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Tuesday 22 May 2012

Thursday, 4th September 2008

Waiting for Palin

Fraser Nelson 1:02am

I'm now in the BBC suite in St Paul stadium with my former Spectator colleague Emily Maitlis. She's off air and we're all waiting for Sarah Palin - I'm due to do a Five Live phone-in on whether her personal life is fair game but the tennis may displace us. Both CNN and Fox are running Cape Canaveral-style countdowns to Palin's big speech - which must surely rate as the most important at an American convention for years. It will have none of the theatre of Obama's stadium speech, which everyone knew would be good. More is at stake now because if she fluffs it could well be terminal. Delegates here are fired up, convinced the left - as broadly defined - is coming after her with sexist and dirty jibes. The Republicans have whipped this one up to perfection, and Obama dare not attack Palin now, lest it adds credence to McCain's claims of foul play. So far the Republican campaign machine has been smarter, faster and deadlier.

It's often said that Palin's point is simply to woo female voters. It's far more cunning. Her job is first to energise the conservative base, which had been sniffy about mccain but is wildly enthusiatic about Palin. Next, this Alaskan tax-cutter puts rocket boosters on McCain's "reform" message. "She was put on this earth to chew gum and kick ass," said one conservative journalist I spoke to. "And she's all out of gum". Her third point is to appeal to women. And her fourth, which not much attention has fallen on so far, is to draw attention to Obama's record on abortion.

Last night, Joe Lieberman described 9/11 as a "natural disaster" when he meant national disaster. An understandable fluff, which precisely no-one commented on today. If Palin makes the same mistake, it could well be seized on as an example of her unreadiness to lead. Making a speech like this is something which most people who do it spend months preparing for. This time last week, Palin was known to almost no one south of Siberia. I'd hate to be in her position, and admit that I can't wait to see how she does. According to CNN, I have just 3 hours, 31 minutes and 20 seconds to wait.

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Hysteria

September 4th, 2008 1:27am Report this comment

yup - as I have commented elsewhere this could be a make or break moment. I think (and hope) she will give a barnstormer.

Great line re the chewing gum!

Hysteria

September 4th, 2008 2:50am Report this comment

pity the Speccie cant post comments in something approaching real-time - 90 minutes from my first post ain't too good

Hysteria

September 4th, 2008 4:11am Report this comment

pretty good balance of personal stuff and gravitas. Seems relaxed - timing is good. Seems tough - wouldn't want to be on the opposite side of a negotiation.!

Kudos to Verity for getting the early quotes.

It's rehearsed - but the reliance on the teleprompter is pretty subtle - leaning on the lecturn from time to time shows sang-froid.

the line about not serving the commentators might backfire though......

think the background of Mt Rushmore might be a little OTT !!!

"The American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of self discovery" great jibe!

"There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you..."

selling the governors jet on e-bay - good one!

actually her delivery is great - great sardonic delivery about Obama.

all in all she would get my vote - no fluffed lines, confident, good personal touches - WOW !!

Now lets see what the beltway thinks!

etc

September 4th, 2008 4:22am Report this comment

Sadly Fraser's post is completely wrong, and anyone staying up to see Palin at the time he says will have utterly missed her.

Shabby and annoying.

Verity

September 4th, 2008 4:29am Report this comment

Hysteria - what did you think? I thought she nailed it. She's new to speaking on national TV was probably a bit nervous, but her delivery was good and she hit some home runs. I think she'll be a really good speaker once she finds her feet. She had some great lines, and she looked damn' good! And she kept her cool.

Anyway, I don't want to speak too soon, but I think she Kay-Oed Obama.

(I wonder why The Telegraph has a picture of her in a black suit when she was wearing a light cream jacket. Surely they could have wired a real photo back?)

Verity

September 4th, 2008 4:41am Report this comment

Obama's people have scoffed at her for having been "a hockey mom", and in her speech, she asked, "What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?

"Lipstick."

I think Obama will have a job recovering, because she nailed his vanity and vacuity. He'll have to pretend to take it in good part (but he won't take it lying down. Wait and see.)

She had some good lines and she delivered them well. And she was obviously speaking from the heart. Her family is very handsome, by the way. The girls are lovely, and the young man who's off to Iraq is very handsome.

She'll be a tough opponent in the VP debate, because she's fearless.

mac

September 4th, 2008 7:53am Report this comment

There are plenty of reports of the speech in the main British papers online, and here from H and V, yet nothing posted by Fraser. How come? Why's he there, then?

Separately, it's good having frequent short and topical posts daily here on Coffee House, but the time lag for comments to be posted rather dilutes the immediacy of it all. Why so slow?

Pete Hoskin

September 4th, 2008 8:10am Report this comment

mac: Fraser's report is on its way. And, as for comments, they all have to go through an approval process - so, if they're made during the night, then there's the chance that the moderators will be asleep, as I have been for the last few hours...