BlogHer - RNC Liveblogging: Gov. Sarah Palin's Acceptance Speech! - Comments

What the...?! KATHERINE!

miteegirl — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:45:07 -0500

What the...?! KATHERINE! Have you listened to your own Republicans at ALL?

Rove belittled Kaine for the size of the town that HE was mayor of and linked that to his opinion that Kaine's experience in such a small town and his limited experience as a governor (only 3 years) didn't make him qualified to be on the VP shortlist.

Please, really, please explain the difference to me. I'm dying to know.

(EDITED: Still waiting, Katherine!)

We're just passionate I guess - that's a good thing!

zenseeker — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:17:49 -0500

Oh, no need for apologies. This is the conversation. It's like
talking with sisters. We've all got our opinions. We're all
individuals. AND we are all very passionate! I got caught up in the
frenzy myself.

And, thanks, but I'm not looking for any sympathy
for our present situation. That wasn't the point. Although prayers
and good karma are always welcome. The thing is, a shift occurred
within me. Don't ask me when or how, but I just started looking at
things differently. I started thinking, damn, we're handling this.
Instead of looking at what I didn't have, I got grateful for what I
did. I realized things could get a lot worse (and already have for a
lot of people). Like my sister-in-law and I joke about (though in a
way we're dead serious), this is just dress rehearsal, just marathon
training. Just in case it DOES get worse, we'll be ready.

But
that's off topic. NPR is having a pretty nice afternoon with different
speakers. They're calmer than the media on TV. I think I'm actually
learning stuff. MSNBC, CNN and Fox are beginning to really scare me.

Now everyone spread some good karma amongst yourselves. At the end of the day, tired as it sounds, we're all in this together.

Palin's speech

lisnin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:01:47 -0500

Hello to all, I'm new and glad to be a part. The speech hmmm, predictable. Well scripted, delivered spot on...Now what? This entire convention has surprised me, first with it's lack of diversity (sea of clones?) but secondly with it's overall mean spiritedness: Romney and his tirade about the liberals and evil, innuendoes to Obama's "followers" and is "parting of the seas and healing of the planet" , Hollywood celebrities, what the heck was all that! Talk about elite, are small town, po folk the only true americans? What about inner city po' folk? Why is her story any more a compelling american story than Obama's, Bidens or McCain's , what is so special? "She decided to keep a down's syndrome baby" ok I know mom's who've adopted down's syndrome babies. I'm tired of the smoke and mirrors to detract from the real issues of our nation. She was aligned to give a barbing, divisive speech and she succeeded. Where was the substance of any of those deriding speeches. Let's compare: She has executive experience, Obama does not - News flash, neither does McCain! Obama is a Harvard law graduate and was president of the Harvard law review let's not overlook that. The truth is Obama is not the first candidate to run for president with w/o "executive " experience, but he like others before him saw the urgent need for change and decided to put his bid in to be the comander in chief to lead that change rather than wait, just as Sarah Palin felt the need to accept the nomination to despite her political limitations - kudoes to both!!! We have a great presidential race ahead of us lets quit the mud slinging, lay aside the smoke and mirrors, get to the true issues and celebrate the democratic nation we are so blessed to live in!

SNL

Laracolvin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:59:59 -0500

Lauri, I totally agree with you. I actually said to my husband, "is this real or a Saturday Night Live skit?". The speech and lack of integrity in it was surreal.

Notions of Identity

I was disappointed with the speech

MomToBeDepot — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:21:29 -0500

I love the dialogue so far! After the speech was over, I was bewildered by the media's take on how it went. "She hit it out of the ballpark!" "It was extremely well written and well delivered!" "She's the pitbull the Republican party needs" etc. etc. I couldn't believe my ears. I wondered if I had watched the same speech they had!!

I thought the speech was not at all well written. It was totally predictable. I had an outline in my head about what points she was going to hit on and she did! With one exception -- she had way more 'jabs' at Obama than I thought she'd use. Sure its one thing to come on the offensive and go after your opponent. But it's another to use a bunch of 1 liners that made me think she was on the Jay Leno show doing stand-up comedy! It was unnerving to me. I thought hey - I'm an independent - i watched the DNC speeches and I will watch the RNC speeches and then make a choice. I really wanted to be impressed by both parties. Instead I was totally dismayed with Palin. I coudn't rally behind someone like her and I didn't feel proud to be an American when she was done speaking. I was totally let down. Do we want a lipstick pitbull (aka bully) in the white house? She's tough as nails. Great! But she's not a leader in my book.

