• Author unknown

  Bull, moose party in St. Paul

  http://www.readingeagle.com/blog.aspx?bid=2&id=17455&t=Bull-...
  126 days ago in Al's Blog · Authority: 4

  From a night of smears, lies, a Down syndrome baby used as a prop, and an ex-TV reporter anointed the "future of the GOP" because she could phonetically pronounce some countries' names off a teleprompter, some unforgettable moments: First, let's drop down the rabbit hole with the utterly surreal Mitt Romney, working up the crowd by telling them that Washington needs change because -- "It's liberal!": "Is a Supreme Court liberal or conservative that awards Guantanamo terrorists with Constitution rights? It's liberal!" (Right, Mitt, better oust those pinko rats Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and John Thomas.) "Is government spending -- excluding inflation -- liberal or conservative if it doubles since 1980? -- It's liberal!" (Since 1980, we've had two terms of Reagan, three terms of Bushes, and two terms of Clinton -- who balanced the budget.) "And I have one more recommendation for energy conservation -- let's keep Al Gore's private jet on the ground!" (While we're at it, let's conserve even more by grounding Cindy McCain's private jet.) Mike Huckabee juiced the crowd by saying Sarah Palin got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, than Joe Biden did running for president, which not surprisingly can't be found in his prepared remarks since he just pulled the numbers out of someone's rear end. (Biden received 63,157 votes 79,754 votes during the Democratic primaries; Wasilla's population is a mere 9,780 Palin received a total of 1,600 in two races for mayor. And in statewide races, Alaska vs. Delaware, Biden comes out ahead, too.) And then it was Giuliani time. His Nosferatu dentures jutting out in a frightening overbite, he mocked Obama's service as a community organizer -- ha! ha! ha! somebody working to help the poor folks, suckers! -- then grinned as the crowd rip-roared through chants of "Drill, baby, drill!", delighting them with the opportunity to replace a Texas oilman with an Alaskan oilwoman. Unfortunately, the Rudy show, however effective it may have been in belittling Obama's record, dragged on so long they had to yank the warm-and-fuzzy video intended to introduce America to its new sweetheart, Sarah Palin. (Afterward, America's mayor told MSNBC that Wasilla's mayor offers just the kind of executive experience that could come in handy for John McCain in the White House. Please.) As for the main event, did anyone really think that success was not preordained before this adoring crowd that's enraged at the media and that Palin's speech would not be wildly overpraised? Me, I did expect more. The big gag line from the best speechwriters the McCain campaign's money can buy was another slam at Obama's work as a community organizer, although, conveniently, we didn't hear a word about her far-right views that could alienate the center. Her delivery was confident and self-assured, but her squeaky tones and lip tics seemed more ripe for "Saturday Night Live" parody than convincing the country she's vice-presidential. For Pat Buchanan and the usual cheerleaders, McCain is a "maverick," Palin is a "reformer" and the GOP now is the party of CHANGE!!! In reality, since the McCain camp has kept Palin under warps since unwrapping her Friday, no one knows how she'll react when confronted with a question about policy -- or her own record -- whose answer has not been scripted. Or how she'll respond after the next shoe drops.

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