Florida: Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Much has been made of what a difference Sarah Palin has made to the Republican ticket. Her selection, they say, found white folks, especially female white folks, flocking to her like lemmings to a cliff.

But now it seems that that old saw is true. Familiarity breeds contempt.

Rather than driving folks towards McCain, Sarah is driving them away. That, at least, is what an informal study done by the St. Petersburg Times discovered. That's St. Petersburg, Florida; one of the states McCain has to win to keep the Bush party in power.

Looks like the Republicans should have kept Palin under wraps just a little bit longer.




From the St. Petersburg Times:

ST. PETERSBURG — Five weeks ago, the St. Petersburg Times convened a group of Tampa Bay voters who were undecided about the presidential election. Their strong distrust of Barack Obama suggested it was a group ripe for John McCain to win over.

Not anymore. The group has swung dramatically, if unenthusiastically, toward Democrat Obama. Most of them this week cited the same reason: Sarah Palin.

"The one thing that frightens me more than anything else are the ideologues. We've seen too many," said 80-year-old Air Force veteran Donn Spegal, a lifelong Republican from St. Petersburg, who sees McCain's new running mate as the kind of "wedge issue" social conservative that has made him disenchanted with his party.

"I'm truly offended by Palin,'' said Republican Philinia Lehr, 37, of Largo, a full-time mother with a nursing degree who voted for George Bush in 2004. Like Palin, she has five children and she doesn't buy that the Alaska governor can adequately balance her family and the vice presidency.

"You're somebody's mom and what are you going to do, say, 'Excuse me, country, hold on?' … She's preaching that she's this mom of the year and taking that poor little baby all over everywhere. And, you know, what she's doing to her 17-year-old daughter is just appalling.'' Lehr said she's bothered by the way Palin's pregnant daughter has been brought into the national spotlight.

Of the 11 undecided voters participating in the discussion one recent evening at the Times — four Republicans, five Democrats, and two registered to no party — only two Republican men applauded the selection of Palin.

Nobody had finalized a choice, but seven of the panelists said that McCain's running mate selection had made them more likely to vote for Obama, and in several cases much more likely.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Hmmm . . . Even her Fans Have Questions About Her

Here's an interesting item from an op-ed piece in today's New York Time's. Turns out Republicans like Sarah for her personal qualities, but not much else. Hard to see anything here that commends her for national office.

From the New York Times by Charles M. Blow:

In a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted this week 77 percent of Republicans said that they had a favorable opinion of Palin. But when asked what specifically they liked about her, their top five reasons were that she was honest, tough, caring, outspoken and fresh-faced. Sounds like a talk-show host, not a vice president. (By the way, her intelligence was in a three-way tie for eighth place, right behind “I just like her.”)

When those Republicans were asked what they liked least about her, they started to sound more like everyone else. Aside from those who said that there was nothing they didn’t like, next on the list were: her lack of experience, her record as governor and her lack of foreign-policy experience.

FULL PIECE: Lipstick Bungle

The Sarah Palin Effect Effects What?

It's been interesting watching the networks fall over themselves hunting for formerly Democratic white women who are so infatuated with Sarah Palin and angry with Obama for not choosing Clinton that it proves the power of the "Sarah Palin Effect." I saw one they interviewed at a Palin rally this past weekend who claimed to have been a former Democrat, only to throw that into question when she admitted she has never been very political.

The fact that the press has to look so hard to find these people makes one wonder how effective the Palin effect is. From what I've been reading it's had the opposite effect on many women who are appalled by what Palin stands for. The fact that she is also ill prepared for the position, almost embarrassingly so, hardly sells her to Clintonites. There's far too much to swallow here for whatever disappointment they may still feel over Clinton's loss to translate into a vote for McCain. The point is, most intelligent, reasonably well-read women, which is the vast majority of them (as opposed to men, where the "reasonably well-read" part would have to be modified), are not taken in by Sarah Palin. My wife, who fits this categorization, is certainly not alone in being able to spot a phony a mile away.

Let me go out on a limb and make a prediction here. The Palin effect will not be very effective come election time, especially as we find her continuing to stonewall the press as she repeats the same memorized lines over and over and over again. She will, in fact, become an irritant to many people, reminding them (as she reminds me) of that former cheerleader, student council president, miss straight A'ed, perfect toothed, goody two shoes who made high school such a hell for so many people. (She is irritating that way, don't you think?) The effect in this case will be to push more people into the Obama/Biden camp. And the Democrats will win the election. By how much I'm not certain. But they will win.

