Palin Gets Some Coaching Before Big Speech

Washington Post: McCain Advisers Prepare Alaska Governor For The Spotlight

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Howard Kurtz.

---

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee, emerged from the seclusion of preparing her acceptance speech Wednesday and joined her husband, five children and future son-in-law on the tarmac of Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport as they welcomed Sen. John McCain to this convention city.

McCain exited his campaign plane just before noon local time (1 p.m. EDT) and greeted his seven grown children, who were lined up next to the Palin family. He then embraced Palin and her husband, Todd, and warmly greeted 17-year-old Bristol Palin and her boyfriend Levi Johnston, who have entered the national spotlight since the revelation Monday that they are expecting a child together late this year.

Bristol and Johnston, 18, held hands before and after greeting McCain, and Bristol could be seen introducing Johnston to the Arizona senator.

McCain also kissed Sarah Palin's infant son Trig, who was being held by the governor's middle daughter, 14-year-old Willow.

Palin, a relative unknown on the national political scene who was chosen as McCain's running mate last Friday, had been holed up in her suite in the Hilton Minneapolis since Sunday night. A parade of McCain's top advisers have briefed her on the nuances of his policy positions, national politics and, above all, how to introduce herself to the national audience she will address Wednesday night at the Republican convention.

Sitting around a dining room table, the McCain team has talked to her about Iraq, energy and the economy but has focused on what she should say in her speech, struggling almost as hard as she has to prepare for what will be, along with a debate in October, her main opportunity to shape the way she is viewed by voters. Not anticipating that McCain would choose a woman as his running mate, the speech that was prepared in advance was "very masculine," according to campaign manager Rick Davis, and "we had to start from scratch."

By all accounts Palin has thrown herself enthusiastically into preparations for her prime-time debut as well as for her first campaign trip without McCain, expected to be next week. On Tuesday afternoon, she practiced her first run-through of the speech before an audience that included strategists Steve Schmidt, Nicolle Wallace and Mark Salter, who all offered suggestions. Early Wednesday morning, she toured the stage at the Xcel Energy Center here, adjusting the microphone and getting a sense of the podium, trailed by several aides.

"She's very engaged, she's very enthusiastic," said Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella, who has attended some of the briefing and speechwriting sessions. "She clearly wants to absorb as much information as possible."

Aides to McCain and Palin were still debating elements of the speech, according to several GOP sources familiar with the process, including whether the governor should make reference to Bristol's pregnancy. In the speech, Palin is likely to emphasize her areas of policy expertise -- particularly energy and political reform -- rather than focusing on her biography or gender. An initial version of the address, which speechwriter Matthew Scully started crafting a week ago for an unnamed male vice presidential pick, included plenty of attacks aimed at Democratic nominee Barack Obama along with ample praise for McCain, aides said. But they said Palin's speech will focus more on substantive matters.

"There's an expectation that she doesn't have a depth of knowledge on issues," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds. "That's absurd."

The stakes for Palin are much higher than they were for her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, who has run for president twice and has served in the Senate for 35 years. Several GOP strategists said Palin, who has been governor less than two years, needs to establish herself as someone who is credible as a potential president. "She's like any new person or product on the scene -- she's got to prove she can handle the job, that she's got the presence and suppleness of mind to be a heartbeat away from the presidency," said Ben Ginsberg, who was a senior adviser to McCain's GOP primary rival Mitt Romney.

[imrod-2009]

Wait! What? Maybe Palin is the only one with executive experience! Let''s reverse the ticket. Old Joe B and John Mc would give me good reason to sleep in my recliner during their debate and a Palin/Obama debate would be loads of fun to watch. That would beat The Kardashians on TV any day!

[kjolafsson]

I think we all can say that 16 years listening to Hillary is 16 years too long!!
Sarah is a ''breath of fresh air''. We have waited a very long time for someone like her to step forward and be heard.
Best of luck Republican party - you have my vote.

[jarisha]

Take my vp choice seriously... please! :-)

According to CBS Palin has no foreign policy experience,Shes 2nd in command. Obama may have had a vacation outside of the US, but he has never been an executive for anything ! and we are going to let him run the most powerful economy and military on the planet! that is just nuts, he can give a good speech.
Maybe thats what a lot of people are longing for after listening to dubya fracture the english language for the last 8 years. Don''t let a good speaker sway your sense of whats actually right for you, there is no substance to Obama, I actually fell for all of it until I sat down and read on the experience of OB.
So in the nutshell: On the dems side we have an inexperienced person at the top of the ticket. On the rep. side we have an inexperienced person on the 2nd slot of their ticket. My vote goes for the top of the ticket.

[georgeeeeeee]

Check out this exchange between Mike Murphy, a close McCain ally and former aide who worked on McCain%u2019s 2000 campaign and right-wing, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Nonnan, who is one of the staunchest conservative voices in America today. It was picked up %u201Coff the record%u201D on a live mic on MSNBC.

Mike Murphy, who worked on Senator McCain%u2019s campaign in 2000 but declined to join this year%u2019s, citing tensions with top campaign staff members, can be heard in near-anguish talking about the fallout from her candidacy. %u201CI come out of the blue, swing-state governor world, Engler, Whitman, Thompson, Mitt Romney,%u201D he said. But the McCain campaign just decided to run with Palin, he said, adding %u201CIt%u2019s not going to work.%u201D
Peggy Noonan, speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and columnist, interjects: %u201CIt%u2019s over.%u201D
Asked whether Ms. Palin is really the most qualified, Ms. Noonan responds rather incredulously, %u201CThe most qualified? No. I think they went for the %u2014 excuse me %u2014 political (expletive) about narratives. %u2026 Every time the Republicans do that, because that%u2019s not where they live and that%u2019s not what they%u2019re good at, they blow it.%u201D
Mr. Murphy then dives in with a rejoinder: %u201CThe greatness of McCain is no cynicism and this is cynical.%u201D

LINK http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/top-gop-pundits-fault-palin-selection/

[jericho1337]

Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O
Obama`s executive experience = Z E R O

[warmonger247]

Sarah Palin having an affair with her husbands business partner?

[warmonger247]

Sarah Palin having an affair with her husband%u2019s business partner?

[mandalay-bay]

It''s funny listening to repubs pretend like anyone outside of Alaska had heard of palin before 5 days ago. hahahaha

[mandalay-bay]

Obama got 18+ millions votes from citizens of this country who say not only is he ready to lead but we want him to lead.

How many votes did Palin get?

1 vote.

from an old man who obviously has no judgement. His first executive decision is picking a VP and look how he squanders it....

Now repubs are clamouring around trying to pretend like this was some brilliant, choice when it was obviously rushed just to get his "big" announcement out after the DEM convention.