The Ashford Zone Blog

This is running in battleground states…

Whoa.  About time.

This is an ad making the Internet rounds (not an official Obama/Dem ad) focussing on Palin:

Michael, that is:

Pictured below: Governor Sarah Palin scrawls a scribble at how pleased she is to be getting earmark money….

From the New York Times, the number of utterances of key words at the conventions (click to enlarge):

Did you know that Sarah Palin founded a company called "Rouge Cru" — what she called a "classy" way to say redneck — in case her political career didn’t work out?

If you’re anti-elitist, why would you name a company "Rouge Cru" — which is (in case you didn’t know) French?

And what about this?

"Sarah Palin, a commercial fisherman from Wasilla, told her husband on Tuesday she was driving to Anchorage to shop at Costco. Instead, she headed straight for Ivana. And there, at J.C. Penney’s cosmetic department, was Ivana, the former Mrs. Donald Trump, sitting at a table next to a photograph of herself. She wore a light-colored pantsuit and pink fingernail polish. Her blonde hair was coiffed in a bouffant French twist. ‘We want to see Ivana,’ said Palin, who admittedly smells like salmon for a large part of the summer, ‘because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture.’"[Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), 4/3/96]

I guess she was for glamour and culture before she was against it.

ALSO:  The analysis by James Fallows of Palin’s speech is among the best I’ve read.

The Detroit Free Press conducted a focus group last night, and found that independents weren’t impressed at all. They were looking for reassurances about her ability to hold national office, and Palin didn’t deliver.

"Sarah Palin came across as the small town girl who made good. I knew that I disagreed with her on some issues before this evening. After listening to her speech … it appears that once she makes up her mind, that is the end of it. We live in a gray world, not every answer is black and white." — Diane Murphy, 42, Sterling Heights independent

"I was completely underwhelmed. She was a Republican novelty act with a sophomoric script. It was not even a speech I would expect for a someone running for the local PTA, much less for vice president." — George Lentz, 66, Southfield independent

"Who is Sarah Palin? I’m sorry but I still don’t know anymore about this young lady tonight than I did last night … The way it looks to me, she’s the Republican vice presidential nominee for one reason: because Hillary wasn’t selected." — Mike Kosh, 38, West Bloomfield independent

"Sarah Palin is a self-described ‘pitbull with lipstick.’ She spent little time helping Americans learn who she is. She is a cool, poised speaker, but her speech contained few statements about policy or the party platform…. I am not convinced that Palin’s experience as a mayor or governor in Alaska meet the qualifications to be vice president much less one stroke or heart attack away from being commander in chief." — Ilene Beninson, 52, Berkley independent

"Nothing worked for me. I found her barrage of snide remarksand distortions to be a major turn off. She is not a class act. The most important point she made is that she will be an effective attack dog." — Jan Wheelock, 58, Royal Oak independent

"Sarah got as much applause as Hillary did, and had a friendly, appealing appearance.
Her delivery style reminded me of a high school valedictorian who also might have been a cheerleader. I thought she would appear more professional, more stateswomanly. She’s no match for Joe Biden." — Joellen Gilchrist, 64, Beverly Hills independent

Focus groups of female undecideds in Nevada didn’t seem to like it either.

By the way, it’s been five days now and John McCain has not allowed his vice-presidential pick to be interviewed by the press even once.  So much for "transparency" and "reform" in a McCain Administration.

The more I think about it, the more I’m pissed at the mocking of "community organizers" within the speeches of Giuliani and Palin last night.

I’m not alone.

Chris Hayes:

But this kind of hits me where I live, since my dad is a community organizer, so lemme spell this out: the difference between a community organizer and a politician is that a community organizer can’t tell anyone what to do. They have to listen. So they can’t order books banned from a library to indulge their own religious sensibilities. They can’t fire someone because they didn’t follow orders to fire an estranged family member. They can’t ram through a $15 million dollar sports complex that leaves their local town groaning underneath the debt. Unlike politicians, they don’t have any power other than the power of people who want to see something changed.

Decades ago, before the ADA and a raft of other legislation, schools had essentially no requirements to provide decent education for special needs children. Then a movement of parents, engaging in – gasp – community organizing changed that. And they continue to fight day in and day out for educational equity for children like Sarah Palin’s.

Too bad Sarah Palin just spit in their faces.

Adam Serwer:

But as my friend Jay Smooth points out, community organizers aren’t just those rabble-rousers who help keep people from getting evicted or protest police brutality — they’re basically the ordinary people across the political spectrum who to try hold government accountable to its citizens. Mocking that really shows how much contempt the party has for ordinary people. Republicans look down their noses at alleged "elites" while directing their anger at community organizers, who actually live and work among the people politicians only pay attention to when they’re looking for votes. But it’s not surprising that a party that has spent the last eight years running government into the ground would be irritated by an active citizenry demanding that government actually do its job, rather than simply letting incompetent pols go about their business. If there’s any takeaway from this theme, it’s that the right would rather Americans shut up and fall in line.