After the electionSarah will go back to Alaska, but having made so many enemies by lying about the bridge and sending high power Washington lawyers up to smear the reputation of the former police chief and state senators, she will be voted out of office. Finding this door closed and the "not welcome" sign out for the Wasilla mayor's position, she will move with her family to Washington to work as a high power lobbiest for the NRA.

Just see if I'm not right . . .

Trooper Gate: the Plot Thickens

Here's a contrast worth noting. First is an excerpt from a piece from Reuters News Service announcing the (surprise, surprise) attempt on the part of Republicans to stop the "trooper gate" investigation of Sarah Palin . Immediately following is an excerpt from a piece written by an Alaskan politician ruminating on how the insertion of national politics into the investigation (by the Republicans) introduced a brand of politics Alaskans are unused to.

Make note of the fact that up to this point Palin has only known Alaskan politics.

First the piece from Reuters:

Alaska Republicans sue to stop Palin trooper probe

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Five Republican state legislators filed a lawsuit in Alaska state court on Tuesday seeking to block Democrats from investigating whether vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in firing a state trooper feuding with her family. (full story)

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Karl Rove Comes to Alaska

Now an excerpt the piece from the Alaskan politician named Les Gara (from Mudflats), filed under the headline: "Karl Rove Comes to Alaska" last week (before the Republicans invented their fiction about Democratic control of the process):

To get their way, and prevent sworn testimony from leaking out on what I suspect was probably a minor breach by Governor Palin, McCain’s operatives have come to Alaska to add invective in a state where people generally get along. They’ve chosen to vilify: 1) one of the state’s most respected public officials, Senator Hollis French; 2) the state’s most respected law enforcement official, Walt Monegan; and 3) a highly respected former DA and Victims Rights advocate a legislative committee voted 12 - 0 to hire to conduct the investigation, Steve Branchflower.

It’s the ghost of Karl Rove. Say something untrue enough times - like that Al Qaida is training with Saddam

Hussein’s help - and people will believe it. Not this time. I’m not sure if I mentioned a few important facts.

Did I mention that no one ever attacked the Troopergate investigation by Alaska’s Legislature - started long before Governor Palin was placed on McCain’s ticket - until August 29? That was the day Governor Palin joined the McCain bid for the White House.

Did I mention that before the McCain camp got involved, the Governor stated

of the Legislative investigation: “That being the route they choose, so be it. I’m happy to comply, to cooperate.” (KTUU.com, July 24, 2008). She repeatedly stated she’d comply, and that it was the right thing to do.

Did I mention the personal attacks against our local public officials only started after Sen. McCain sent his flacks up to our small state on August 29? They came with a mission to make America believe a Republican-initiated investigation, started with a unanimous committee vote of 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats, was a “partisan” plot. That’s only a tough sell if people know the facts.

Did I mention they now claim the Legislature cannot legally proceed with an investigation into government misconduct (I thought Republicans didn’t like attorneys who made frivolous arguments), and that they are threatening to to go to court to stop it? The Governor’s attorneys started writing those letters on - you guessed it - August 29. Before then they agreed the investigation was proper.

Oh, and what about this. Last week the McCain camp put our Governor in a bizarre position. They told her to file an ethics complaint against herself! Yup, again after her VP nomination. Too weird? What’s behind this move? You guessed it. Lawyers. (FULL STORY)

* * *

And now, as Paul Harvey says, here's the rest of the story. (the latest from AKMuckraker at Mudflats):

Blizzard Warning. Palin Halts Traffic.

16 09 2008

STORM WARNING! The legal paperwork blizzard has arrived. Today we are expecting accumulations of 10-12″ of legal stall tactics, creating hazardous conditions for those trying to navigate through the Palin scandal we have come to know as “Troopergate”. So, before proceeding, make sure you’ve got your studded tires on, and a good shovel. Ready?

Today, five Republican lawmakers filed a lawsuit against not only Democratic Sen. Hollis French, who is overseeing the investigation; not only Juneau Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, who heads the Legislative Council, and not only independent investigator Steve Branchflower, but the bipartisan Legislative Council itself. The suit seeks to delay the infamous ethics investigation until after the election on November 4, or to remove French and Elton.

FULL STORY HERE