As I Was Saying

I thought Palin would do a great job tonight and she did. She had the crowd from the first moment. And there's absolutely a not-so-good movie, American Idol quality to the candidacy that is very dangerous for the Obama ticket. It really didn't matter what she said. There were lies in it, of course. But she was brassy and sassy and well-scripted, and she delivered. There was a meanness to the speech that didn't make a ton of sense, but a smile can do a long way to mask that. The Orthogonian resentment is embedded into it, and we'll see if a new face can make that work for going on 40 years.

This is probably the best the Obama campaign can do as a response:

"The speech that Governor Palin gave was well delivered, but it was written by George Bush's speechwriter and sounds exactly like the same divisive, partisan attacks we've heard from George Bush for the last eight years. If Governor Palin and John McCain want to define 'change' as voting with George Bush 90% of the time, that's their choice, but we don't think the American people are ready to take a 10% chance on change," said Bill Burton, Obama Campaign Spokesman.

The other clowns on the dais today were bitter old men. Palin didn't fit and she was sure to be endearing. The problem for her is that the record isn't washed away by this, and there's still a lot to uncover, but this will undoubtedly give the ticket a bump in the polls. The key is to ignore her completely and keep the focus on McCain, his loss to the religious right, his giveaway to George Bush. It's how to win this election.