Thursday, September 4, 2008

Today's Word—Pitbulls

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Political Discourse:

“You know what’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick.”
Sarah Palin, GOP veep candidate and Alaska governor, in her speech to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last night (9/3/08)


(R.J. Matson, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2008)


(Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune, 2008)

Reax: Palin Speech Gets Rave Reviews
U.S. News & World Report (Click here.)

After two days of unrelenting negative coverage, media analysts last night and this morning almost universally lavished praise on Gov. Sarah Palin’s convention speech. Immediate reaction by the broadcast punditry was positive. On NBC, Tom Brokaw said a few moments after Palin concluded, “Tonight makes a very auspicious debut as the vice presidential candidate before this hall and a national television audience. She could not have been more winning or engaging.”

On CBS, Bob Schieffer said after the speech, “I think she passed the first test. The people in this hall absolutely loved this speech. Now we'll see how it plays with the rest of the country.” On ABC, George Stephanopoulos said, “There were a lot beautiful and effective lines in this speech.” On ABC’s Nightline, Stephanopoulos added, “She definitely gets an A. ... It was appealing and funny and warm at times. Very, very tough at times as well. And she really did have an ability to bring these things down to earth, bring it down to earth.” . . .

On CNN, Wolf Blitzer said, “She really did hit it out of the park tonight not only here but for millions of Americans watching across the country. No doubt...their first real impression of her had to be very, very positive given this speech that was obviously very carefully written but very well delivered.” Anderson Cooper added, “If anyone is wondering why she is such a popular governor in the state of Alaska, you saw the answer tonight.” . . .

Print coverage this morning is echoing the praise in front page story across the nation. The New York Times reports on its front page that Palin’s appearance “electrified a convention that has been consumed by questions of whether she was up to the job,” while the Washington Post says on its front page that Palin “may be controversial, risky and untested on the national stage. But at the convention Wednesday night,” she “proved to be an instant jolt of energy for a political party that has been worried and demoralized for much of 2008.”

6 comments:

  1. Palin did exactly what she needed to do. She rallied the base---Anyone still think the right wing will stay home on Nov. 4th?---as well as defined the Democrats as the GOP wants the voters to see them.

    It was brilliant theatre.

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  2. It was a great line. My wife Kati cheered.

    Doug Gibson
    Standard-Examiner

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  3. Incoming reaction:

    "Yes, but did she SAY anything?"
    "Great speech. Now what?"
    "Glad it works for the pit bull crowd. Most people are afraid of them (the dogs and the crowd)."

    Stay tuned.
    The WORDman

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  4. A good speech, is a good speech, is a good speech. Too bad you would have to vote McCain / Palin into office to get any more of her good speeches...that's way too high of a price to pay for a good speech!

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  5. Here's an oxymoron, studied glibness: the use of rehearsed remarks made to sound spontaneous to rally a crowd. She did not spend three days in the back room with Republican Henry Higginses without purpose. "The strain on brains fell deaf in northern plains."
    Let's see how she handles response to immediate questioning of the full press.

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  6. I'm an outsider here, sitting on the sidelines and watching... have to say I'm kinda glad I can't vote - you basically have a two-party system operating here and fundamentally, there's not a lot of difference in outcomes... wish you'd all bring in a form of proportional representation...

    If Palin rallied the base with her speech, what does that say about the base? Brilliant theatre - perhaps the playwright/puppet master has delivered us a farce, set against the backdrop of the real world we live in? Farce is most effective when one 'gets' the underlying message and irony.... think that's been lost on many people, including those media commentators who've been so congratulatory about the speech.

    Does no-one get how dangerous the McCain-Palin combination is and how ridiculous the US will look in the eyes of the rest of the world if these two are actually given the keys to the White House?

    I'm not saying the Obama-Biden combo is much better, but at least they're not acting like ostriches about the problems facing this country, humanity (and the rest of the biosphere) and what's required to address them in some small way.... at least their suggested solutions aren't a continuation of the policies that helped to create the problems in the first place....

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