Ezra Klein:

Look, let’s call a spade a spade: When Giuliani sneered about community organizers on the "South side" of Chicago, it’s pretty clear what he’s saying: Barack Obama spent his time rabble-rousing among black people. It’s no different then when the RNC called him a "street organizer." It’s fairly clear what they’re trying to evoke. No reason anyone should help them mask it. A community organizer can be a PTA member or a Christian Coalition lieutenant. But that’s really not what Palin and Giuliani are getting at. Obama organized poor black people. That’s change you can fear.

Indeed.  If I understand their ideology, Republicans are all about NOT having the government fix things, and having the people fix things.  Well, that’s what community organizers do.  That’s what Republicans used to be in favor of — remember "a thousand points of light?" 

UPDATE — QUOTE OF THE DAY: 

"Mrs. Palin needs to be reminded that Jesus Christ was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor."

Pretty good stuff.

The Obama campaign has attacked back on this as well:

I wasn’t planning on sending you something tonight. But if you saw what I saw from the Republican convention, you know that it demands a response.

I saw John McCain’s attack squad of negative, cynical politicians. They lied about Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and they attacked you for being a part of this campaign.

But worst of all — and this deserves to be noted — they insulted the very idea that ordinary people have a role to play in our political process.

You know that despite what John McCain and his attack squad say, everyday people have the power to build something extraordinary when we come together. Make a donation of $5 or more right now to remind them.

Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack’s experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed.

Let’s clarify something for them right now.

Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies.

And it’s no surprise that, after eight years of George Bush, millions of people have found that by coming together in their local communities they can change the course of history. That promise is what our campaign has been about from the beginning.

Throughout our history, ordinary people have made good on America’s promise by organizing for change from the bottom up. Community organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women’s suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. And it’s happening today in church basements and community centers and living rooms across America.

Meanwhile, we still haven’t gotten a single idea during the entire Republican convention about the economy and how to lift a middle class so harmed by the Bush-McCain policies.

It’s now clear that John McCain’s campaign has decided that desperate lies and personal attacks — on Barack Obama and on you — are the only way they can earn a third term for the Bush policies that McCain has supported more than 90 percent of the time.

And the common people retort:

FURTHER UPDATE:  It looks like McCain canceled a photo op with Habitat For Humanity today.  Probably didn’t want to get "community organizer" coodies.

James Wolcott:

It takes a real man to admit when he’s wrong, and I’m an approximation of a real man. I confess I didn’t think she was up to the challenge, but I underestimated her, she proved herself up to the task, so let me say in all crow-eating humility: Congratulations, Serena Williams!

But seriously, about Palin (Giuliani, too).  Three words:

Sarcastic

Condescending (Making fun of community organizers?  Really?)

Lies (i.e., she was against the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’)

All in all, Palin was Fargo meets Martha Stewart.  Red meat for Republicans, but I don’t think it will play well with middle-of-the-road undecideds, or ex-Hillary supporters.  Not uplifting, just nasty.  I mean, a few good lines against Obama are fine, but after a while it just got mean.

Interesting observation from 538.com:

I don’t think the Republicans are doing as good a job as the Democrats were doing about pairing their speeches to the strengths of the speaker. It’s as if they wrote seven or eight speeches, and drew lots to determine who would deliver which one. So you have Mitt Romney — one of the wealthiest men ever to run for office — critiquing east-coast elitism, and Mike Huckabee — who is an economic populist in disguise — critiquing big government, and Sarah Palin — who voters don’t know one iota about — critiquing Barack Obama’s biography.

Ezra Klein adds, "It’s amazing that Republicans are still pulling this ‘elitist Washington’ garbage when their candidate is an obscenely rich long-time Washington senator who doesn’t know how many houses he owns and wears $520 imported calf-skin loafers."

The Obama campaign responds to Tracy Flick‘s speech:

The speech that Governor Palin gave was well delivered, but it was written by George Bush’s speechwriter and sounds exactly like the same divisive, partisan attacks we’ve heard from George Bush for the last eight years.  If Governor Palin and John McCain want to define ‘change’ as voting with George Bush 90% of the time, that’s their choice, but we don’t think the American people are ready to take a 10% chance on change," said Bill Burton, Obama Campaign Spokesman.

One nice thing about Palin being a "powerhouse" — it means Joe Biden can take off the gloves for the VP debate.  She wants to take on the big boys?  Fine.  Here it comes, lady.

Conservative icon Peggy Noonan and McCain consultant Mike Murphy appeared with Chuck Todd on MSNBC this afternoon.  After the discussion, MSNBC cut to a commercial, but the mikes were left on.  And Murphy and Noonan talked about what they really thought of the Palin pick.

If you’re interested, the transcript …

Chuck Todd: Mike Murphy, lots of free advice, we’ll see if Steve Schmidt and the boys were watching. We’ll find out on your blackberry. Tonight voters will get their chance to hear from Sarah Palin and she will get the chance to show voters she’s the right woman for the job Up next, one man who’s already convinced and he’ll us why Gov. Jon Huntsman.

