example of identity politics and a diversity ploy.
What Ms. MacDonald doesn’t understand is that if Sarah had been Steve Palin and he’d taken on the corrupt GOP in Alaska, stood against the oil and natural gas companies and won, and his wife had carried to term a handicapped child, the party would be equally enthusiastic.
The fact that Sarah Palin is committed to the principles of the party and has shown a determination and courage to stick to them is what excites the base. The fact that she’s not just another boring white guy is a huge bonus.
