All Palin, All the Time

As I was preparing to post John McCain's new campaign ad buy (seen below, via Captain Ed), I checked around at some of the national and regional dailies to see if I could find a corresponding news story on Barack Obama.

According to lthe evel of attention among Sunday news columnists, Sarah Palin's still the hot topic this morning, five days after the Alaska Governor made her prime-time debut in St. Paul:

* David Broder at the Washingoton Post compares presidential tickets in "Change vs. Change."

* Clarence Page at the Chicago Tribune says "Get Ready for the Real Fireworks."

* Kevin Rennie at the Hartford Courant notes "Palin's Pitch-Perfect Performance Inspires Shock and Awe."

* Frank Rich at the New York Times attacks "Palin and McCain’s Shotgun Marriage."

* Joan Vennochi at the Boston Globe warns of "Sarah Palin's Song and Dance."

It's all interesting, but somewhat beside the point now.

Sarah Palin is now widely seen as the most important socio-political game-changer on the national scene in decades. As Jeffrey Bell noted earlier, "the Sarah Palin vice presidential candidacy may be regarded decades from now as a nationally shared Rorschach test of enormous cultural significance."

The McCain-Palin cultural tsunami's not going to be wearing off soon, mainly because the Democratic left is still trying to find its groove in attacking the Alaska Governor without further damaging Obama's negatives on patriotism and traditional values. Personality will trump policy for the time being.

Note that Gallup's new tracking numbers have John McCain moving ahead of Barack Obama, 48 to 45 percent among registered voters. Final post-convention data from Gallup will includes interviews after McCain's Thursday night acceptance speech, although additional surveys have clearly found a Palin bounce for the GOP.

McCain Surges on National Security Amid GOP Convention Bounce

Zogby's new survey finds the John McCain/Salin Palin ticket holding a 49.7 to 45.9 percent lead over Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the presidential horse race. The poll was conducted September 5-6, so it clearly captures a post-convention bounce for the Republicans coming out of St. Paul.

While Zogby shows McCain/Palin with a modest lead, a new survey from Greenberg, Quinlan, and Rosner indicates that the public sees the GOP as much stronger on national security, which could be problematic for the Democrats as the campaign moves forward.

Andrew Malcolm has a report:

Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner has just released a survey that indicates voters perceive Republicans once again as far and away better on national security issues than Democrats.

Forty nine percent of those surveyed thought....

...Republicans were better on national security while 35% thought Democrats better. When it came to combating terrorism, 48% thought Republicans superior to Democrats while 33% gave Democrats the advantage.

It shows voters once again seeing Democrats as following the polls to determine their national security stances and appearing timid to use force in the nation's defense.

This could blossom into a serious problem for the Obama-Biden ticket and down-ballot races -- or opportunity for Republicans -- by Nov. 4.

The presence of Sen. John McCain, a former POW and the only military veteran on either ticket, atop the Republican ballot could be crucial.

According to the Greenberg study's researchers:

"The national security credibility gap is returning. Old doubts about Democrats on security, after diminishing during 2006-2007, have begun to re-emerge:

"concerns that Democrats follow the polls rather than principle;

"that Democrats are indecisive and are afraid to use force;

"and that Democrats don't support the military.

"Because these weaknesses are longstanding and deeply ingrained, and because Republican weaknesses are newer and do not yet have a label associated with them, Republicans continue to win on many security issues."

The Greenberg poll, done for the think tank Third Way, echoes a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll which found a large lead for Republican McCain over his Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama, with McCain holding a 10 point lead over Obama on the question: who would be better on the Iraq war, a 25 point lead on the handling of international crises and a 28 point lead on being better able to handle terrorism.

Results like these in part explain why the Republicans stressed the military and terrorism at their recently completed convention in St. Paul, Minn., a convention which, surprising to some drew a larger telervision audience than the Democratic festivities in Denver the previous week.

At this week's St. Paul events Republicans were clearly trying to run up the score on the Democrats in the national security area with only about eight weeks to go.

These findings are interesting in light of all the attention in the left-wing blosphere and mainstream press to the controversy over Nouri al Maliki's statement in July presuming to endorse Obama's 16-month timeline for withdrawal.

The bottom line from Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner is that the Democrats' decades-long reputation as foreign policy wimps remains a huge liability this year, and it's clear that the public's not easily fooled by fancy speeches and world tours by a candidate who's been consistently wrong in foreign policy throughout the post-9/11 era.

Sarah Palin and the Alaska National Guard

While not earth-shattering, Saturday's Los Angeles Times piece on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's leadership of the state's National Guard contingent indicates that, indeed, commanding the units involves considerable responsibility, although not so much in foreign policy as some might think (or hope):

The Alaska National Guard is unusual in that its jobs include manning part of the U.S. missile defense system. The 49th Missile Defense Battalion works on interceptor missiles designed to shoot down intercontinental missiles.