(cut away)

Peggy Noonan: Yeah.

Mike Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. I mean, these guys — this is how you win a Texas race, just run it up. And it’s not gonna work. And —

PN: It’s over.

MM: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

CT: I also think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too.

PN: Saw Kay this morning.

CT: Yeah, she’s never looked comfortable about this —

MM: They’re all bummed out.

CT: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

PN: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this — excuse me– political bullshit about narratives —

CT: Yeah they went to a narrative.

MM: I totally agree.

PN: Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.

MM: You know what’s really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.

CT: This is cynical, and as you called it, gimmicky.

MM: Yeah.

While I agree that the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s 17 year old daughter should be off limits** as a political matter, I have one question:

Can you imagine the outcry/haranguing/jokes from the right if Obama had a 17 year old out-of-wedlock pregnant daughter?

My God, you would never hear the end of it….

Come to think of it, what would the GOP be saying if Obama (or Biden) had been a member of a secessionist political party?

* "It’s okay if you’re a Republican"

** Except as it relates to Palin’s abstience-only position on sex education, and how that position is a failure

A major excerpt:

One of the great sights of American political life — a YouTube moment if ever there was one — was to see the doughboy face of Newt Gingrich as he extolled the virtues of Sarah Palin, a sitcom of a vice presidential choice and a disaster movie if she moves up to the presidency: "She’s the first journalist ever to be nominated, I think, for the president or vice president, and she was a sportscaster on local television," Gingrich said on the "Today" show. "So she has a lot of interesting background. And she has a lot of experience. Remember that, when people worry about how inexperienced she is, for two years she’s been in charge of the Alaska National Guard."

It’s a pity Gingrich was not around when the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known by his nickname Caligula, reputedly named Incitatus as a consul and a priest. Incitatus was his horse.

John McCain’s selection of Palin, which I first viewed with horror, could now be seen in a different light. Based on various television interviews over the Labor Day weekend — and a careful reading of the transcripts — it is possible that this is McCain’s attempt to make fools of his fellow Republicans. He has succeeded beyond all expectations.

Gingrich’s point about Palin being commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard has been echoed throughout the GOP. In fact, even Cindy McCain pointed out — rightly enough — that Alaska is across the Bering Strait from Russia and so Palin, by deduction, has been on the front lines of the Cold War . . . had it not ended in 1989.

Still, you have to admit that in all that time, especially since Palin became governor about two years ago, no Russian invasion force has come across the strait, maybe because she was in charge of the Guard, maybe because she herself is a hunter and an athlete. The record is unclear because no high-ranking Russian appeared on any of the weekend talk shows to say how they had considered an invasion of Alaska and then backed off when Sarah Palin became commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard. Who could blame them?

Just to show that he would not ask of others what he would not do himself, McCain came before Chris Wallace to sing Palin’s praises. He said that he had "watched her record . . . for many, many years" which is, a prudent man might say, more years than she’s had a record. McCain, as a fellow military man, did not mention Palin’s tenure as the supreme commander of the entire Alaska National Guard, maybe because he thought it speaks for itself. If that’s the case, he’s right.

By the way, a resident of Wasilla (and a friend of the Palin family) writes a balanced (but mostly negative) summary of Palin and Palin’s politics.  Good reading.

Okay, the post below was a joke.

But this isn’t.

It seems that McCain’s VP pick was a member of the Alaska Independence Party, a fringe political party which questions the wisdom of Alaska’s statehood.  ABC has the story:

The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., likes to herald the independence of its new running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which, since the 1970s, has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.

And while McCain’s motto — as seen in a new TV ad — is "Country First," the AIP’s motto is the exact opposite — "Alaska First — Alaska Always."

Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.

"We are a state’s rights party," says Clark, a self-employed goldminer. The AIP has "a plank that challenges the legality of the Alaskan statehood vote as illegal and in violation of United Nations charter and international law."

She says it’s not accurate to describe the party as secessionist — they just want a vote, she says, adding that the members of the AIP hold different opinions on what Alaska should be.

"My own separate opinion as an individual is that we should be an independent nation," Clark says. Others in the AIP "believe that being a commonwealth would be a good avenue to follow." Some advocate statehood — but a fuller statehood than exists now.

She doesn’t know what Palin’s position was.

It seems to me this is the kind of thing McCain should have figured before he made his pick.  It looks like, according to news reports, McCain’s team is doing the vetting now, rather that before.

What does this say about the impulsiveness and judgment of McCain?  Nothing good, I assure you.

ALSO……

Four polls taken post-Democrat convention, and encompassing the couple of days since the Palin announcement:

Great….

Here’s McCain’s selection for the Vice Presidency of the United States, Sarah Palin, answering a 2006 policy questionnaire:

Q: Are you offended by the phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

PALIN: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance

Okay, first of all, the Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892, three or four generations after that of our founding fathers.

It didn’t become the official pledge of the United States until 1942 (six years after John McCain himself was born).

And when it was written, it didn’t contain the words "under God".  That was added in 1954 by an act of Congress (McCain was a senior in high school).