I have to admit, I’m no expert on so-called “Troopergate” — I only know what I read in the papers — but from what I have seen, the whole matter reeked of a political inquest. In a move to clear some of Gov. Palin’s name, the independent investigatory panel for the Alaska Personnel Board released its findings today, and has concluded that she violated no ethics laws in terminating Commissioner Walt Monegan. For what it’s worth.
You can listen to the interview here.
You know, it is truly amazing to me that there are actually Catholics out there who profess to care about a culture of life, but who have nothing but contempt for Governor Palin. Of course, these are the same folks who spend an inordinate amount of time making excuses for a man who is the most radically proabortion candidate to ever seek the presidency. And that tells us all we need to know about their unduly harsh treatment of Governor Palin, doesn’t it?
As many of y’all know, National Review Online is down right now. Well, my good friend Ramesh Ponnuru and I have been emailing one another throughout the debate, and I asked him if I could post his thoughts on Governor Palin’s performance. He graciously agreed, so here they are:
Any conservative who was white-knuckled going into this is relaxing by now. There were some points where she was a bit more platitudinous than one would ideally want, but overall–she’s cleaning up. Biden is sighing more as the night goes on, and I can see why.
I could not agree more. Well done, Governor Palin! You did us proud.
Update: Heh. Ramesh just sent me this gem: “Biden thinks Cheney is the most dangerous vice president we’ve ever had? What about Burr?”
Let him have it, Governor Palin.
I am praying that at some point in the debate Biden says that Palin’s views on abortion are extreme, which will then set up Palin to respond as follows: “So, sharing the same view of abortion as your Church makes me an extremist, Joe?”
Third, I’ll be helping families who have children with special needs, which is an issue close to my heart. That great governor, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, he was asked once how society should treat the most vulnerable among us, such as children with special needs. He said it simple. He said, you put them first in line. Governor Casey reminded us that these beautiful children, who we are to cherish, they can inspire a special love. They’re not a problem. They are a priority.
Governor Casey was a devout Catholic, a true-blue prolife democrat, and one of my political heroes. His presence in the Democratic Party is sorely missed.
In any event, I am heartened to see Palin mentioning Casey in her stump speech. Could it be that the McCain folks are finally letting Palin be Palin?
Thoughts?
While I am a staunch Republican, and a strong supporter of Governor Palin, I am more than willing to admit the obvious: Sarah Palin has not performed well in the major interviews she has done. Why is this? Is it because she’s stupid? I think not. By all accounts, Palin is a quick study and plenty smart. So what gives? Why is Palin struggling so much in these interviews?
Well, let’s start with the obvious: Governor Palin is simply not familiar with many of the national issues being debated in this presidential campaign. She’s not a foreign-policy expert, and it is unfair to expect her to speak with any degree of expertise on Iraq, Afghanistan, or Darfur (I know no one cares about Darfur, but one can dream, right?). It’s also foolish to expect Palin to speak with any authority about the current financial crisis. These are complicated issues, and it’s going to take time for her to get up to speed on them. She is, after all, the governor of Alaska. Her experience is going to be with the issues facing her state (e.g., those concerning natural resources).
But here’s the deal, folks: We’re not electing a quiz bowl champion or voting for best orator/debater. We’re electing a president and a vice president. There are plenty of Americans who can speak with far greater eloquence/intelligence on the issues of the day than any of the candidates on the Republican and Democratic presidential tickets. What matters to me is not whether a given candidate has memorized talking points from various and sundry special-interest groups or their respective campaign advisers, but whether any of them possess the character to lead this country.
Barack Obama has demonstrated that you can have the finest education in the world, but still be callous and uncaring toward the most vulnerable members of society. Joseph Biden has shown that you can spend a lifetime in the most prestigious and important legislative body in the United States, and still makes some of the biggest gaffes imaginable. He has also abandoned and blatantly misrepresented the teachings of his own Church for political advancement. If Biden is willing to sell out his own Church, why would anyone believe that he won’t sell out his country for personal gain.