Members of the Alaska National Guard also were deployed to Iraq, and Palin visited their unit in July 2007. The McCain campaign has pointed to that experience as an example of Palin's foreign policy background.

"She's been the commander of Alaska's National Guard, who's been deployed overseas," Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman, said on CNN in one of several recent references to Palin's gubernatorial responsibility for the Guard. "That's foreign policy experience."

Since governors have no role in overseeing Guard members federalized for service in Iraq, military experts said that should not count as foreign policy experience.

National Guard officials said visits such as Palin's trip to Iraq may be important because state officials can lobby the federal government for better training and more equipment if they are needed. There is no indication that during her trip Palin found major problems with how the Alaska Guard was trained or equipped.

Closer to home, the bread-and-butter duties of most state National Guards are natural disasters. During Palin's 21 months in office, there has been one declared disaster: widespread flooding in June and July this year. Palin quickly signed a disaster declaration, officials said. The Guard's role was limited to providing two water tanks and 30,000 sandbags to local authorities.

The Alaska Air National Guard, with 1,946 service members, is involved in an exceptional number of search-and-rescue missions. Since Palin became governor in December 2006, the Air Guard has flown 521 missions, saving 200 lives and assisting with the rescue of 77 more people, said Kalei Brooks, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

"Our rescue squadron is the busiest in the nation," she said.

In recent years, the department has overseen a reorganization of the 1,900-member Army National Guard. Following a U.S. Army restructuring plan, officials have helped assign soldiers to new units.

But training requirements for Guard units are established not by governors, but by the Army, the Air Force and the National Guard Bureau.

"That requirement comes down from the United States Army and Air Force," Allen said. "But that training and that equipment become very important when they are needed within the states."

I wrote earlier on "Sarah Palin's National Security Credentials," and that essay's a bit more favorable to Palin's commander-in-chief role thanthe Times.

Note too, Senator Joseph Lieberman has been briefing Palin on national security, and with the Alaska Governor's sharp wit and obvious political instincts, I doubt she's going to have much difficulty handling her responsibilities, even if that means assuming the presidency in a national crisis.

The De-Linking of Andrew Sullivan

There's a big de-linking campaign afoot against well-known author and blogger Andrew Sullivan.

Sullivan's been leading the leftosphere's anti-Palin smear attacks, and Ace of Spades called for a de-linking program in a blistering post calling Sullivan a "taker of loads." That seemed a bit over the top, at least in tone, but I noticed that National Review's policy is to explicity eschew linking to Sullivan as well.

So, with Dean Barnett's essay tonight at the Weekly Standard, "Anatomy of a Smear," which doesn't even mention Sullivan by name, much less link to him, it's pretty clear that the right's had it with Sullivan's man-crush on Barack Obama:

Blogger Charlie Martin has helpfully compiled all of the smears that the left has hurled at Sarah Palin. 54 and counting!

Given that we’re more than halfway to the century mark in Palin smears, I think it’s time to take another brief look at the left’s method of smear dissemination. Yesterday on a blog hosted by the prestigious magazine the Atlantic, a post popped up at 11:49 a.m. with the breathless title, “Here We Go.” The post read in its entirety, “Todd Palin's former business partner files an emergency motion to have his divorce papers sealed. Oh God.” The post linked to the Alaskan court system where you could see the motion if you cared to click through.

Although the author didn’t care to make his innuendo explicit, the insinuation was clear – the National Enquirer had previously reported on what it called “a rumor” that the former business partner in question had had an affair with Sarah Palin. The breathless title and the brevity of the post implied that the smoking gun for the affair laid in the court filings that the former business partner wished to conceal. Naturally, because the purported scoop had the imprimatur of the prestigious Atlantic, many other news sources picked it up in rapid order.

Quicker than you can say “conspiracy theory lunatic,” this particular lunatic theory jumped off the tracks. The Court denied the motion to conceal the papers, allowing the curious to sniff through them. Shock of shocks, Sarah Palin’s name wasn’t even mentioned in the filings. Nor was there anything regarding an affair with her. In this particular wild goose chase, the goose flew free.

Thus, the method of the smear mechanism reveals itself – print a lot of speculative crap, all while maintaining a malign indifference as to whether or not you can prove said speculative crap. Actually nailing down a story before running it? That’s so 20th century, at least in the virtual pages of the Atlantic. Doing actual reporting to confirm life-damaging rumors before circulating them? Such quotidian tasks are obviously beneath an Atlantic blogger’s pay grade.

There's more at the link.

It turns out that the information on Palin's business partner's motion to seal his divorce proceedings was first posted at Sullivan's page, so it's not as if Sullivan's just sending earlier allegations viral.

Ace of Spades suggests not to link to Sullivan when rebutting his demonizing dementia: "quote and critique with attribution. But don't link."

Actually, I've never "de-linked" anyone. In fact, I normally link like crazy to focus attention on the nihilist left's many blogs of hate. But I'm generally a low-traffic blogger (although technically no longer a member of the "9th tier"), although my page's been getting more attention, so I can see the practical logic in denying Sullivan attention and hits.

