Thursday, September 04, 2008

Something from Nothing

bill rappleye

Fenway at Xcel

Drill baby, drill.  It seems like every convention comes up with a new chant.  Sometimes contrived, sometimes spontaneous.  The drill, baby, drill phrase appears to have been written to be mimicked.  But one that might have come from the screaming fans without a speechwriter’s contribution, is reminiscent of Fenway fans with their mocking lilt of the name of Yankee’s captain, Derek Jeter. Jee-der, jee-der…we’ve heard that echo through Fenway Park.  Last night it sounded familiar when the 45,000 delegates and guests began ringing the halls of the Xcel Center with Zee-roh, zee-roh.  As in, how much executive experience does Barack Obama have?  Zee-roh.  Zee-roh.

Electrifying

bill rappleye

Lighting up the Xcel

I was at Hillary’s speech in Denver, which was the best speech there.  I heard the longest ovation at the Pepsi Center as the crowd welcomed Bill Clinton.  Barack’s extravaganza at Invesco field was untoppable.  But for raw enthusiasm, Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech in St. Paul last night was far and away the most exciting of this convention season.  You’ve heard the phrase red meat, as in throwing out tasty phrases that the crowd eats up.  She delivered a banquet to this Republican crowd, hungry for a charismatic leader who sems like them.  Bragging about her family, proud of her small town, challenging the establishment press; there was much that this roaring crowd swallowed down whole.  And when she combined a swat at Michelle Obama with her own lifelong pride in America, the chants of U-S-A seemed like they’d been unwillingly stifled for ages.  Sarah Palin let this gang loose, and they felt their own power, and are ready to follow her and her running mate into battle: anywhere, anytime.

Wanna Fight?

bill rappleye

I’m here, what’s it to ya.

If you thought the new kid was going to quietly come onto the playground and try and fit in, you were wrong.  If you thought Sarah Palin was going to shy away from having a teenage daughter with child,  she sure smacked you down.  This lady was looking for a fight and she wanted everyone to know it.  Between ridiculing Obama for speaking differently in Scranton than he does in San Francisco and reminding him that being mayor is like being a community organizer, but with responsibility, this self-described pit bull with lipstick bared her fangs tonight.  This fighter showed her fierce love too, winning in one line, the votes of everybody who has a special needs child like she does.  She challenged the elite, left-wing media, and told them to keep their big city opinions to themselves.  She’s small town, and what’s it to you.  Small towns, she said, are where the people who grow our food, work in our factories, and fight in out wars live.  And they’ve always been proud to be Americans.  A lilne that brought the night’s biggest applause, and was an in your face slap at Michelle Obama’s famous quote about her husband’s campaign making her proud of America for the first time in her adult life.  Governor Palin brought it tonight, like a school girl meeting a rival in the parking lot.  Obama seeks the Presidency as a continuation of his journey of personal discovery.  Obama’s cloud of rhetoric will blow away, along with his Styrofoam Greek columns, and self-desinged Presidential seals.  She was dirt under your nails blue collar, versus book learned smooth talking lawyers.  She satisfied the men by displaying her loyalty.  First, to the high school sweetheart who, twenty years and five kids later is ‘still her guy.’  And then to the former POW hero candidate, who she idolized.  Family values, mean even a gun toting, corruption fighting hunter, is not going to upstage her male partner.  And watch out if you try to mess with her man. 

Of the speeches I saw in Denver, and so far here, this was the best received.  The audience most primed, the anticipation the highest, and the reception the most enthusiastic yet of the two weeks.  Maybe missing a day here wasn’t so bad.  And John McCain has a high bar to clear.