My point is this: Character matters. It matters so much more than clever answers or slick marketing. Which leads me back to Palin. Weak interview skills aside, I still love this woman. The problem, I think, is that the McCain handlers aren’t letting Sarah be Sarah. They’re cramming talking points down Palin’s throat on subjects she is entirely unfamiliar with, and, in turn, she is coming off poorly.
So, what to do? First, she needs to prepare like crazy for her debate with Biden. Expectations for Palin will be next to nothing, so a credible performance will go along way toward restoring her image with the public. Second, in Palin’s next interview she needs to say something along these lines:
It’s been quite the whirlwind for me, and the truth is that I have much to learn about many of the issues facing our country. Being in the national spotlight has been difficult, and I’ve made matters worse by trying to be something that I am not. I am obviously not a foreign-policy expert, and instead of attempting to answer questions on issues that I am unfamiliar with, I should have just admitted that I am still in the process of being briefed on these matters. I also did this in response to questions about the current economic crisis, and for that I am truly sorry. My intent wasn’t to fool anyone into thinking I was an expert in these areas. I just didn’t want to disappoint Senator McCain or our many supporters, who have so much invested in this campaign.
That having been said, I am not running to be the next Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, or Secretary of the Treasury. I am seeking to be elected as the next vice president of the United States. And here is what I can offer the country in that capacity.
First, I do understand energy policy, and any objective political analyst will admit that developing a sustainable energy policy is one of the greatest challenges we face as a country. I am confident I can help our country attain energy independence.
Second, I am proven reformer. I took on the special-interest groups, corruption, and my own party in Alaska; and in doing so, restored confidence in our state’s government. In this respect, John McCain and I have much in common. We’re both willing to take on our own party and reach across the partisan divide to implement public policies that will benefit all Americans.
Third, I believe it is important for the most vulnerable members of our society to have a champion at the highest level of government. For far too long, families raising special-needs children have been ignored, and their children treated as burdens on society, rather than the miracles and gifts from God they truly are. As I stated at the GOP Convention, I will be their national voice. A society that fails to recognize the inherent dignity of every human being from conception until natural death is not one that is worthy of being referred to as “civilized.”
Finally, I have a great deal of executive experience. I know how to assemble and manage an administration that can work together for the common good of those we represent.
I think all of these attributes will serve the American people well, and I look forward to working on their behalf as the next vice president.
In short, play to Palin’s strengths, not her weaknesses. When Palin is speaking about matters she is passionate about/familiar with, she is a compelling public figure. Let her do just that. Stop trying to establish Palin’s bona fides in foreign policy and national economics. She doesn’t have them. And the truth is, she doesn’t need them. Palin is what she is. She is a remarkable woman of many talents. She is charming, smart, beautiful, and passionate about the issues of greatest concern to her. Let her speak to those issues, and admit that she still has much to learn in other areas. Most fair-minded Americans will appreciate her humility, and understand that a president isn’t going to be an expert in every facet of public life.
Ultimately, what most Americans look for in a president or vice president is character. The problem right now isn’t that Palin doesn’t know the answers to many of the questions being posed, but that she’s trying to act as if she does. That’s what people find so troubling. So, let’s stop the charade and let Palin be Palin. Lord knows things certainly can’t get any worse.
I’ll let these comments from two contributors of Vox Nova speak for themselves:
Sarah Palin is NOT pro-life.
Don’t confuse “she is against abortion” with being “she is pro-life.” To be pro-life requires more than being against abortion. But her social justice (or lack of it) and her militarism indicates she has not yet appreciated the value of life.
[Palin] has a vagina. She used it 5 times to give birth. One time she did so for a child with Down Syndrome. Her daughter is even going to use her vagina to give birth, and brought her and the sperm donor to receive a round of applause at the Republican convention. How much more pro-life can one be?
You stay classy, Charlie.
Since when is hacking into someone’s personal email account part of the political vetting process?
But this? Why that’s an entirely different situation, fedster! It only counts as an invasion of privacy if the victim is actually someone I admire.
Every time I think Sully can’t sink any lower, he does just that.
You knew it was coming, didn’t you? She was doing so well, and had such promise. Now, it’s all in shambles.