There's is "a politics of linking" on the web, of course, so considering Sullivan's campaign of innuendos and smears, I thought I just pass along this information in furtherance of the de-linking of Andrew Sullivan.

McCain-Palin and the Sanctity of Life

In my essay, "The Secret Life of Senator Infanticide," I confessed that Barack Obama's consistent votes against Illinois' Born Alive Infant Protection Act was perhaps the most disturbing revelation so far on Obama's extreme left-wing ideology (and that really is saying a lot).

Frankly, I was appalled (and nearly sick) reading stories of babies left to die in soiled-utility closets. Knowing that readers of this blog might share my indignation, I distributed my essay via e-mail to dozens of regulars.

Some responded by redistributing the post on their own pages (thanks here and here), but others were not so pleased with my pro-life audacity. Especially upset was Elaine from Elaine's Place, a generally nice women with whom I've had occasional contact, who sent this uncharacteristic attack in response:

Here I thought you were a nice Reagan neocon and instead I find you are a right wing extremist, in the same category of left wing extremist Wade Churchill. I was shocked....then mad...........then just plain disappointed. And what's really frightening is you are in a teaching position! I shudder at the thought.

Well, you know, I shudder at the thought of the indifference to life among Obama defenders, including the many, many more like Elaine who've become so enamored of the oratorical powers of "The One," that they've checked their intellectual faculties at the gates of Mile High.

So on that point, next to Andrew McCarthy and Elizabeth Scalia, this week's essay by Jeff Jacoby - on the power of life in the John McCain-Sarah Palin presidential ticket - is unsurpassed in moral clarity: "A Stark Choice on Abortion":

DURING a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania last March, Senator Barack Obama was asked about teenagers and sexually transmitted diseases.

He replied that "the most important prevention is education," including "information about contraception." Then he added: "Look, I've got two daughters - 9 years old and 6 years old. I'm going to teach them first of all about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby. I don't want them punished with an STD at the age of 16."

If Obama had deliberately set out to appall prolife voters, he couldn't have uttered four words more jarring than "punished with a baby." The equation of any new child with punishment set teeth on edge, and Obama's campaign quickly issued a clarification. The candidate, a loving father of two, believes that "children are miracles," it said; he only meant to underscore the importance of reducing teen pregnancy. But Obama's unscripted words needed no clarifying. They tartly encapsulated the extreme position on "choice" he has staked out in his career.

What brings Obama's revealing turn of phrase to mind, of course, is the pregnancy of Governor Sarah Palin's unmarried 17-year-old daughter.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned," Palin and her husband announced in a statement. "We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support. Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family."

Granted, Obama was engaging in a hypothetical speculation, while the Palins were dealing with a real-life family challenge. Still, what a contrast! To the Democratic nominee, a teenage daughter's unforeseen baby is a punishment to be prevented; to the Republican Veep-designee, it is a blessing to be embraced.

Jacoby also mentions Obama's clinical, lawyerly dodge of the issue at last month's Saddleback Civil Forum, adding this:

And when has a Republican ticket ever been so unabashedly prolife? Senator John McCain, long one of the Senate's reliably prolife votes, is a father of seven, including an adopted orphan from Bangladesh. His running mate lacks McCain's voting record, yet her bona fides are even more impressive: When Palin and her husband learned last winter that she was carrying a baby with Down syndrome, they never considered not having him. More than 90 percent of pregnant American women in the same position choose abortion. Palin chose life....

Ambiguities may muddle the 2008 campaign, but not when it comes to abortion. The next president and vice president will be the most pro-choice in US history. Or the most pro-life.

With the selection of Sarah Palin, social issues have emerged as the undeniable dividing line in the 2008 election.

The differences between the Democrats and the Republicans on the sanctity of life couldn't be more clear, and frankly, if there's any extremism involved here, it's on the far left-wing end of the spectrum.

The Depths of McCain-Palin Derangement

Readers will recall yesterday's post, "Leftists Attack GOP as "Ugly Americans." I suggested that left-wing partisans will sink to the gates of hell in attacking John McCain and Sarah Palin, a fact demonstrated by the left's reaction to the realization that the Alaskan Governor is the new feminist terminator.

The truth, of course, is that the ugliest Americans are those now smearing the McCain-Palin ticket.

It turns out, as Chas Martin chronicles, not surprisingly, that there are close to 50 rumors flying around the fever swamps of the leftosphere, viciously attacking Sarah Palin, with allegations from the debunked Bristol baby cover-up to vile the suggestions of book-burning fundamentalism. The list continues to grow, naturally, with the slurs and smears distributed by some of the biggest blogs on the left (with the mainstream media in tow).

So it should be no surprise to soon see photos like the one below at Andrew Sullivan's or at Daily Kos. That's right: Sullivan and Markos are not much better than the low-life scum who created a blog dedicated to exploiting Trig Palin: "I Miss My Mommy."