Lauri Harrison

totally adorable!

Suzanne Reisman — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:11:10 -0500

I could not agree with you more!

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Oth

Did you like the video of little girl spit-shining baby's hair?

Catherine Morgan — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:52:51 -0500

But...What did you think of the video of Palin's daughter spit-shining her baby sister's hair. It was cute right? :-)

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
at Catherine-Morgan.com, The Political Voices of Women, Care2 Election

Chicago vs. Wasilla

katstone — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:44:35 -0500

I don't think it was mean-spirited or racist. The truth is, there are a lot of people out there in the "fly-over" states who are tired of having their work and lives and opinions diminished. There are millions of people who cheered those comments, because they feel that the people in the big cities look down on them. It was Obama's campaign's own fault -- they brought it on themselves by belittling Sarah's work as a mayor of a town of 9.000 in the first place. How many times did the Dems point that out in the last few days in the media? The mayor of Wasilla, a town of 9,000. The mayor of Wasilla, a town of 9,000. Why on earth are the people of a town of 9.000 in Alaska less important than people in a community in Chicago? What about all the Dems talking about how she went to the University of Idaho instead of Harvard? What?! I didn't know you had to go to an Ivy League school to make a difference in the world. I really don't get it. I just don't.

There are a lot of people who believe that Obama has very little experience, and hasn't done much at all in Illinois or in the Senate. That's a fact. There are just as many people who think Obama's accomplishments are amazing and inspiring and that he should be president. I think both sides are completely defendable. Raising objections to his resume and his actions are not racist.

Katherine Stone

Well, if you want to do tit

miteegirl — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:41:23 -0500

Well, if you want to do tit for tat.

Rove built THAT glass house when gave it first.

To both the Republicans AND the future Repub VP pick:

"With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for
three years, he's been able but undistinguished," Rove said. "I don't
think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done.
He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America."

Rove continued: "So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be
an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I'm really
not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of
being president of the United States? What I'm concerned about is, can
he bring me the electoral votes of the state of Virginia, the 13
electoral votes in Virginia?'"

So, claiming the moral high ground will not work in these circumstances.

I think Sarah gave it back

katstone — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:27:52 -0500

I think Sarah gave it back just as good as she got it. If you think she was rude and disrespectful, then you must think the same thing of the Obama/Biden ticket, who put out messages about her being the mayor of a small town in Alaska and completely left out her position as governor of a state. They were snarky, and she gave them back snarky, plus one. Good for her.

Katherine Stone

travel

Mata H — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:27:25 -0500

I'd rather have a VP who had some clue about the world outside of the US. Going to Canada once is not enough. Living a bomb away from Russia is not enough. My concern is that she is provincial. This is not the person I want a heart-attack away from an elderly president. Male or female, she is no match for either of the Democratic candidates.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Am I the only one?

Mata H — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:23:49 -0500

It seems to me in Rudy's and Sarah's remarks that they both played the race card in a back-handed way. I kept waiting for them to cal Barack "an uppity Nword". There was this snarky undertone that translated out as "he doesn't know his place". It just seemed like the old poisoned apple in different basket. I tried to shake off that thought, but every time they degraded him, it came back --- because they were not only deceitful about his positions, but mean-spirited about his skills and character in a very arrogant way --- portraying him as effete and phony for one. I almost fell off my chair when Rudy did that scornful and mocking shtick about the Republican ticket "not being cosmopollllllllllllitan enough". This was mean-spiritedness, and racism, brought to a whole new level. Am I the only one who feels that?

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Apology accepted

Laracolvin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:02:53 -0500

Thanks for expanding, Zenseeker. I'm sorry if I sounded so defensive. I just can't get past how much is at stake in this election, and I am known to be a little blunt when I feel insulted.

I do want to clarify something. You say this:

And maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but if we've got our health
and the health of our families, we've got shelter from the elements,
our lives and our humanity, what more do we really need?

