John McCain is still teleprompter-challenged, still looks older than his 72 years, still struggles with a distrusting base, still exhibits signs of charisma bypass, and still draws crowds of less-than-presidential-candidate size and ardor.
Not so, Sarah Palin.
Cue: Shania Twain – as the McCain/Palin campaign does increasingly – as a complement to Johnny Horton’s 1960s hit, “North To Alaska.”
She’s Not Just A Pretty Face.
Palin delivers a pretty good speech — even allowing for that Fargo-Fey accent. And looks good doing it –up or down do, Saks or “favorite-consignment-shop-in-Anchorage” ensembles.
She’s got everything it takes.
The Fundamentalist base has a major crush on her and foreign-policy hawks adore her red-meat, nuance-free, “no-surrender” rhetoric.
And economic conservatives love her “socialist” bashing. You’d think she was running against Gloria La Riva, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) candidate or the ghost of Gus Hall.
She hosts a TV show, she rides the rodeo, she plays the bass in a band.
She’s an obvious role model – and the cheap-shot target of the sexist media to many of the women – and their daughters – who are prominent in their Palin allegiance.
She’s an astronaut, a valet at the parking lot, a farmer working the land.
Last Sunday morning about 5,000 of the energized faithful arrived early at the Tampa Convention Center. A revival tent would have been no less appropriate. They were there for Sister Sarah and some boilerplate specials.
She didn’t disappoint.
She has a fashion line, a journalist for “Time,” coaches a football team.
“Palin is awesome — and refreshing — and definitely a role model for me,” said Katherine, a 35-year-old environmental engineer from St. Petersburg who declined to give her last name. Something about her field being dominated by Democrats.
She’s a geologist, a romance novelist, she’s the mother of three.
For 40ish Maribel Calderon, who grew up in Peru and used to own a gift shop in Tampa, Palin’s economic message was the sort of reassurance she was looking for: that the American Dream can continue.
“No socialism,” she underscored. “Obama literally wants us to share our wealth.”
She is a soldier, she is a wife, she is a surgeon, she’ll save your life.
“This is about our country, our future,” asserted 50-something Sue Tidwell of Tampa, the owner of a private investigation business. “And I used to be a Democrat.”
The signs and placards were more than manifest in their messages. From “Inspired By Palin,” “Sarah Barracuda,” “God is Pro Life,” “Palin Rocks” “Moms ‘n Mavericks,” and “U R Our Voice” to “Hunters 4 Palin,” “Read My Lipstick; McCain/Palin,” “John McCain will protect US and our Money,” “Keep the Clothes” “Palin’s for the RIGHT Change” and “You-bet-cha.”
She’s a champion, she gets the gold, she’s a ballerina, the star of the show.
The signage also conveyed geographic and other sub-group support. From “Valrico For Palin,” “Plant City 4 Palin,” “Odessa For McCain/Palin,” “Balm 4 Palin” and “Homosassa, Fla. loves Palin” to “Native Americans love Palin” and “Gators For Palin.”
After audience warm-ups by former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco, Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe, state Sen. Mike Fasano and “The View” co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Palin didn’t waste any time getting to her dual agenda: the sexism “double-standard” directed against her and the labels of “socialism” that needed to be applied to Barack Obama.
She is your waitress, she is your judge, she is your teacher, she is everywoman in the world.
She called the pricey-wardrobe flap “ridiculous.”
“These clothes, they are not my property,” she explained. “Just like the lighting and staging and everything else that the RNC (Republican National Committee) purchased. I’m not taking them with me.”
She flies an airplane, she drives a subway train at night, she pumps gasoline.
She noted she was wearing “her own” pink jacket as well as her own accessories. The latter meant earrings made by her husband Todd’s mother, a blue-star pin reflecting that she has a family member (son) serving overseas, and her (“$35”) wedding ring – that she actually bought for herself, she acknowledged. Possibly to Todd Palin’s public chagrin.
She’s on the Council, she’s on the board, she’s a politician, she praises the Lord.
Her pro-growth message of economic-populism and help for small businesses was often punctuated by shouts of “welfare,” “communist,” “socialist” and a chorus of pre-Halloween boos. That was in knee-jerk response to references of “Barack the Wealth Spreader” who wants to “redistribute your hard-earned dollars” and Joe Biden as the one who thinks “higher taxes are patriotic.”
Obama, said Palin, has an “ideological commitment to higher taxes.”
She’s not just a pretty face.
A McCain-Palin administration would implement a government “spending freeze” and “balance the federal budget by the end of our first term,” promised Palin. “We think bureaucracy should do more with less,” she stated. “We think government should work for you.”
And lest anyone needed reminding: “America is not the problem,” intoned Palin. “American is the solution. It’s still a shining city on a hill.”
She’s got everything it takes.
Indeed, Palin’s apparently got what it takes to induce the GOP’s hard-core, conservative base to swoon ideologically. But the election will be determined by swing voters not vicarious swooners.
Palin’s embarrassingly thin frame of reference was outed in her Charlie Gibson and — especially — Katie Couric interviews and her stridency on the stump have hardly endeared her to those swing voters. Nor have intimations from the McCain campaign itself that she may be a populist-diva hybrid.
Even if she can skin a moose – and field dress a liberal.
No, she’s not just a pretty face. As a result, a Fox News talk show-host slot will likely await at some point after Nov. 4.
Palin Rally Outtakes
* “I’m a registered Democrat doing the right thing.” – Dick Greco.
* Senator Obama believes in “wealth transfers. I think he got the idea from Bill Ayers.” Mark Sharpe.
* “It’ll be nice to talk for a full five minutes without getting interrupted.” – Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
* The media approach to Gov. Palin has become “deliberately sexist.” – Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
* “She (Palin) has a real knack for ‘cleaning.’ She cleaned house in Alaska. Maybe she’ll use the same mop to clean up Wall Street and Washington.” – Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
But not one single thing that you said gives the government the right to stop the mosque. Protest the mosque. Do creative things like building the gay bar next door, but the President was 100% right when he said that they have a First Amendment right to build it there.