I've written a lot on left wing demonology, and the standard response is that conservatives are just as bad: "Go check out the comments at Red State or Little Green Footballs," is a common refrain.

Well don't believe it. Since the announcement of Sarah Palin as GOP vice-presidential running mate we've witnessed a literally non-stop effort of smear and demonization against Palin, an effort so angry and all-encompassing that the Clarence Thomas hearings look like a stroll at the county fair in retrospect.

Here's a sample "I Miss My Mommy" post, "Cain Make Vipe Resident":

I am so happy, Grampa 'Cain make Mommy Vipe Resident. Stopid Osbama so stupid. They say Mommy not vetted. What? Mommy no animal doctor. What, are they 'tarded?

The hat tip for the "I Miss My Mommy" pick up goes to Vince and Loon, who note:

Daily Kos and Democratic Underground have reached a new low. Their latest proud accomplishment is I Miss My Mommy, a website devoted to ridiculing Sarah Palin's son Trig for having Down syndrome.

Yep, this deed seems to be scraping the bottom, but the depths of the left-wing fever swamps are so far infinite, so just keep checking back at Sullivan's, Kos, and their well-represented allies, and we'll see something even more evil in no time.

Oh, and don't miss, Jeffrey Bell, "Why They Hate Her: Sarah Palin is a Smart Missile Aimed at the Heart of the Left."

Michigan in Play as Campaigns Begin Dash to Election

With the national party conventions concluded, and with the suspenseful wait for the vice-presidential announcements now over, the campaigns begin a 60-day dash to election day.

While much attention is being paid to national polling trends, over the next two months the nitty gritty action - analytical and political - will be at the state-by-state level, as the Democrats and the Republicans prepare to do battle in a handful of toss-up states that could decide the election.

Among the most competitive will be Michigan, the Big Blue state that looks to be in play for the GOP for the first time in two decades.

Newsweek's got Karl Rove's breakdown of the battleground states, and here's the blurb for Michigan:

The state is a key McCain pickup target. The Democratic Party is struggling - Governor Granholm raised taxes $1.5 billion last year and Detroit's mayor is fighting felony charges. McCain is counting on the votes of working class, mostly Roman Catholic Reagan Democrats and independents in eastern Michigan. His maverick image could also help with "soft" moderate Republicans in the Detroit suburbs. Obama must attract large turnout among blacks in Detroit's Wayne County and in the southern parts of Oakland County, along with support from college students. His challenge will be to hold on to blue-collar Democrats in Macomb County. Expect auto companies to press both candidates for $40 billion or more in government loans.

Note that Detroit's Mayor Kilpatrick resigned this week in a plea agreement reached after Governor Granholm mounted pressure for Kilpatrick's removal from office. The scandal holds clear implications for November, as the Motor City's known as a dependable Democratic stronghold. As Keith Naughton indicates:

Even with Kwame Kilpatrick in the slammer, Barack Obama will be dogged by the scandal that brought down Detroit's mayor. For starters, Kilpatrick won't be around to lead the get-out-the-vote effort in dependably Democratic Detroit, which could be decisive in the toss-up state of Michigan, where Obama clings to a slim lead over John McCain. But beyond the mechanical breakdown, Kilpatrick's salacious, headline-commandeering controversy has inflamed the racial tensions that have riven this region. Detroit is 81 percent black and the poorest city in America, according to new census data, while the surrounding suburbs are 81 percent white and include some of the most affluent enclaves in the country. Ever since the riots of 1967, Detroiters have divided themselves along racial lines, and politicians on both sides of the city's cultural fault line—the 8 Mile Road made famous by Eminem—have stoked racial fears to get elected. "This Kwame Kilpatrick mess has splattered over onto the Obama campaign at the worst possible time," says veteran Detroit political consultant Sam Riddle. "Kilpatrick's brand of leadership has fed into the worst stereotypes that white voters have about black leaders."

There won't be too much "community organizing" in Detroit this fall, it seems.

In any case, note as well that the Wall Street Journal's got a big piece on the stakes in Michigan for the general election: "McCain Makes a Run at Michigan, A Wavering Democratic Stronghold":

If John McCain becomes the nation's 44th president, it may be thanks to Michigan - a prize the Republicans think they can claim for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Michigan is a perennial must-win for Democratic candidates, as well as a bellwether for how the party will fare in nearby Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. This week, the Obama camp launched its first television ads targeted directly at Michigan voters. One, titled "Revitalize" accuses McCain of "selling out" Michigan auto workers. Spending on TV is a tacit acknowledgment the Democrats consider Michigan competitive this year.

Michigan is home to the original "Reagan Democrats," white, working-class voters who swung Republican. Today, on paper, conditions here favor the Democrats. Unemployment stands at 8.5%, the nation's highest. Michigan's home-foreclosure rate is twice the national average, which should make it easy for Sen. Obama to campaign against a Republican who stumbled when asked how many houses he owns. Democrats have won the state in four out of the past five presidential races.

