As discussed yesterday, and continued a bit elsewhere today, I didn't think that John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin was necessarily a great choice, but an understandable sop to the social conservatives of his party. I resigned myself to grudgingly cast my vote for McCain despite his VP.
I caught a bit of the end of Mitt Romney's speech this evening from work, and thought this guy's positioning himself to be the next traditional Republican candidate in 2012, with a lame run-down of all the standard talking points and using the term "liberal" as an insult in and of itself (no need to justify why "liberal" is a bad thing, after all, any God-fearing, America-loving, French-hating patriot just knows in his bones that this is so!)
Then later I caught most of Rudy Giuliani's speech, which was delivered much more engagingly and with humor, but was just kind of mean. Oh, and somebody please tell this man that while national security is important, and 9/11 was a tragedy, there are many other important issues as well and it's time to move forward.
Then I watched Sarah Palin speak.
Wow.
Just... Wow.
Granted, expectations were set a bit low -- she benefits from some of that "misunderestimation" I mentioned in my last post. From the few public remarks of hers that I'd seen, I was concerned that she would come off as being way out of her depth in the political arena.
I figured she'd either have the deer-in-the-headlights thing going on, or else fall into the creepy Stepford Wife category that so many Republican political spouses have perfected.
Hot damn, was I wrong. To quote Michael Palin (whom I referenced earlier): "The little wascal has spiwit... bwavado... a touch of dewwing-do!"
She has humor, and grace, and genuine down-home likeability. And she's not afraid to go after the other team, but not in a mean-spirited way to pick on her opponents (like Romney and Giuliani did). She comes off more as a mama bear -- you poke her with a stick, she'll fight back and tell you what's what.
I'm starting to actually love this choice. And I think that McCain is now at least partially vindicated for his decision -- you could sense the relief in his voice at the end when he came on to the stage and said something to the effect of (I don't have the actual transcript available): "Aren't you glad she was our choice for VP?"
I still don't think she was the best available choice.
I still don't think I would have picked her if I was in McCain's position.
But he clearly was not insane for selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate, as some across the country have suggested.
He made a bold, risky move -- a maneuver befitting a fighter pilot (excuse me, "Naval Aviator") -- and I think it might just pay off after all.
Granted, she hasn't yet had to withstand the direct media onslaught on the campaign trail, so she could still fold up under that pressure. But she clearly is not just fundamentalist arm candy. I'm genuinely excited (and significantly more optimistic) to see how she does over the next couple of weeks.
Hell, I might even throw a few bucks their way now. Enthusiastically. Which is something I would not have said a week ago.
John McCain, you sly son of a bitch... you give me hope again.
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