McCain: Nine-and-a-Half Extraordinary Minutes

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I had an event to attend in New York City last night, so I didn’t watch McCain’s speech. On the brief drive home from the train, I heard snippets of it live on the radio, and I wasn’t impressed.

It was the section in the first half that started, “I fight for Bill and Sue Nebe from Farmington Hills, Michigan, who lost their real estate investments in the bad housing market.” He went on to name other couples from other states, and of course the state delegations broke out in applause when he named their state. It seemed formulaic and tired — and I was tired, after staying up way too late the prior night writing about Palin. When I got home, I left the TV off and went to bed.

I didn’t want to sit through the entire video, so today I found the full text online and read it. I was glad to see him say ” I hate war. It is terrible beyond imagination. I’m running for President to keep the country I love safe, and prevent other families from risking their loved ones in war as my family has.” The Democrats will try to pin a warmonger label on him, but among all the presidential hopefuls this year, he is uniquely qualified to hate war.

As a former speechwriter myself, I look for the craft as much as the content, and as I read along I thought it generally was a solid speech. Then I got to the section on his experience in Vietnam… and I found myself in tears, right about here:

I always liked to strut a little after I’d been roughed up to show the other guys I was tough enough to take it. But after I turned down their offer, they worked me over harder than they ever had before. For a long time. And they broke me.

When they brought me back to my cell, I was hurt and ashamed, and I didn’t know how I could face my fellow prisoners. The good man in the cell next door, my friend, Bob Craner, saved me. Through taps on a wall he told me I had fought as hard as I could. No man can always stand alone. And then he told me to get back up and fight again for our country and for the men I had the honor to serve with. Because every day they fought for me.

I found myself thinking that this may be a rare example of a speech that is more moving when you read on paper than when you hear it delivered. Then I realized I had to listen to him deliver that section. And I was blown away.

In the video on the GOP Convention site, that section starts precisely at minute 42. The speech ends at 51:30, everything after that is applause and balloons. Obama is still the better orator, but for nine-and-a-half minutes, McCain more than held his own. I loved the way he talked over the applause at the close, so the ovation lent energy to the words.

Obama supporters say that just because McCain was a POW doesn’t mean he should be President, and that’s certainly true. Keep on supporting Obama, if that’s your inclination — he’s a good man too. But if you didn’t watch the speech last night, give Mr. McCain nine-and-a-half minutes of your time. Vote against him if you will, but take the measure of the man.

So THAT’S Why He Picked Her – What a Speaker!

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I take back everything I said or hinted or even thought about Sarah Palin being a drag on the ticket.

She did several things she had to do in her speech tonight:

  • She established that her record of actual office-holding achievement compares very favorably with Obama’s. (Obama’s achievement of winning his party’s nomination for president is extraordinary and admirable. But as Palin said tonight, “this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform – not even in the state senate.”)
  • She demonstrated the combination of combativeness and populist appeal that have given her an 80% approval rating from her fellow Alaskans.
  • She showed she was ready — more than ready — to fill the customary VP role of attack dog on the stump. She even claimed the dog imagery for her own. I had already read the line, which she has apparently been saying for years, that the main difference between a Hockey Mom and a pit bull is lipstick. It seemed a little contrived when I was reading it on the screen, but when she said it, she owned it.

She took lots of hard shots at Obama, but by my count only one cheap shot. I wish she had left out the snipe that Obama’s worry about Al Qaeda terrorists is “that someone won’t read them their rights.” I don’t think that’s fair even as an exaggeration of anything I’ve ever heard Obama say.

But I loved the line that “Victory in Iraq is finally in sight … he wants to forfeit.” The “wants to forfeit” part isn’t literally true either, of course — but it’s certainly true that Obama’s pre-surge proposal to retreat-no-matter-what would have forfeited any chance at a positive outcome in Iraq.

My Obama-supporting wife — whom I love with a love that transcends space and time, let alone politics — didn’t like the speech. We both reacted negatively to the cheap shot on Miranda rights. But Nina was clearly pained to hear a man she admires attacked again and again, first by Giuliani and then by Palin. We watched the speech through different filters. Because I want McCain to win, I felt good about the effective, substantive, sarcastic hard punches being thrown at Obama — a man whom, as I’ve written before, in many ways I admire also.

Nina and I have virtually identical views on social issues. We both think the Republicans are on the wrong side of the abortion issue. Even more strongly, we both think they’re on the wrong side of marriage equality for same-sex couples. She was as angered and appalled as I was by the attacks of 9/11, and she knows the danger isn’t over. But we’ve reached opposite conclusions about which candidate to support. We respect each other’s decision, and we respect each other. We have in-depth, substantive discussions on the issues, but we’re careful not to mock each other’s candidate when we talk. That’s the way it should be in a marriage

But that’s not the way it’s going to be on the campaign trail. Unfortunately, negative campaigning works. Because it works, both sides have to do it. I wish it were otherwise — but no candidate has ever won a major election by staying entirely on the high road.

And so to bed.

Palin Backlash Watch, Part II

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Palin’s working-mom street cred is going to appeal to some (certainly not all) women who would not be expected to share Palin’s political views — such as, a national correspondent for NBC’s Today show:

Politics aside and as a journalist, it’s intriguing to see the so-called mommy wars resurrected and reignited once again. As a working mom, it’s disheartening to see another — whomever she is — attacked for her choices.