However, Sen. Obama is the one who might face an uphill battle. For starters, he chose not to participate in Michigan's primary in January - a decision that now deprives his campaign of a ready-made network of supporters. (Michigan held its primary earlier than the national Democratic Party wanted, so Sen. Obama and several others stayed off the ballot in solidarity with the party.) At the same time, Sen. McCain plays well among moderate Republicans and independents who dislike George W. Bush, whom Sen. McCain beat handily in the party's 2000 Michigan primary.

Michigan also has some of the most complex race relations north of the Mason-Dixon line. "Michigan is a challenge for any Democratic candidate," says Amy Chapman, the head of the Obama campaign here. "Everyone thinks it's blue. But you have to work hard to make it blue."

While the Obama campaign hopes to pick up a handful of reliably Republican states like Colorado in November, the flip-side is also true: The McCain campaign could win the White House by picking off a few traditional Democratic states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin or Minnesota.

Recent Michigan statewide polls indicate a tight race, although post-GOP convention surveys may show a surge of support for the McCain ticket following the intense extravaganza of the Sarah Palin vice-presidential rollout; and especially noteworthy is that the GOP represents change for Michigan voters, which will be especially true now that a moose-eating mommy-maverick's joined the ticket (moose-burgers are hip in Michigan).

So far, McCain and Palin have received a warm Michigan welcome, certainly a lot better than they're likely to get in nearby Chicago from the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Sarah Palin's Parenting Choices Come Under Attack

There's been an eruption of crude sexism following Sarah Palin's nomination as the GOP vice-presidential running mate.

Most of the gender-related criticism of Palin so far has come from radical feminists angry that a conservative Alaska Governor with five kids may well become President of the United States. But a particularly demeaning sexist double-standard is afloat as well, suggesting, essentially, that Palin's sacrificing nuturing motherhood for a high-powered political career.

A Boston Globe article yesterday practically turned Palin's career choices into a scandal:

The decades-old debate over motherhood and work is back, reignited nanoseconds after John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate.

It's raging everywhere from the blogosphere to the workplace. Consider what Adena Cohen-Bearak of Needham - a mother, blogger, and self-described feminist - had to say this week in her "MotherThoughts" blog: "Palin (who is 44) has 5 kids . . . ranging from 18 to 4 or 5 MONTHS old (the baby happens to have Downs). I don't really understand how she can be GOVERNOR with all those kids to deal with, never mind Vice President of the COUNTRY!"

It's not just blogging moms who are outraged at Palin's take-no-prisoners mothering style.

It turns out that Howard Gutman, a member of Barack Obama's national campaign finance committee, attacked Palin for alleged parental neglect, and Sally Quinn at the Washington Post joined in with this criticism:

Not only do we have a woman with five children, including an infant with special needs, but a woman whose 17-year-old child will need her even more in the coming months. Not to mention the grandchild. This would inevitably be an enormous distraction for a new vice president (or president) in a time of global turmoil.

These are rank attacks, and opportunistic in that they're coming primarily - though not exclusively - from the left. And this is a double-standard that's not going over well with a good lot of voters.

Here's the response of Sandra Summers, a lecturer at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill:

So, if John McCain gets elected, Sarah Palin will have three young children in her charge and a demanding career to boot ("Palin's Family Life Moves to Center Stage," Campaign '08, Sept. 2). Big whoop, so do millions of other unsung American women. I raised two great children, taught, earned a Ph.D. and ran my household with no outside help. I still had time to volunteer at church, go to my kids' games, even watch TV. Unlike the majority of moms, Sarah Palin won't have to bother with shopping, cooking or cleaning because she'll have staff to take care of those chores. In my book, that almost makes her a woman of leisure.

Also, Elizabeth Bobe Barron, from Panama City, Florida, asks this question:

Why didn't anyone ask Mr. Biden to stay home and care for his young, motherless sons rather than take his seat in the U.S. Senate? Apparently, I am going against the trend because I am a pro-choice Hillary supporter who will be voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin in November.

There's some debate as to who'll be harmed more by the gendered backlash, the Democrats or the Republicans?

But as I've noted before, Sarah Palin's redifining feminism for the current age, and the old-school women's liberationist (and their Democratic allies) are being left in her dust.

See also, "Politics and Parenting: Assessing How Gov. Palin Handles the Balance."

GOP Campaigns Against Democrats as Fringe Party

The Los Angeles Times reports that the message from this week's GOP convention is that the Republicans plan a culture-war campaign that will paint the Democrats as a fringe party:

Speaker after speaker at this week's Republican National Convention defended small towns from the perceived slights of urban elites. They talked of working people, and ridiculed those with the time to become "community organizers." They railed against the media, Hollywood and the Washington cocktail circuit.