My point, which I think may not have been clear, was that many are in danger of losing these basic necessities. That we've pared down and sacrificed and sacrificed and sacrificed so much that now these are at stake. I'm not willing to sacrifice my child's health, and I bet you aren't either, for twisted ideology and a pathway that we know isn't one that will make anyone but the most privileged among us healthy and secure.

Just wanted to clear that up because after re-reading my comment, I understand what I meant wasn't clear.

And yes, let's start talking about what we are going to do (which is what a lot of us here have been trying to get back to and are getting trumped by the words "mother" and "gender" and "sexism". I agree with you completely on that.

Again, sorry I was so defensive. I'm getting pretty sick over the turn this election has taken and the nuances that are becoming scarier and scarier.

Lara

Notions of Identity

You're right Zen Seeker

Mom to Gio — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:59:36 -0500

You were right, there was blood in the water and it seemed like a feeding frenzy.

Wow, you're going through a lot. I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers and hope that you'll find a smoother road soon.

We do need to talk about issues, and I'm sick to my stomach about how SP came out last night as a "pit bull" her own words. I think most Americans are sick of the divisive politics where people's emotions are inflamed and they try to use wedge issues to divide us.

We have too many issues to solve. And we've seen from the last 8 years, that we can't do it by pitting folks against each other. How about working TOGETHER?

How about listening and respecting other people's point of view?

I for one am angry that SP and JM are trying once again to rip America apart just to stay in power.

Country first? I don't buy it for a minute.

I appreciate BO and JB taking the high road and working to bring Americans together so that we all benefit, and we are tolerant of each other's rights.

Sorry I offended you Lara

zenseeker — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:39:22 -0500

I did say I was sorry if I offended anyone or everyone. But here's
the deal. I AM one of those "invisible" people. Yeah, we've pared
down to just about nothing. And I do ask myself everyday, where else
can I tighten our belts. I'm unemployed going on 3 years now in Ohio.
Our income has been slashed in half. It was never that much, even with
me working. My husband is a government drone just trying to make it to
retirement (which keeps getting pushed farther out). I might get a web
design job here and there for a hundred or so dollars. Haven't had one
in about 3 or 4 months now. But I keep working at ideas. I don't give
up. I keep Hope alive. It justifies the price of internet. There's
no huge nest egg waiting either. We didn't give up the car by choice.
We couldn't afford it. We're not living the high life in a
metropolitan hub. We live just close enough to get public
transportation for my husband. We've situated ourselves so that we can
bike or walk to wherever we need to get to regularly (grocery, drug
store, library, doctor). When we absolutely need a car, we rent one
for the weekend (50% off deals). We live in a neighborhood where I see
more and more families doubling up in 2 bedroom duplexes. Yeah, we're
right in the thick of it. And I'm not complaining. I figure the less
you have, the less you stand to lose. I’ve embraced the law of Simple
Abundance. When you are grateful for what you have, you’ll be blessed
with all you need. It seems to be working.

And maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but if we've got our health
and the health of our families, we've got shelter from the elements,
our lives and our humanity, what more do we really need?

Now perhaps you missinterpreted that I'm a McCain/Palin supporter.
Nothing could be further from the truth. I pray Obama/Biden see this
thing through. I believe in grassroots efforts. I believe in starting
from the bottom up. I believe in the power of each individual. I
believe that Hope is not a bad word. But if we get the alternative,
I'm not giving up. And I don't think any of us will. I just think we
can be more constructive here on a site like this. It shouldn't be all
about he said, she said, who's right, who's wrong. I think it should
be about discussing what are WE going to do, or try to do, to get us
out of this mess. It was just my opinion. It felt like I'd walked
into a cat fight. And I know there is far more intelligence on this
site. I've been dropping by here since they started out. We need the conversation, of course. But I swear I saw claws.

RNC Liveblogging: Gov. Sarah Palin's Acceptance Speech!

American Princess — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:59:09 -0500

Please join me tonight as I liveblog Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin's acceptance speech as well as speeches by Cindy McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and possibly Rudy Giuliani (no one knows and no one will tell me). You can view more information on tonight's lineup at the RNC's web site.

Image credit: news.bbc.co.uk