Palin

Students protest teen pregnancy talk

Dahlia Lithwick writes the best account I’ve read yet of what Sarah Palin is all about. I especially like this fragment: “…while it’s all well and good to be mavericky with one’s policies, it’s never smart to be mavericky with one’s message.”

 

In an op-ed in the FT a few days ago, James Carville argues that the Palin nom was a crucial misstep for the Republicans. He argues (correctly) that the one aspect of the GOP brand that the Dems have found impregnable was that they are the party of “American security” — the combination of national defence, foreign policy, and patriotism. McCain fits that bill, he claims, but the choice of Palin is a “gimmick” that risks gambling away the party’s surest advantage over Democrats.

Thomas Frank’s column in today’s WSJ does a good job of setting up my piece in the print edition of Maclean’s out tomorrow. Here’s Frank:

Andrew Coyne blogged last night that Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican Convention was the best bit of political theatre he’s witnessed in years. I’d have to agree. Her performance – and it did feel like a performance, complete with that awesome baby prop, handed from telegenic person to person – was pretty spectacular. She’s tough, she’s confident, and even her fiercest critics have had to agree she’s got buckets of charisma.

When I was working at BBC World Service in London, a British colleague once said the only thing you needed to know about covering American politics was that the coasts were blue (Democrat) and the interior was red (Republican). True, sort of, on an electoral map, but a ridiculous way to sum up the complexities of the country.