Cultural affinities, which President Bush played on heavily to paint 2004 Democratic nominee John F. Kerry as elite and out of touch, are now central to the campaign strategy of GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

The Arizona senator appeared to float above the culture wars Thursday night in a nomination acceptance speech that criticized "partisan rancor" and promoted his history of working with Democrats. And he is an unlikely standard-bearer for the forces of family values, given his admissions over the years of his failures as a husband, or for the advocates of small-town living, with his millionaire wife and multiple homes.

But this week's events demonstrated that McCain's campaign has settled on its final-stretch strategy to defeat Barack Obama: portraying Republicans as in sync with mainstream America and Democrats as the cultural fringe.

The strategy is inherently appealing, but not without big risks, according William Schneider. He argues that big issues face the electorate this year, and if policy concerns dominate voter decision-making in the end, the GOP's in trouble. Conversely, if personalities and values dominate, McCain will likely win.

I'd add, to the contrary, that given how overdetermined a Democratic victory in November has looked all year, McCain's taking a path of victory to the White House - that is, culture, patriotism, and values can beat the party of recycled beatniks, community organizers, and the netroots fringe.

Indeed, the selection of Sarah Palin may be better than even McCain and his advisors imagined. The left has gone absolutely ballistic in trying to smear her, literally from day one, when Daily Kos launched the baby cover-up allegations. Since then Democratic partisans have been working non-stop digging dirt to bury the GOP.

Apparently, the "community organizer" meme in particular has struck a nerve. Byron York argues that Palin's take down of Obama's Chicago organizing experience means that the Democratic nominee will now exclusively refer to Palin by her appropriate title as the Governor of Alaska, rather than a "small town mayor." The experience meme has cut so deep that Ezra Klein is arguing that "community organizer" is the new "uppity" (and before that "audacious" was the new "presumptuous," and presumptuous was the new uppity, and so forth and so on, ad infinitum).

So we see once again, a cutting takedown of Obama's woefully lacking experience is turned around as a racial slur. Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan and his minions are picking apart every possible nook and cranny of the Palin family life for salacious tidbits of scandal-fodder. For example, Track Palin? He's no patriot:

Meanwhile, even Howard Kurtz isn’t above mentioning reports that Governor Palin’s eldest son Track enlisted in the military not out of patriotism, but as a means of avoiding prison time that resulted from an arrest for vandalism and possession and possible distribution of cocaine.

Notice how TRex offers no links to said reports of Track Palin's (non-existent) arrest for "vandalism" and "possible" distribution of cocaine (and Kurtz mentions no such thing).

These are the desperate lengths to which the left will go to in smearing the GOP.

Barack Obama's an inherently weak candidate. He won the Democratic nomination not because he ran a superior campaign or because he had a better message, but because primary and caucus rules favored him.

Democrats and the hard-left partisans know this explicitly or implicitly, and they're doing every thing they can to attack, disrupt, smear, and slur the Republicans - using any all all methods, no matter how devious or underhanded.

No worries, though. This is a culture war between a lofty, softy Chicago orator and his faux-Scranton, Beltway-insder running mate, and two redoubtable Western-states warriors, with Sarah Palin packing a lot of heat.

Leftists Attack GOP as "Ugly Americans"

To follow up my previous entry on Sarah Palin's surge in public opinion, it turns out that Gallup's new tracking numbers see John McCain cutting Barack Obama's lead in the presidential horse race in half since the start of the GOP convention.

What's particulary interesting, of course, has been the left's reaction to the Palin nomination. It's not just the initial unfounded smears alleging that Palin covered-up her daughter's preganancy (that Bristol Palin was Trig's mom), but also the broader ideological challenge the Alaska Governor has presented to the postmodern left (including the radical feminists and the "P.A.N.T.H.E.R.'s):

Apparently, Governor Palin fits right into the left's program of anti-GOP demonization, which can be seen around the leftosphere of late.

Here's Chris Bowers, for example, on how "Palin Satisfies Conservative Persecution Lust:

Palin has grown popular among the conservative base primarily because she has been able to satisfy the conservative persecution lust that is at the core of the American conservative system of belief. Without an evil, stereotyped, identity group out to attack them, there is nothing holding together the conservative system of belief.

At the Huffington Post, John Seery argues that Sarah Palin's "The Face of the Ugly American":

I know, I know: Sarah Palin is receiving rosy plaudits for her speech last night....

My honest-to-goodness visceral reaction was quite otherwise. What I saw on that stage was the personification of small-minded smugness, an utter lack of humility, a kind of self-righteous entitlement based on little more than puffed-up narrowness. She struck me not as plucky but, rather, as stunningly immodest--to the point of arrogance. Some people are arrogant and maybe deserve to be. They know it, and flaunt it, while everyone else thinks they are jerks. But there's another kind of arrogance, perhaps harder to spot at first, an arrogance that apparently doesn't even recognize itself as such, a sanctified, self-satisfied presumptuousness that flows from sheer naïveté about oneself and the world and manifests itself in giddy ambition.

Palin, in other words, is a brash, white trash hick, but don't miss the rest of Seery's post.

