You're All Special, Unique, Maverick Snowflakes

So, after a non-hurricane, the GOP convention rolls along, highlighted so far by speeches by Joe Lieberman Tuesday, and the triumvirate of Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, and VP nominee Sarah Palin last night.

The GOP convention, like its counterpart on the Dem side, is mostly a chance for people who all agree on basically everything to get together and revel in how similar they are, and then talk about how much it must suck not to be exactly like them. There's music and drinking and ritual; I bet it's a pretty a good time. Everyone who they talk to at the convention looks like they're having a good time, if making an idiot out of yourself on camera means you're having fun, and it usually did in college. The distinctive thing about the GOP convention though, is that you get to do all of this while celebrating how "Maverick" and "Independent" you all are. You can rail against the way things are done, decry the status quo, and yell about the Washington establishment, and no one will ever, ever remind you that YOU ARE THE WASHINGTON ESTABLISHMENT. The GOP doesn't want change in the White House; they have the White House. They agree with every part of Bush's politics. Every single plank of the platform is the smae. So what, precisely, does Maverick or reformer mean if you can be one and want to see the same stuff?

Oh, they have a Democrat speaking at the convention.

A word on Sen. Lieberman (Caution: Yiddish coming). Joe Lieberman used to be a Democrat. But, because he's old and a little nuts, he likes war. Being a Jew (like me), he is a little susceptible to the neocon idea that we can make the world better by taking it over (unlike me). He lost his primary because of that, but then came back and ran as an independent against Dem nominee Ned Lamont and whatever Republican was going to lose in Connecticut. Most national Dems stayed the heck out of that race, understanding that it was politically dicey to get involved in an intra-party dispute. One of the ones who did get involved was Barack Obama, who admired Joe's willingness to go against his party on the war and things like free speech, and who endorsed and raised a ton of money for Liebs. Lieberman's response was to say "thanks, shvartze, and now I'm going to devote the rest of my life to making sure you aren't president. L'Chaim!" But, before he did that, he said this:



So, when he said that Barack's future was unlimited, he meant, I guess, unlimited as long as Barack knew his place and didn't want anything more than what he had. Okay, I'll back off now before it appears as though I think Lieberman's a racist (I don't, obviously). I just have real problems with people who have no sense of loyalty for those who were with them in tough times. No one would have thought anything of it if Lieberman had begged off the GOP convention, saying it would have been disrespectful to those who voted for him and his colleagues in the Senate who helped him. It would have been fine, even, if he had shown up, but kept his message positive and McCain-centric. Instead, Lieberman decided to be a jerk, and I hope the next time he needs help from anyone, anyone who thinks about helping him remembers what his concept of loyalty is.

Last night, Rudy, Fred and the new Veepstrix all got to address the GOP convention. Fred's speech was the best, I thought, mostly because he's the best speaker, and has the gift of being able to snipe while sounding kind. But the only speech to which anyone paid attention was Palin's. Let's remember, going in, the not-so-great things we've learned about Sarah Palin in the last three days.

-She thinks the "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance was "good enough for the founding fathers," when it is significantly younger than her running mate.
-She doesn't believe in science. She thinks we should teach creationism and that climate change is not man-made.
-She was in favor of the bridge to nowhere originally
-She hired a lobbyist to secure earmarks for the town of Wasilla, where she was mayor
-She didn't have a lawyer in the state investigation against her, and now does
-She met McCain once before being chosen to be VP
-She is against all forms of abortion rights, and believes in abstinence-only education, despite the fact that her unmarried daughter is pregnant via this class act. Since he's entering politics, let's take a quick look at how the future in-law cleans up:
Before: After:

Not bad. He's even got that disdainful look for his wife-to-be down pat.

Okay, so Sarah Palin goes into this speech after an up-and-down introduction to the American people, with her main assets being her family life and her freshness.

I thought it was fine. The right-wing talking heads said it was "sensational," but I can't see actually thinking that. Palin is a good speaker, not a great one. And it was clear she was still not used to this level of speaking, as she struggled a little with over-enunciation and never looked like she had written or even participated in the writing of the speech. The more salient analysis came from the centrist pundits, who saw it as two speeches, one successful and one not. The successful speech was the introduction of Sarah Palin, a woman who has had a remarkable journey from small-town councilwoman to VP nominee. That woman is, in many ways, impressive and easy to relate to. She has a strong love for her family with no delusions that they are perfect. I agree with Chris Matthews that a big winning moment came when she said that she and her rugged steelworker/snow-machine-racer husband, Todd, had met in high school, and, "after two decades and five children, you're still my guy." It was sweet, genuine, and the type of thing guys love hearing. That speech, even given the technical hiccups, was a good start.

The other speech, though, was not, despite how much her audience may have been ready to love it. That speech was a sarcastic, sniping, smug one about how bad Barack Obama is and how stupid his ideas are. I was surprised at the tone, since her appeal is about freshness and McCain doesn't need an attack dog, but there it was. It is a dangerous thing for a novice like her to try. Delivering sarcasm while appearing kind is tough, and not many politicians have it. As I pointed out, Fred Thompson does. Obama does. Bill Clinton, at times, does. Mike Huckabee does. Sarah Palin does not. There are not many similarities between her and Hillary Clinton, but this is one; they both lack the ability to seem soft when they are being critical. Instead, they come off smug and condescending. The thing about Hillary is, her accomplishments and tough image made that somewhat acceptable; you didn't like Hillary for her soft, family-woman image, you liked her because she was accomplished and a strong leader. For Palin, whose voice has a tonal quality that is quite grating, it's far worse. It sounded more like the smug, ignorant teleprompter reading of George W. Bush.

Keeping with the theme of the Convention, Palin touted herself as a reformer, though of course that's a bit ridiculous. She never stood up to any power structure, except when it was politically prudent to do so. McCain, at least, used to be a reformer; Sarah Palin was always a homer with a soft spot for federal dollars. But the applause when she talked about saying "thanks, but no thanks" to the bridge to nowhere, the ovations at talking about how the media didn't like that she wasn't a Washington insider, struck me as very bizarre. For one thing, the media loves outsiders. They love Obama's story. They loved Reagan. They loved McCain, even though he was an insider, because he acted like an outsider. The media hasn't questioned Palin because she's not from Washington, they've questioned her because they've never heard of her, and everything she's said about her political life so far has turned out to be untrue. She might think of herself as someone who can shake things up, but the base doesn't love her because she's a reformer; they love her because she's as radical and unwavering as they are.

Perhaps, though, I am too hard on her. Many, many people have thought the speech was fantastic. Joe Klein called it "brilliant."

The more I think about it, Palin's was an authentic, sarcastic, white working-class voice--absent the economic pain at large in the country, the fact that median families have lost $2000 in disposable income during the Bush presidency. The Democrats are betting that the pain will trump the sarcasm this year; the media reaction you're seeing, including my own, comes from the knowledge that sarcasm has trumped pain so often in recent history. The question remains the one Obama raised last week: will this be a big election or a small one?

McCain's speech is tonight. Many have been trying to remind us, that, despite his rep, he can deliver great speeches on occasion. Before or after you do or don't watch it, I really can not recommend the recent Time pieces on him highly enough.
-The profile on his obsession with honor that defines him.
-The interview where it's clear exactly how far he's departed from "Straight Talk"
-And the profile of the two men who have brought him here.

Footnotes:
-What are people searching for in re: Sarah Palin? I'll give you a hint: It's not photos of her enormous foreign policy experience.
-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick finally gives up.
-SJS fave B. Mock seeks out black republican leaders. He got Kenneth Blackwell.