Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Tonight, the GOP took off the gloves and tried to rip the heart out of the Democrats. It was a vintage Republican affair, with the speakers viciously skewering Obama. The headliner of the nearly all-white event was the unqualified Sarah Palin, who showed that what she lacks in stature, she makes up in striking ability - like a cobra.

Palin was downright nasty and disrespectful to Obama. She lacks charisma and is fundamentally unlikable. The VP nominee talks with an angry sneer - we'll call it the "Sarah Snarl." This habit of delivering venomous lines with a scowl will soon wear thin with the American people.

That said, her inherent bitterness plays extraordinarily well with Republican extremists and she will appeal to a significant portion of angry women and men in small towns. She also will benefit the campaign, because she can be the enforcer, while allowing McCain to take the high road. My prediction is that Palin, a divisive figure, will initially be somewhat popular in certain circles, but end up with far more enemies than friends in her political career. And - there are still more revelations coming out by the day about her extremism and tabloid-friendly life.

One more observation: Palin looked freaked out when McCain came on stage to kiss her and coldly pulled away. They looked very unnatural together and it was far from a chummy picture they provided. The body language was simply embarrassing and they need to practice hugging so they don't look like a mismatched couple in the middle of a divorce.

Earlier in the evening, Rudy Giuliani gave a powerful speech that also smacked down the Democrats. His speech was the most effective of the evening and framed the argument for McCain well - despite a creepy, out-of-place cackle that he occasionally unleashed. Mike Huckabee's speech was good - but disappointing. He's a gifted politician and has done much better on the stump.

Mitt Romney, the phoniest man in politics, gave a speech that only reinforced his image as "Plastic Man." A former governor of Massachusetts and a tycoon worth more than a half billion dollars, he had the nerve to upbraid the Eastern elite - and portray his namby-pamby, pampered self as an outsider. The truth is, Romney is a spoiled brat and a product of the Northeastern corridors of power. He comes from a wealthy political family in Michigan and has never done a day of hard labor in his self-indulgent, coddled and cocooned life. Romney can best be described as a man born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who has spent the past three years working to convince Republicans that the utensil is really made of aluminium. To put it bluntly, Romney is a fake and "full of Mitt." America gets this and that is why he could not even buy his way to the nomination.

The Democrats ran a positive convention and the Republicans ran the most negative one since 1992. This will fundamentally come down to a referendum on naughty vs. nice. Americans say they don't like negative campaigns and ads, but they usually elect the biggest thug in the race.

I hope Democrats follow up on their fantastic convention by coming out swinging - with brick bats. In my view, they will need to be tougher and nastier than the GOP to win. I know many of my liberal friends want to "rise above" the ugliness - but this is politics. I am more interested in winning and "rising above" the GOP in the polls. I have little interest in basking in moral superiority....with President McCain. Our nation simply can't take four more years of arrogant, short-sighted and ruinous policies.

When the Republican smear-fest ends, the Dems must strike back brutally hard and make the GOP rue the day they went negative. For example, it is time voters are reminded that Palin is embroiled in a scandal in Alaska and McCain was one of the Keating 5.

The time to play nice has ended.

69 Comments:

Indeed! I hope the Dems are still looking forward to that Palin-Biden debate. Now I sure the hell am!
posted by Anonymous, at 9/04/2008 12:13 AM

"without looking mean"

Who are you kidding, Anonmous? She can't finish a sentence without the "Sarah Snarl"

Biden will destroy her in the debate. Even Bob Dole said on MSNBC that she is unprepared to lead the nation and that he would tutor her in North Carolina, if she wanted help getting up to speed.

Get real. Aren't you sick of the ruinous direction the corrupt, morally depraved and wholly incompetent Republicans have taken us?