Seery argues John McCain's an "ugly American" as well. But he's not the first: Cernig at Newshoggers attacked McCain last week as "the ugliest American":

Out of all the ugly Americans of the modern hard right, John McCain is rising as the star.

The ugly American meme surrounding the 2008 GOP ticket represents, essentially, the latest example of the left's psychiatric paranoia at the Republican Party's personalities and politics, which one might clinically diagnose as a new "McCain-Palin Derangement Syndrome" (see here and here for partial recognition of the malady).

Indications of McCain-Palin Derangement include the attacks on the Arizona Senator as representing "four more years" of the George W. Bush administration (which triggered the initial specification of this ideological psychiatric syndrome), as well as the slurs against Governor Palin as "a rightwing-Christian anti-choice extremist."

If the nation's indeed witnessing an election contest deciding final cultural supremacy over "the two Americas," the utter demonization of the McCain-Palin ticket we're now seeing will be just a preview of left's evil partisanship in the couple of months ahead.

Sarah Palin More Popular Than Barack Obama!

Bloggers are among the most partisan people around, but sometimes amid all the ideological rancor, one has to recognize the achievements of the other side. I wished Barack Obama congratulations after he secured his party's nomination, for example.

In the case of Sarah Palin, the GOP vice-presidential nominee, the left's recognition of her assets is grudging, if at all. There's been speculation all week, amid all the controversies, that Palin's nomination would be a drag on the ticket, and that the hyped-up allegations of scandal would sink the GOP. Even Republican Peggy Noonan confided, "It's over."

Kyle Moore, at Comments From Left Field, in his comments on Palin's potential impact, denigrated the Alaska Governor's acceptance speech:

Republicans loved it, but this was not the kind of speech that seemed designed towards attracting swing voters and fence-sitting Democrats. This was Palin’s opportunity to introduce herself to America as a whole, and what America as a whole viewed was a woman who was very light on policy, who didn’t go very far towards telling us who she was, or what she will do for the country, but was very heavy handed in attacking the opposition.

I know that negativity works a lot of the time, but not all of the time, and of the millions of viewers that Palin pulled last night, I will be very interested to see how many were turned off by what was a largely vitriolic speech.

There's more at the link (if you can get through Moore's clunky prose).

Moore goes on to recite undocumented "anectodal evidence" suggesting that Palin left "independents and swing voters" unimpressed.

Well, it turns out that Palin's leaving quite an impression on the American public after all. According to Rasmussen's new survey, Citizen Sarah's more popular the Barack Obama, aka "The One":

A week ago, most Americans had never heard of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Now, following a Vice Presidential acceptance speech viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% hold an unfavorable view of the self-described hockey mom.

The figures include 40% with a Very Favorable opinion of Palin and 18% with a Very Unfavorable view (full demographic crosstabs are available for Premium Members). Before her acceptance speech, Palin was viewed favorably by 52%. A week ago, 67% had never heard of her.

The new data also shows significant increases in the number who say McCain made the right choice and the number who say Palin is ready to be President. Generally, John McCain’s choice of Palin earns slightly better reviews than Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden.

Perhaps most stunning is the fact that Palin’s favorable ratings are now a point higher than either man at the top of the Presidential tickets this year. As of Friday morning, Obama and McCain are each viewed favorably by 57% of voters. Biden is viewed favorably by 48%.

Rasmussen also reports:

Fifty-one percent (51%) of all voters now believe that McCain made the right choice when he picked Palin to be his running mate while 32% disagree. By way of comparison, on the night after Biden gave his acceptance speech, 47% said that Obama made the right choice.

Eighty-one percent (81%) of Republicans say that McCain made the right choice while just 69% of Democrats said the same about Obama.

Among unaffiliated voters, 52% said that McCain made the right choice for his running mate and 45% said the same about Obama.

Rasmussen's daily tracking poll also finds the presidential horse race in a statistical tie, with Obama leading McCain 46 to 45 percent.

We won't know the full effect of Palin's impact on the race, or that of John McCain's acceptance speech, until early next week.

In the meantime, the early left-wing dismissals of McCain's judgment are badly off the mark.

McCain to Stand and Fight for America

As I predicted in my pre-speech entry, John McCain delivered a solid acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention last night - solid, but not spectacular.

As Tom the Redhunter says in the comments, "McCain's speech was good but not great. In other words, typically him."

Typical, in this case, is why McCain is the right man for the times.

The speech began haltingly, punctuated by the unwelcomed drama of Code Pink protesters disrupting the proceedings. But as he continued, McCain built up to his trademark story of personal sacrifice to a cause greater than one's self:

I'm not running for president because I think I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save our country in its hour of need. My country saved me. My country saved me, and I cannot forget it. And I will fight for her for as long as I draw breath, so help me God.

If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you're disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. Enlist in our Armed Forces. Become a teacher. Enter the ministry. Run for public office. Feed a hungry child. Teach an illiterate adult to read. Comfort the afflicted. Defend the rights of the oppressed. Our country will be the better, and you will be the happier. Because nothing brings greater happiness in life than to serve a cause greater than yourself.

