RNC Releases Palin Speech Preview

by: Matt Stoller

Wed Sep 03, 2008 at 19:13


Via Blogher, this is a very partisan speech hitting Obama and the media and DC elites.
Matt Stoller :: RNC Releases Palin Speech Preview
   For Immediate Release
   Wednesday, September 3, 2008
   Excerpts: Remarks by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
   Vice Presidential Nominee to Address the 2008 Republican National Convention

   SAINT PAUL, Minn. - This evening Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee, will address the 2008 Republican National Convention. Excerpts from the governor's remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below.

   On her experience as a public servant:

   "I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better. When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too. Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

   On why she is going to Washington, D.C.:

   "I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment. And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone. But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country."

   On energy policies that the McCain-Palin administration will implement:

   "Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already. But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all. Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines...build more nuclear plants...create jobs with clean coal...and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources. We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers."

   On John McCain:

   "Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election. In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."


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RNC Releases Palin Speech Preview | 20 comments
Echoes of the Fred Thompson speech from last night (0.00 / 0)
Conservatives going with "people versus the powerful."   Heh.  I guess they've found their messaging, however Orwellian it may be.
The problem they face with that is that no believes they aren't the power (0.00 / 0)
Who does it persuade?
[ Parent ]
That is true to the extent that people actually (4.00 / 1)
link McCain/Palin to the Republican establishment.  The last time I looked at the polling numbers, that wasn't happening as much as I was expecting it to have by now.  

Obama does that, and McCain's last counterargument is dead.

[ Parent ]
What polling numbers have you seent hat doesn't link McCain to Bush? (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
I'll try to look around (0.00 / 0)
But I remember seeing the 'maverick' thing still holding somewhat steady.  The twenty to thirty point gap in McCain and Bush's favorability ratings is one indicator that McCain= Bush hasn't really sunk in.  RCP still has McCain at 54% favorable, as of August 8th.  
[ Parent ]
I pretty sure the data says a majority think of McCain as a continuation of bush (0.00 / 0)
policies. Don't confuse that with his polling versus Obama. Some people's lesser of two evils is Bush continuation rather than taking a chance with obama.  
[ Parent ]
I didn't cite his numbers versus Obama (0.00 / 0)
I cited his favorable/unfavorables.  About 25% of the populace looks at Bush unfavorably and at McCain favorably, independently of what they think about Obama.
[ Parent ]
favorables are irrelevant (0.00 / 0)
to whether they view McCain and a continuation of bush. That's the argument we need to win, not whether they like him or not. They like Obama too. and it's not inpendent- they got two choices on the ballot.
[ Parent ]
Why wouldn't you expect her to be very partisan? (4.00 / 2)
The problem ultimately with her speech isn't that it's partisan. It's that its not going to make the questions go away. Does anyone believe that they will at the convention? That's something I would love to k now.
It is always astonishing (0.00 / 0)
The run the fucking world, and somehow they pull it off that they are the outsiders riding from outside the circles of power to save us from ourselves.

George Bush and Dick Cheney are the political elite she pretends to disdain. Ugh. Being lied to never gets easy.

why do you think they are going to pull it off? (0.00 / 0)
the examples you give have been in power for 8 years
[ Parent ]
First The Texans Saved Us From The Texans (4.00 / 1)
Bush saved us from the partisan gridlock promoted by Tom DeLay and Dick Armey.

So, having an Alaskan save us from the elite rule of a Texan is actually a good deal more plausible, once you think about it.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
the dog that didn't bark (4.00 / 1)
Funny that there's no mention of her wanting to put rape and incest victims who want to get abortions in jail which is the main reason the GOP base is slobbering all over her....
i hope (4.00 / 2)
gov palin does very well giving her speech and exceeds expectations, i want her to be professional, aggressive, and attack the dem ticket, then the dems can tear her and mccain and their rw wacko views to shreds in the coming two months before the election, no treating these thugs with kid gloves, go after them hard on the issues and show the voters what extremists they are.
IMO, it won't help (4.00 / 1)
These excerpts just sound whiny to me.
Her delivery (0.00 / 0)
I think the real problem here is going to be her delivery.  Whenever I've seen he speak, she always comes across as very glib, with no real emotional heft behind what she's saying.  Valatan mentioned Thompson above and during that half-hour a day that he's awake and alert, he can actually speechify pretty well; he's got that slow, purposeful delivery and the nice bass rumble of a voice.  A lot of rhetorical there, if not intellectual weight.

For Palin, though, start with a very aggressive speech, throw in the glib delivery, then add her Fargo accent into the mix, and I just don't see her coming across as at all likable.  She just seems like that domineering parent at every PTA meeting or kids' soccer league that immediately wants to take over the show and won't quit until she wears everyone else down.

[ Parent ]
Wait (4.00 / 2)
I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

So she's saying Obama's experience as a community organizer in the ten years-ish before the year Palin and Obama entered politics is equivalent to what Palin was doing for the decade-ish after she entered politics?

We Need to Push Back Against This (4.00 / 2)
They're going to lie about Palin and Obama's experience being equivalent, and the media will let the lie stand unless we push back.

Some research has already been done about the Illinois State Senate 13th District having a larger population than the state of Alaska. That needs to be amplified and pushed out hard, along with other facts about Palin's relative lack of inexperience, on the netroots, and there should possibly be an e-mail writing campaign to the media similar to how the netroots did pushback after all the debates in 2004.

This is a double edged sword. If McCain's campaign can get this lie to stick, they'll win points with this. If we can get the media to tell the truth, then Obama's experience probably gets completely taken off the table.

Don't let them get away with lying about this.

[ Parent ]
Sorry (0.00 / 0)
"Relative lack of experience"
[ Parent ]
O.K. This is just too easy... (4.00 / 1)
"When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too."

...which is precisely why being on the city council of a small town is drastically different from national office.  Or do you propose you're going to personally get to know everyone in America as part of your political training?

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

...and get paid for the duration of your term, whether you produce actual results or not.  By the way, Obama's accomplishments as a community organizer are well documented.  Your "accomplishments" as mayor seem to have been leaving your town with a $20 million debt and firing anyone who didn't follow the wishes of your campaign contributors.  Oh, and trying to fire the town librarian because she wouldn't let you ban books.  Do you really want to go there?

RNC Releases Palin Speech Preview | 20 comments





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