Outperforming Her Resume

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TNR offers an Alaskan perspective (hat tip: Neo-Neocon):

What the Republicans missed about Sarah Palin then [just before she ousted a sitting Alaska governor in a primary]–and what the Democrats seem poised to miss now–is that she is a true political savant; a candidate with a knack for identifying the key gripes of the populace and packaging herself as the solution. That keen political nose has enabled her to routinely outperform her resume. Nearly two years into her administration, she still racks up approval ratings of 80 per cent or better….

Sarah Palin is a living reminder that the ultimate source of political power in this country is not the Kennedy School or the Davos Summit or an Ariana Huffington salon; even now, power emanates from the electorate itself. More precisely, power in 2008 emanates from the working class electorates of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Sooner or later, the Obama camp will realize that the beauty pageant queen is an enormously talented populist in a year that is ripe for populism. For their own sake, it had better be sooner.

McCain Strategist Describes the Vetting of Palin

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I’m skeptical of the partisan contention that McCain did little or no vetting of Palin in advance of the announcement. Here’s an extended response from the McCain camp — according to an unidentified senior McCain strategist, the vetting

“included her filling out a 70-question questionnaire that was highly intrusive and personal. She was then interviewed for more than three hours by A.B. Culvahouse [head of the VP selection team]. There were multiple follow-up interviews. … There was a public records search and political vet. There was a private life and financial vet. Everything that has come out was known by the campaign through the vetting process.”

Because of America’s bizarre process for vice presidential selection, the safest pick for a running mate seems to be someone who has recently run for president (Obama-Biden, Kerry-Edwards, Clinton-Gore, Reagan-GWBush, etc.) If the prospective VP has not already been through the campaign crucible, the vetting has to be accomplished in strict secrecy, and the secrecy inherently limits how thorough the vetting can be.

The Quayle Comparison

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The second half of this 1988 NYT article explains how George H.W. Bush waited until the convention was already under way to announce Dan Quayle as his running mate. Consequently, the first part of the convention was overshadowed by speculation about who would be the VP candidate, and the second part was overshadowed by a media feeding frenzy over Quayle, aggravated by Quayle’s fumbling responses in his initial interviews about “his military service, a golf trip to Florida with a female lobbyist and whether he had enough experience to be President.” (Hat tip: Slate.)

Palin acquitted herself reasonably well in her first public remarks, when she was introduced on the morning of the announcement. She’ll be under the microscope tonight when she speaks at the convention.

OK, Pull the Plug on Palin

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Hard to see how the Palin candidacy can survive the continuing drip-drip-drip of new revelations — and the press is only getting warmed up. The Alaska Independence Party is not exactly a “fringe” group — its standard-bearer was elected governor in 1990. But the party’s motto of “Alaska First — Alaska Always” stands in stark opposition to McCain’s “Country First.” This affiliation alone would be no big deal to spin away — she left the party years ago, had common ground on other issues but never supported secession, etc. But there is undoubtedly more to come.

I’ve tried all weekend to compartmentalize my feeling about the Palin selection: It was a bad choice, but maybe it will actually help the ticket, or at least not hurt it. But both compartments are flooding, and I’m worried that the ship is going down.

If she withdraws from the ticket promptly, maybe McCain can survive this by pointing out that Obama also has made bad choices in his associates, in relationships that have lasted for years (Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers). But this whole episode reflects badly on McCain’s judgment.

We need a new way of selecting a Vice President.

Palin Backlash Watch

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I don’t agree with every word of this article, but I offer this snippet as evidence that Palin-bashing is a losing strategy for the Democrats:

Let me make it clear: there are many things I don’t like about Sarah Palin. We are ideologically opposed on numerous issues. Her stance on creationism and her pro-life zealousness are just two examples. Two big ones. … But the last two days of mudslinging against Palin have been so extreme, they have transformed her into an almost sympathetic figure in my eyes.

Obama’s reaction is to his immense credit:

”This shouldn’t be part of our politics, it has no relevance to Governor Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president, and so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories,” Obama told reporters.

"Better Qualified Than Obama"

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From The Corner:

Governor Palin is, based on her resume and achievement, better qualified than Obama to be president. … Obama has no important legislation to his name and no achievements that commend him to be President.

Based on what I know about Governor Palin so far, I think this is correct. Whether the sentiment will gain any traction is another matter.

I continue to think that McCain probably made a mistake in selecting Palin. But I’m less convinced it’s going to hurt him with moderates more than it helps him with conservatives.

The people making the most noise about Sarah Palin are already confirmed Obama supporters. But if people who are NOT already committed to Obama spend the next two months comparing the experience of Palin and Obama… I don’t think that helps Obama, especially given that he is running for President and she is not.

And to the extent that Democratic partisans go too far and attack Palin with Martian love child allegations, there will be a backlash among people who are not confirmed Obama supporters. Her record, credentials and campaigning skills are going to get a thorough airing. A lot will depend on how well she performs under pressure.

Update 2:20 p.m.: Turns out the Governor’s daughter is pregnant. This is, or should be, a non-event. It won’t even hurt her with the most socially conservative voters, especially since the daughter plans to carry the pregnancy to term and marry the baby’s father.