X. Benedict

Your expectations were too high.

When you can walk on water it is easier to sneak up on the bass.

A portrait in underachievingmentation.

It was a pretty good speech. Of course he tried to say Bush sucks without saying Bush sucks at Republican convention, which is kind of tricky.

My point was really just pointing out how silly this whole thread is.......

I find he has a weird kind of stilted-ness that plays somewhere on a continuum of sincere to contrived/awkward. A fair outing I'd say. Flat compared to Palin. Everyone is still talking about her. That's pretty much it for the national audiences except for the debates. Everyone is moving to Ohio and Iowa this weekend.

He has a way of doing that to his base.

Are you trying to be funny? I was going for funny......swing and a miss I guess.

Smart in the Presidency is a liability. For VP you need shifty bastardly people.

What does she run in the 40? Is she high motor?

Wait a second....McCain was given a legacy appointment to Annapolis (dad was Admiral) and finished in the bottom 1%. 894 out of 899 ....that's nepotism and incompetence

Subtle of course, but with a little word play - it could have been "Ghetto activists don't have any personal accountability, do they?" While you gave more form to my point, it is a base against base play.

As narrowly conceived I can see your point. (Federal constitutional rights) As for Head Start .....and other public programs and services, access to them are often civil rights issues...they are complex because they cut across local, state and federal jurisdictions (And federal, state, and local constitutions and charters).

No food, only flies and tears. Enter Starvin' Marvin'.

Let's compromise. How about Sally Struthers? What does she think?

Jim Crow is a very small part of civil rights - most would consider it much broader. it means things like keeping Head Start, getting Bailey Ave paved, making sure entrepreneurs know how to resource SBA loans in inner cities, keeping public servants accountable (literally, where is the money going?), policing, demolishing blighted houses, etc. I've done my immersions there in a very limited capacity. It is hard !@#$ing work, and rarely are people crying Jim Crow. Pretty much my idea of patriotism.

Please move to the back of the bus......

It does have the country talking, but I would say that in reality she hasn't faced any serious media scrutiny yet. There has been the tabloids and blogs, but when does she go on Russert. (er....I mean Browkaw)

That is something I would like to hear as well....did she spearhead inclusive education in the PTA? What does that mean they have an advocate? Does she support inclusion and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act? How exactly was that implemented in Alaska? I'm pretty sure when she said she is an advocate - 4 million parents last night heard "inclusion". And what is taking money from big oil and returning it to the citizens of Alaska but a windfall profit tax? It is certainly not her base, but going after "community organizers" is basically telling civil rights workers to !@#$ off.

She was very good. I thought a lot of it sounded like the Alaskan State of the State, but she did well. Composed. Clear voiced. Now McCain is stepping all over the moment.

Well Noonan is right. Republicans do much better with ideologues and ideological hawks than with narrative . Reagan was a wet dream because he offered both. When people are in doubt in the middle they choose ideologues because for better or worse they think they understand what they are getting. McCain's pick is asking the electorate to "buy into" the Sarah Palin story and suddenly her ideology becomes murky. In the first week they have failed to sell the narrative of reform. Contrast that to someone who is clearly much more ideological. Imagine if McCain had chosen Newt Gingrich as a VP candidate. His career is already thoroughly vetted warts and all and the media isn't talking about who Newt is, but what Newt stands for....that is the Republican wheelhouse.

Isn't she a trained journalist?

I think Newsweeks Fineman is being fair when he makes a short list of things she has to attend to in the near future: * her continuing duties as governor of Alaska * a legislature-funded investigation into questions of whether she has abused her office in a vendetta against her former brother-in-law, a probe that prompted her to hire a personal attorney * the care of her fifth child, Trig, born this spring with Down syndrome—a condition that requires close parental attention and care, especially in the first year of the child's life * the pregnancy and pending marriage of her teenage daughter Bristol, who is planning to wed the father before Election Day * learning the routines and rituals of the national campaign trail, which she will be required to traverse on her own plane, with her own staff * getting a sense of the Lower 48 states, most of which she has never visited * figuring out how to deal with McCain, whom she barely knows * handling whatever national press interviews the McCain campaign allows her to do—and she will have to do some to prepare herself for later events * prep for the nationally televised vice-presidential debate with Sen. Joe Biden, a legislator with 36 years of seniority, who is personally acquainted with the rulers of nations Palin may never have even heard of

Wow. Coming from Noonan, that is saying something. That is an amazing exchange. Palin is going to have to give a hell of a speech tonight to get America to buy into the reform narrative.

Oh I think they already have. The Republican Women's Conference at the convention today claimed Palin was the victim of an all out smear campaign, they would not stand for all the sexist attacks, in their mad as hell conference today. I watched with interest. What is that if not the politics of victimization and a cry of "unfair!"?