Thursday, November 13, 2008

Sarah Palin's Magic...

Considering all of the Palin bashing going on out there, I was surprised when I headed to one of my local news websites and found this article, Palin's Magic written on Politico by George Rasley.

I've actually witnessed how some reacted to her:
These unscripted, spontaneous greeters offered a unique insight into Palin’s appeal as a vice presidential candidate and a sad commentary on an opportunity missed by the McCain-Palin campaign. There were rarely any of the hale-fellow-well-met businesspeople and ladies with rhinestone elephant pins that make up the crowd at most Republican events. Instead there were people in well-worn work clothes; the clean Carhart jackets and jeans or logo-embroidered shirts that guys wear when they come to give you an estimate for a new furnace or wait on you at the local computer shop. And they brought their children, especially their daughters and their children with disabilities, to see the candidate they called “Sarah.”

“I want my daughter to have a picture with Sarah,” said one fellow with collar-length salt-and-pepper hair under his faded POW-MIA ball cap. “I want her to see that a small-town girl can do anything she wants.” Why not take your daughter to the rally to hear Palin speak? “I don’t know anything about a rally; we’re not involved in politics in our family,” was the answer.

Do a few loading dock conversations with onlookers and supporters trump a national campaign’s expensive polling and focus groups? Probably not. But it shouldn’t take a poll or a focus group to tell national Republican leaders that, now that the campaign is over, Palin's is the one authentic voice that can make those voters who “aren’t involved in politics” — but who care deeply about issues affecting small businesses, children and families — appear again, as if by magic.

Maybe that is part of the disconnect, Palin was to them not one of elite that they are tired of...I personally saw the same reaction to Palin that Clinton created, families, mothers taking their daughters, fathers taking their daughters. Generations of women, who don't read blogs and probably don't watch the political pundits tell them why either woman was not worthy of their support.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I experienced the same at two rallies that I went to. She inspired me for many of the same reasons that Clinton inspired me. They may not agree on policy issues, but they both had a charisma that reached out to the common man and woman and made the feel like this was worth getting involved in.

Other bloggers have attacked Palin for not really caring about special needs children or have attacked her plan as if she were not serious about helping them. That has disgusted me. She stopped and spoke and hugged every child with special needs at both rallies I attended. She surrounded herself with them because they are important to her. It makes me angry to see other people question those motives.

Anonymous said...

From Engineer of Knowledge
Hello All,
Being an active Republican here in the 1st District of Maryland I have been a fan of McCain long before the 2000 Presidential Run. I am more in the line of Teddy Roosevelt of being a social moderate and a financial conservative. He spoke to more of my viewpoints than Bush ever did. I have always seen Bush as, “All Flash/No Substance.” This does not mean that he did not have convictions; they were just distorted and bent with no relation to reality. So in retrospect, these last eight years have been a big disappointment for me and my viewpoint of what I want my Republican Party to represent.

After McCain had won some primaries going into South Carolina, the Lee Atwater / Karl Rowe “Smear and Innuendo Swift Boating” of him did him in then, I was willing again to give him support even though he was now eight years older.

During the 2006 elections, I had the opportunity of a “One on One” to voice my concerns with Jack Kemp that our nation’s dept was getting too large that was going to bring our economy down. The “I told you so” aspect is not going to help us now is it?

Now back on topic. As a father of two daughters, I am very pro-active in teaching my daughters that they can accomplish and do anything they set their goals on. Of course, I pro-actively work for them to push down barriers when someone tries to automatically put them up as a knee jerk reaction of, “Well girls don’t normally do that kind of stuff.”

This being said, the Sarah Palin choice for VP was a deal breaker for me. Not because she was a woman but the extreme religious right viewpoints she had do not speak for me in any way, shape, or form. The thought that she would be just a heart beat from McCain’s old heart was just too much for me.

Given the choice of Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin, Hillary has my vote from the start. I should also add that the current attacks on Sarah Palin by the Extreme Conservative Right saying that she cost them the election because she was so uneducated is very wrong and needs to be stopped now.

In sumation, I was glad to be able to point out to my daughters that should they choose to be, they too could become President someday. The first woman President of the United States is just a matter of time that is not too far off. I just hope it is not Sarah. :-)

Unknown said...

The Blade's Jack Kelly penned, Palin for President it was one of the top stories read online yesterday.

Robin said...

As the mother of a special needs child, I questioned Sarah Palin's convictions to help special needs children. (I questions everyone's motive who claim to want to be an advocate for families, we get too many carrots dangled in front of us and too many disappointments as results). Just because she isn't the VP won't stop her from helping children if her convictions were true.