If you found Palin's relentless folksiness during last night's VP debate more than a bit mawkish, get your barf bag ready before reading this quote from Rich Lowry at The Corner:
"I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it."
"I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it."
Sorry man,
I didn't see the debate, but I saw her convention speech. She is fun to watch and fun to listen to. She is so obviously enjoying herself that it is contagious. Her speech is homey, much like Abraham Lincoln's was. She's a fine break from the pretentious and calculating presentation of the other three in the race.
She has an engaging personality, but Lowry's assessment of the debate was more than a tad obsequious.
It's ironic, too, that Republican pundits like Lowry attacked Obama for offering nothing more than an engaging personality, yet it's the only standard Lowry uses in his piece when evaluating Palin's debate performance. Viewers less enamored than Lowry would've recognized that besides her bubbly personality and a few well-timed barbs, she offered little last night other than platitudes and equivocating answers.
When a person doesn't have anything to say and doesn't know what they are talking about, it is often the case that they fall back on that down-home "aw shucks" I'm-just-a-regular-person like-you routine. Well, as a person raised in the South in small towns, I've seen it all my life and am not fooled by that kind of thing. In this case I'm choosing substance over charm.
What we could do is elect me as President. You know all of our problems would be solved ;)
David Walker