You remember Peggy Noonan, right? She of the open mike idiocy about that Palin pick being “bullshit” gaffe. Then she tried to spin it around, but, she has been less then a supporter. That is her right, but, now, she is a bandwagon jumper
She killed. She had him at “Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe?” She was the star. He was the second male lead, the good-natured best friend of the leading man. She was not petrified but peppy.
The whole debate was about Sarah Palin. She is not a person of thought but of action. Interviews are about thinking, about reflecting, marshaling data and integrating it into an answer. Debates are more active, more propelled—they are thrust and parry. They are for campaigners. She is a campaigner. Her syntax did not hold, but her magnetism did. At one point she literally winked at the nation.
As far as Mrs. Palin was concerned, Gwen Ifill was not there, and Joe Biden was not there. Sarah and the camera were there. This was classic “talk over the heads of the media straight to the people,” and it is a long time since I’ve seen it done so well, though so transparently. There were moments when she seemed to be doing an infomercial pitch for charm in politics. But it was an effective infomercial.
There is more gushing from Peggy. How does that crow taste, Peggy?
And David Brooks? You remember the Keith Olbermann network gleefully writing “Palin: When you’ve lost David Brooks…” Now we get
Still, this debate was about Sarah Palin. She held up her end of an energetic debate that gave voters a direct look at two competing philosophies. She established debating parity with Joe Biden. And in a country that is furious with Washington, she presented herself as a radical alternative.
By the end of the debate, most Republicans were not crouching behind the couch, but standing on it. The race has not been transformed, but few could have expected as vibrant and tactically clever a performance as the one Sarah Palin turned in Thursday night.
Ummmm, crow. Tastes good! Feels good! Real good! (to the tune sung during marching in Full Metal Jacket by R. Lee Ermey)
Next on the crow list will probably be Kathleen Parker. We’ll give her a few days to clean her Thanksgiving Day silverware.
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