Hackers have allegedly broken into Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account and posted their findings on Wikileaks. And, sadly, the woman I had such hopes for appears to have–I hate to post this on a family blog, but sometimes you just have to deal with filth–both disagreed with a talk show host AND has a friend who prayed for her.
Smoking gun? This is a smoldering arsenal, my friends. It’s all over now.
Sarah Palin has already done so much to promote a “culture of life” in this country.
God Bless her for that.
Barack Obama: “You can put lipstick on a pig,” he said as the crowd cheered. “It’s still a pig.”
You stay classy, Senator Obama.
Richard has the details.
These are the four columns I would recommend to the proverbial man-from-Mars trying if he were trying to understand the dynamics of the presidential race going forward:
* Nick Cohen in Sunday’s Guardian.
* Michael Knox Beran on NRO last Thursday.
* Andrew McCarthy on NRO last Thursday.
* Jonathan Last on First Things last Thursday.
For what it’s worth . . .
“Sarah Palin was put on this earth for two things: to kick ass and kill caribou. She ran out of caribou.”
-Jonah Goldberg
Bill Whittle nails it:
She is so absolutely, remarkably, spectacularly ordinary. I think the magic of Sarah Palin speaks to a belief that so many of us share: the sense that we personally know five people in our immediate circle who would make a better president than the menagerie of candidates the major parties routinely offer. Sarah Palin has erupted from this collective American Dream — the idea that, given nothing but classic American values like hard work, integrity, and tough-minded optimism you can actually do what happens in the movies: become Leader of the Free World, the President of the United States of America. (Or, well, you know, vice president.)
Sarah Palin has done more than unify and electrify the base. She’s done something I would not have thought possible, were it not happening in front of my nose: Sarah Palin has stolen Barack Obama’s glamour. She’s stolen his excitement, robbed his electricity, burgled his charisma, purloined his star power, and taken his Hope and Change mantra, woven it into a cold-weather fashion accessory, and wrapped it around her neck.
A candidate who is young, funny, well-spoken, intelligent, charming, drop-dead gorgeous — and one of ours? Is this actually happening?
Read the entire piece.
An on the money blog post by Jonathan V. Last at First Things:
There are reasonable criticisms that can be made of Sarah Palin, both as governor and a vice presidential selection. Yet little of what we have seen in the last six days has been either reasonable or critical (in the traditional sense of the word). Instead, much of the left and many in the media simply lashed out at Palin, particularly at her family.
And not only the fringiest parts of the political fringe: A writer at the Washington Post attacked Palin for the fact that her seventeen-year-old daughter was going to have a baby. A writer for The Atlantic openly questioned whether or not Palin’s four-month-old baby, who has Down’s Syndrome, was actually hers. The utterly unfounded suggestion was that the baby was Palin’s daughter’s and that the governor had faked her pregnancy. Proof of the baby’s birth was demanded.
To sift through the Palin storm on the interweb — the blogs and talking heads and rabid commenters — one would get the feeling that the Palin pick was a political disaster for McCain. Of course, I understand that the interweb is fantasy land peopled by puffed shirts who believe that it is more real than reality. I know that Middle America isn’t an area dominated by Daily Show-watching, Huffington Post-reading douche bags caught up in vindictive politics. But after a week of liberal pounding, I have had only one question: What effect has all the attacks and nattering about Gov. Palin had on the voters? Is she “the worst pick ever” as some armchair geniuses are stating? Is she toast?
Nope.
The Palin pick has also improved perceptions of John McCain. A week ago, just before he introduced his running mate, just 42% of Republicans had a Very Favorable opinion of their party’s nominee. That figure jumped to 54% by this Friday morning. Among unaffiliated voters, favorable opinions of McCain have increased by eleven percentage points in a week—from 54% before the Palin announcement to 65% today.
Fifty-one percent (51%) of all voters now believe that McCain made the right choice when he picked Palin to be his running mate while 32% disagree. By way of comparison, on the night after Biden gave his acceptance speech, 47% said that Obama made the right choice.
Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans say that McCain made the right choice while just 69% of Democrats said the same about Obama.
Among unaffiliated voters, 52% said that McCain made the right choice for his running mate and 45% said the same about Obama.
Middle America, I’m sorry I doubted you.
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