I'm afraid our governor has now begun to shill for the worst instincts of the Republican party. Today's speech was full of clever, but meaningless, phrases, nasty distortions, and belittling. The Republicans in the last two elections have found the effectiveness of appealing to fear, and making up their own facts. Giuliani was plain mean and brutish. Palin wasn't much better. When she talked about herself it was one speech, but then she went after Obama and she was just the reader. The belittling of community organizing was just the start. There was no real content, just diatribe against Obama.
One example - I'll let the rest of the blog world take apart most of the speech. She blasted Obama for telling people in one town one thing and in another town something else. But I recall that what she told the people in Juneau about moving the capital was different from what she told the people in Wasilla.
And all this nonsense about having more administrative experience than the whole Democratic ticket is pure make believe. It means nothing. If Palin thinks that being Mayor of the town she grew up in that had issues she's known since childhood prepares her to be Vice President, she's delusional. I've already posted that I think what she did with AGIA was impressive. But her rescue of the failing Dairy was itself a failure. The Monehan firing demonstrates how being small town mayor didn't teach her the rules of the merit system and rule of law.
Some of the rhetorical devices they used included: ad hominem attack, straw man, ciruclar arguments. While you're at it, just look at the whole index of fallacies.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
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I agree Steve. She debased herself last night. She sounded like a Giuliani in a pantsuit. Very disappointing from someone like Sarah. But that's what you get when Bush's speechwriter is behind you. Dennis Zaki
ReplyDeleteWell, the other thing is that governing a city/town whatever is not the same with governing a country which is as big as Europe (I hope) and has more nuclear bombs that grass in our garden.
ReplyDeleteThe speech seemed pretty much what you'd expect from a nominee trying to establish her credentials among a right-wing audience. I daresay we are going to hear a lot of "rhetorical devices" over the next few weeks. Personally I think the speech did the job. It appealed to the instincts of those who will vote for her, but also in the way she attacked BO paved the way for him to take her and her values apart.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that over the next few weeks we are going to see if she really is the gun-toting, moose-eating anti-abortionist who wants to see creation taught as an alternative to evolution and denies that the world is warming up due to over-consumption of limited resources, etc. etc. I understand that she has only acquired a passport in the last year or so!
Let's hope that some of this at least is caricature.
McCain may share most of her values, but hopefully has acquired enough wisdom in his 72 years to temper them when faced with tackling the great issues.
One can only hope that she is a quick learner, and that he is as robust as he needs to be. The issue is not whether she lacks experience to be VP. That can be a non-job, if McCain chooses to make it so. It's what happens if she steps into the main job. Since WW2we've had 3 cases (Truman, Johnson, Ford)of VPs having to take over, so we know things happen. If McCain wins, the prospect could be even more worrying for the world, in view of the his age and the political inexperience of the one who is "a heartbeat away".
Anon, Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I'm guessing you are not an Alaskan. I agree with the let's wait and see, but I've been seeing for the last couple of years, so I'm ready to stop waiting. Dennis, the first Anon above lives in Wasilla, so he's had an even closer view.
ReplyDeleteIn some of my earlier posts - such as her speech Friday and other posts covering her and AGIA this year - I've expressed a view that she has been a mostly honest and open and very human candidate and governor. Going hunting is probably not the image that 'gun-toting' conveys. And moose eating is not weird to Alaskans who hunt or know moose hunters.
Personally, I think she's smart, but has limited exposure to life and people outside of Wasilla until very recently. I doubt that college in Idaho was that different from life in Wasilla.
I think she could grow into a reasonable politician of national stature, but this is going to be on the job training. She does like people and she was a pit-bull on corruption in the Republican Party in Alaska.
But the pleasure she seemed to take in attacking Obama last night is the dark side that people have hinted at here, but I haven't seen personally until the issues with her ex-brother-in-law came up.
"limited exposure to life and people outside of Wasilla" You got that right. She obtained her first ever passport last year to go to Kuwait. My 4-year-old son has had a passport for longer than that. I like Sarah very much, but not for VP of the US. DZ
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