Aren't you ashamed for backing Bush - the worst president in our nation's history. If I had voted for Bush, I'd be so humiliated that I would never vote again.
posted by Wayne Besen, at 9/04/2008 12:20 AM

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
posted by Anonymous, at 9/04/2008 12:21 AM

Michael Crowley of The New Republic:

"Focus Group: Palin Was (Alarmingly) Strong: Several moderate-Democrat friends of mine have been emailing - few if any would ever vote for McCain - but all agree that Palin was very strong. The more liberal among them are a little panicked."

And they should be Michael. They should be.
posted by Anonymous, at 9/04/2008 12:30 AM

I love all those Bush cronies who are whining about MSNBC - after cheerleading for FOX.

Can we say hypocrisy?

The fact is, Republicans have zero credibility after giving us Bush/DeLay/Abramoff/Craig. What they now say is essentially meaningless after exercising such appallingly poor judgment for eight years. Ever here of shame?

These Republicans paraded and posed as moral guides who are better than the rest of us - yet delivered the most corrupt, sanctimonious leaders in modern history.

Shame on you!
posted by Wayne Besen, at 9/04/2008 12:32 AM

Palin will go down as a huge mistake and may even have to withdrawal if more embarrassing revelations occur.

Her initial praise can easily be described by the fact that she is the beneficiary of low expectations.

She proved tonight that she can read from a teleprompter with a sneer. That does not replace knowledge of world affairs.

This pick shows the cravenness of the McCain campaign.
posted by Wayne Besen, at 9/04/2008 12:36 AM

Wayne, it is absolutely true (and sad) that Fox News is the house organ of the Republican Party. But in like manner, the ABCNNBCBS cabal, the AP, and the major newspapers are the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party.

You're right in what you affirm sir. You're simply wrong as to what you deny.
posted by Anonymous, at 9/04/2008 12:43 AM

it may seem like the mainstream media is against Republicans. But, they really just point out the facts, that are rarely friendly to Republicans.

Republicans, particularly social conservatives are ruining this country. Sarah Palin - an unqualified party hack under investigation for abuse of power while posing as a reformer is Exhibit A.

If the Republicans want better treatment in the media, they should create better policies, stop lying to the American people and cut out the corruption.

Bush Republicans bragged that they no longer play by the rules of the Reality based community. Well, when they return to reality, they might actually like the media better. But, as long as the media is reporting on facts, the Republicans are at a distinct disadvantage.

Furthermore, the idea that liberals get a break from the media is nonsense. If that were they case, there would have been no Iraq war and Bush would have been impeached.

Republicans love to blame the media, when media subservience is the reason Bush and the Republicans got their war that is draining our treasury and weakening our military.

The truth is - Republicans are big babies and attack the media, trying to bully and browbeat them into favorable coverage.
posted by Wayne Besen, at 9/04/2008 12:54 AM

Lets not forget the party of hate's monopoly on hypocrisy and the doublestandard. If you recall, Dan Quayle attacked Murphy Brown for having a baby out of wedlock. Whereas....Bristol Palin is glorified by the party as un expectant unwed mother. So much for family values. They have absolutely NO credibility and are morally bankrupt on just about everything. If this dumb electorate elects McCain, so be it, then it will deserve what it gets, another four more years of failed Bush policies and the biggest national debt in economic history owned primarily by China. They claim their party is the party of fiscal conservatism and according to Fred Thompson, our economy is doing just fine. Are they for real?
posted by Robert, NYC., at 9/04/2008 7:57 AM

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
posted by Anonymous, at 9/04/2008 9:41 AM

It's nice to see that self-described pit bull bitch Sarah Palin is the viscious, nasty troll I thought she was. John McCain has done exactly what this country needed - picked a running mate to gin up the semi-literates that make up his base, while showing swing voters exactly what'll happen if he's elected president.

Obama's got it sewn up now!
posted by Tom, at 9/04/2008 9:51 AM

Anonymous, democrats are afraid? Hardly....seems like you and your party are, you're all so desperate that McCain picks a fundamentalist christo fascist to play to its core base. Like you, she believes in that nonsensical creationist story, the one about Adam & Eve and their three male children.....now how on earth would you and the Palinistas explain how the world became populated with only three sons and no daughters they could impregnate to bring that about, let alone doing their own mother?

