Miscalculations

After listening to the Left for the last few days, you would have expected Sarah Palin's speech would make George W. Bush seem eloquent. That isn't what happened. She made a great speech. The crowd loved her and even the AP admitted that it was a "star-turning performance."

If the Democrats were surprised they have only themselves to blame. They have spent so much time belittling Governor Palin as the mayor of a small town that they overlooked her very real accomplishments. She defeated an incumbent Republican governor in the primary then defeated a former governor in the general election and went on to become a popular governor herself. This takes political skill. I'm betting that this is what made McCain put her on the ticket.

Keep in mind that the real job of the number two person on the ticket is to get the number one person elected. Sarah's first task was to present herself as a credible candidate. She did this very well, coming off far more presidential than Biden. I can see her running for president herself in four or eight years.

The Democrats should be worried about the vice-presidential debate. Biden is known for talking too much.

The Democrats have made other miscalculations in the past few days. They assumed that an unknown must have some disqualifying secrets in her background so they spent a lot of effort trying to find something. In the process they aired everything possible, no matter how irrelevant. Possibly the worst was posting a photograph of Sarah in college waring a tee shirt that said, "I may be flat broke but at least I'm not flat-chested!"

After these attacks, any doubts that Republicans had about Sarah were dismissed. They are far more supportive of McCain and Palin than they were of McCain by himself.

This push-back may spread to the general public. The press is getting stories from the DailyKOS and Huffington. Eventually the number of unfair attack will produce a sympathy for Sarah.

Update: according to the 9/4/8 Rasmussen Daily Polls, people think that the press has gone too hard on Sarah by a 10-1 margin.

The Democrats made one other miscalculation over the weekend - Hurricane Gustav. They were laughing over the prospect of a hurricane hitting New Orleans during the Republican convention. "This proves that there is a God," Michael Moore said.

I wonder if they are still laughing? New Orleans is still standing. FEMA is functional. Everything went as well as it possibly could have given that a major storm hit our coast.

Instead of reminding people about their outrage three years ago, Gustav has shown how much the government's response has improved. It also showcased the new Republican governor of Louisiana.

Update: Governor Jindal is now being talked about as a future presidential candidate.

It may prove that there is a god but it doesn't prove which side he is on.