Oct. 3, 2008
Palin, The Second Coming Of Reagan
National Review Online: Republicans Sigh In Relief As VP Nominee Embodies Spirit Of Comeback Reagan
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Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks during a vice presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008. (AP)
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Timeline Palin's Path A look at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's life and career
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Photo Essay Sarah Palin Alaska's youngest and first female governor tabbed to be McCain's running mate.
‘The moral elements,” Clausewitz wrote, “are among the most important in war.” He was talking about such things as morale, confidence, and devotion to a cause. With a moral advantage, an outnumbered force may win a surprise victory. Without it, well-equipped legions may go down to defeat.
That’s the significance of Sarah Palin’s debate performance. After all the lousy news of recent weeks, Republicans were starting to get gloomy. Mostly because of financial turmoil, Barack Obama’s lead in the polls edged upward. John McCain’s “suspension” of his campaign failed to have the desired effect, and his position on the Paulson plan put him at odds with many Republicans. Palin herself contributed to the gloom by giving awkward interviews on television.
On the morning of the debate, NBC’s Chuck Todd came close to declaring the race to be over: “All the trend lines are pointing in Obama’s direction. . . . [Pointing to a series of battleground-state polls] This should really scare the McCain campaign. This thing - it’s at a tipping point.” There was speculation that a poor Palin performance could decisively tip the election to Obama. Her supporters held their breath.
A few minutes after she walked onto the stage, they could exhale. They were watching the poised and feisty Palin of the Republican convention, not the hesitant Palin of the Gibson and Couric shows. The election wasn’t over yet.
She bolstered Republican morale in other ways, too. In politics as in war, you have to rally the troops against an opponent. You also have to pick the right target. Focusing her fire on Joe Biden would not have helped much, since most Republicans don’t have strong feelings about him. Instead, she went after the One. During the debate, she nodded to Biden while throwing verbal daggers at Obama:
As she did at the Republican convention, she reminded people at the grassroots that she is one of them. “I think we need a little bit of reality from Wasilla Main Street there, brought to Washington, D.C.” Once again, the liberal elites will sneer at her background as a hockey mom and small-town mayor. The more they sneer, the more they’ll fire up the Republican volunteers.
Nothing in politics touches Republicans as deeply as the memory of Ronald Reagan. A few weeks ago, Michael Reagan made a remarkable comment: “Wednesday night I watched the Republican National Convention on television and there, before my very eyes, I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he’s a she.” By making this comparison, he perhaps said more than he realized. The Gipper did not always shine in debates and press conferences. He made mistakes that worried his aides and political allies. Still, he had a way of coming back and reenergizing the ranks.
In the debate, Palin summoned up the spirit of the comeback Reagan. She invoked his name and even adapted his most famous debate line when she said: “Say it ain’t so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again.”
So Republicans again have something to cheer about. In such a hostile political climate, they will need it.
By John J. Pitney Jr.
Reprinted with permission from National Review Online.
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See all 110 CommentsR = reality
O = oriented
N = nutjobs
R = requiring
O = obliteration
Toby2957..... I see your 3 and raise you 3 more! ;)
"There you go again" Sarah, still oohing and aahing over "deregulation" when we all know it''s you greedy Repug *** who got us into this mess in the first place!
Nice try, Miss Piggie!
Sarah Palin - President of the Wasilla PTA
Ronald Reagan - 8 years as governor of California, the most populous state in the country, with an economy that''s larger than all but about a half-dozen countries.
Sarah Palin - 6 years as mayor of Wasilla, with fewer people than Smyrna, Delaware; 2 years as governor of Alaska, with about as many people in the whole state as there are in Memphis Tennessee.
Reagan - master communicator
Palin - "I''ll hafta get back to ya"
I can''t claim I knew Ronald Reagan or that he was a friend of mine, but Sarah Palin is no Ronald Reagan.
Boy, can''''t believe how much Kool-aid the Liberals have been drinking. The "Messiah" isn''''t going to "save you". Sad how many think they really need Government to take care of all their needs. Obama is the Manchurian Candidate and doesn''''t have an original idea in his head.
Posted by ihtlm2008
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Liberals generally do not believe in Messiahs.
Nice try though right-wing religious nutjob.
Praise Jesus.
Reagan was a nightmare.
Maybe U should be watching reruns
of B-grade Hollywood movies of RR.
Her triade against big government
on a week when we were saved from
the Great Depression II by the
big government; mostly started by RR''s
deregulatory stance was abit hard to swallow.
LOL!!! And the Repugs have NEVER been involved with anything like that, except in Florida and Ohio. Small-scale? Hardly. Take a hike, you crumb-bum loser.
The public choice is very clear now the Obama is too far ahead for them to catch up
One more thing - All elections should be decided by the popular vote only
How many agree with this ???????????????/
Posted by tksk53 at 04:43 PM : Oct 04, 2008
I agree with you but unfortunately, the will of the people rarely gets made into law. The GOP will be playing the Karl Rove handbook by the numbers between now and November. Desperation is clearly in the air!
Posted by OneAmerican6 at 03:46 PM : Oct 04, 2008
What has been and still is insane is the last 7 1/2 years. RIP GOP!
The public choice is very clear now the Obama is too far ahead for them to catch up
One more thing - All elections should be decided by the popular vote only
How many agree with this ???????????????/
---"Palin is completely unqualified to be president"---
Posted by IDNNSG
Hey my comment from yesterday got erased. Anyway, the thrust of it was that women delude themselves if they think that anybody respects them for their transparent attempts at disassociating themselves from women who are under attack.
Because everybody knows that for women who feel vulnerable and are trying to gain approval and security the key to acquiring their ''respect'' is to focus on the men that these women are scanning for cues, and everybody else''ll fall in line.
An example of why it''s apparent that the criticisms are rooted in feelings of vulnerability rather than strenth is that criticism that Palin doesn''t always answer the question. If you scroll back through the comments in under this article, you''ll see a point where I didn''t answer a couple of peoples'' questions and instead made an appeal to a different part of the person''s psyche to redirect the conversation. All assertive people do that when the person you''re having the conversation with is taking it off course for the worse.
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