The Speech

by William Kristol - September 4th, 2008 - The weekly Standard

NOW WE SEE why the liberal establishment has been trying for the last few days to destroy Sarah Palin. She is a threat to their hopes to take the White House this year, a threat to their broader claims to speak for youth, for women, and for the future, and a threat to their attempt to control the high ground in the culture war. After her stunning success last night, some in the liberal media may retire from the ring for a while. Others, with the threat now even more evident, may redouble their assaults and become even more desperate and vicious. Surely they'll fail.

A star was born last night--

I think the most significant reaction to Governor Sarah Palin was the Obama campaign's belittling her experience as "the former mayor of a town of 9,000." Those who don't want her to be seen as an impressive person ignore "her job heading the commission that oversees production of the largest petroleum reserves in America" and after that her being "the most popular Governor in America."

Oh sure, Alaska is not that big. How hard is it to get 80% popularity ratings in a small state. Anybody can do that, right? Especially someone who takes on the entrenched powers of her own party and the opposition party too. Have any of these critics stopped to wonder why people rarely oppose entrenched power?

Governor Sarah Palin has taken huge risks. She is a rare talent. Bill Kristol is wrong. A star was not born last night. This lady has been a star for a long time. All that happened last night is a few more people noticed.


[Update - Just saw a great quote about the speech in a posting by Jonah Goldberg. "Governor Palin was clearly put here on earth to do two things: kill caribou and kick butt. She is all out of caribou."]

[Uppdate 2 - Great line from the article in The London Sun, "The McCain-Palin ticket now looks in exciting shape. A war hero and a heroic mum. Experience and optimism." I love the war hero / heoric mum line. I plan to use it.]

[Update 3 - It may surprise you, as it surprised me, to learn that Sarah Palin is rich. Yep. On more than a dozen postings attacking her for the speech last night, the bloggers refer to the "rich bitch". One was actually exercised over the failure of the McCain campaign to answer the MSNBC question of how many houses she does add to the campaign. What is driving this belief that Palin is rich?]