Palin and her cultist belief system is going to polarize your party even more to the right, just wait and see. She will do much to reinforce America's number 1 spot as the laughing stock of the world. You are also delusional if you think the Hillary doubters will vote for a woman who is against their pro-choice stand. Name one piece of legislation passed by your party in the past 20years that favors women's rights and equality! Palin is just a window-dressing gimmick and its a meaningless attempt at portraying an all inclusive party of hate, a party that has NEVER been inclusive and never will be. Since when has your party supported equality for LGBT people and women. This has been yet another neo nazi rally dedicated to character assasinations of the other side and does not address the real issues at hand, a legacy of the Bush administration.
posted by Robert, NYC., at 9/04/2008 10:54 AM

Palin... what a fucking idiot.

Against abortion even in cases of rape and incest...

Against comprehensive sex education...

Denies humans have anything to do with global warming...

Thinks Christian mythology should be taught as science...

Thinks the Iraq War was God's idea...

They asked her about the phrase "under god" in the Pledge of Allegiance, and she said it was "good enough for the founding fathers"...

Sigh...

Vote for Palin. So Americans can be even dumber than they are now.

Vote for Palin. Because you know those dumbshit hockey moms next door who don't know their asses from their elbows? Yeah, can't you see one of them potentially running our entire country?

If anyone is stupid enough to vote for such an utter MORON, then you deserve the country you get.

And what's with this crap about women voting for her? Even though she's a goddamn idiot and practically a fascist?

Why should women vote for her? Just because she has a vagina?

And here I thought conservatives were against affirmative action!

And did you notice McSame can't stop staring at her ass? Ew.
posted by Eshto, at 9/04/2008 10:55 AM

I agree with your article Wayne, but I dont have much hope of the Democrats ever growing a spine. After their admittedly slim majority win of Congress in 06, I expected them to at least TRY and prosecute the multitudinous crimes of the republican administration and put some brakes on their ruinous policies; but as usual they acted like total bottom boys (and girls). The late historian Barbara Tuchman wrote an excellent book called The March of Folly about how, at various times in history, certain countries and institutions continued to follow the same path and self-destructive policies, despite mountains of evidence that they were headed off of a cliff. Two of the examples that she used (of several) were the policies of the Roman Church that inevitably led to the Reformation as well as the British government's treatment of the colonies that led to the Revolution. If this country foolishly falls for these same snakeoil salesmen from the republican party, especially after the past 8 years, I'm afraid we will be joining that parade of Folly (if we havent already). Unfortunately the rest of us in the thinking and reality based community are trapped in the same line-dance and will be pulled over the falls with them.
Gary (NJ)
posted by Anonymous, at 9/04/2008 11:22 AM

Wayne - As a moderate who hates partisan politics in general and thinks that political rhetoric and political reality are mutually exclusive, I can't say I agree with you on much -but I sure do enjoy reading your columns. You are a talented writer and reading you has become, like reading Ann Coulter, a guilty pleasure of sorts. Keep writing your essays and your readership will flourish.
posted by P, at 9/04/2008 12:03 PM

Nothing new in this one.. MORE of the SAME.. don't know what everyones all a-flutter about she delivered a speech that was poor at best.. rehashing everything from the last 8 mos and not mentioning middle class Americans not a SINGLE time. Broke it all down on my site check it out.
posted by mrmoderator, at 9/04/2008 12:51 PM

"So now Sarah Palin's a "bitch"?"

She's the one who compared herself to a pit bull -- which, incidentally, is an insult to pit bulls.

But now Biden is free to take the gloves off. Let there be no more walking on eggshells for fear of appearing "mean" or "sexist." In the immortal words of Our Leader, "bring 'em on!".
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