I'm going to fight for my cause every day as your President. I'm going to fight to make sure every American has every reason to thank God, as I thank Him: that I'm an American, a proud citizen of the greatest country on earth, and with hard work, strong faith and a little courage, great things are always within our reach. Fight with me. Fight with me.

Fight for what's right for our country.

Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.

Fight for our children's future.

Fight for justice and opportunity for all.

Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.

Stand up for each other; for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.

Thank you, and God Bless you.

As some readers may recall, I've been excited about McCain's candidacy since he announced the formation of his presidential exploratory committee in November 2006.

For me, a McCain presidency has always been about standing up for goodness in the world, and goodness in one's heart. McCain's stalwart backing of the Iraq war was right from the beginning, and has shown the trueness of his character and judgment. And this week's sensational rollout of Sarah Palin as vice-presidential running mate has rekindled the enthusiasm of McCain's campaign that's been frequently lost in the long slog following the primaries.

McCain was down for the count this time last year, losing his frontrunner status to more exciting competitors. But the excitement's back, and while the Democrats and leftists will attack McCain's speech as wooden and recycled, that's the man the GOP nominated - sure and steady - and that's the man who's now got a surprisingly good chance to win on November 4.

McCain Speech to Build on Palin Momentum

John McCain is known for his wooden speaking style, so naturally there are some diminished expectations for his speech tonight at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center (which follows on the heels of Sarah Palin's energizing address to the GOP convention last night).

I would caution folks not to lower their sights too low: What McCain lacks in delivery he makes up in moral clarity. Indeed, I've always considered McCain to be a powerful speaker, offering some of the most moving addresses of the current era. For example, I frequently return to McCain's ringing words from 2006 at the New School University's commencement ceremony in New York:

I supported the decision to go to war in Iraq. Many Americans did not. My patriotism and my conscience required me to support it and to engage in the debate over whether and how to fight it. I stand that ground not to chase vainglorious dreams of empire; not for a noxious sense of racial superiority over a subject people; not for cheap oil--we could have purchased oil from the former dictator at a price far less expensive than the blood and treasure we've paid to secure those resources for the people of that nation; not for the allure of chauvinism, to wreak destruction in the world in order to feel superior to it; not for a foolishly romantic conception of war. I stand that ground because I believed, rightly or wrongly, that my country's interests and values required it.

Sarah Palin, in her speech last night, lauded McCain for his superior judgment and strategic vision. McCain will pick up on Palin's momentum, and we'll see a powerful acceptance speech and a rousing reception from the convention delegates. McCain will draw sharp contrasts between himself and Barack Obama, focusing particularly on his unparalleled sacrifice to our nation's security.

CNN offers a preview of what to expect:

Sen. John McCain will formally accept his party's nomination for president Thursday night, a day after his vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, delivered a rousing speech at the Republican convention in St. Paul.

McCain is set to speak during the 10 p.m. ET hour and will lay out his vision for America.

Overnight, crews have transformed the stage at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, so that delegates will surround McCain when he addresses the convention. The change will give the speech a feel more like the town hall-style meetings the Republican presidential nominee is known for.

During his speech, McCain hopes to show that a 72-year-old candidate can be an agent for change in Washington -- a theme he has hit on repeatedly at smaller venues along the campaign trail.

"What I have got to do is show people the differences in how we are going to change Washington and America and the differences in our positions and portray them in a substantive and hopefully a fairly eloquent fashion," McCain told CNN earlier this summer.

James Pethokoukis lays out the policy challenges:

Can John McCain give a good speech? Indeed, he can. His 2000 and 2004 speeches to the Republican National Convention were pretty compelling. (The former, though, may rank as the most melancholy ever given at a political convention. The closing line was less than rousing, "And I am haunted by the vision of what will be.") Both played to his strong suits. One focused on government reform, the other foreign policy. And those two subjects will surely be important themes in what he says tonight.

But McCain will have to do something else: Persuasively outline an agenda to restore America to prosperity. That was one thing Sarah Palin did not fully accomplish last night. He needs to go beyond showing empathy to middle class folks. He needs to demonstrate how his economic plan will make their lives better and give them the tools to make their lives better. And the key to that, I think, is energy. High oil and gas prices have been a pernicious tax on the economy, slowing growth and reducing real incomes. As McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin told me here in St. Paul, "Americans have elevated energy to their number one issue."

It's an issue that Team McCain thinks will be key to winning the White House. And polls show that Americans seem to like McCain's "all of the above" approach to increasing our energy supplies and lowering gas prices.

Sarah Palin was former chair of Alaska's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission prior to becoming the state's chief executive. With the Alaska Governor on board, McCain's well-positioned to make the case for expertise and ideas on energy issues.

The latest polls, moreover, show the presidential horse race settling-back to the dead-heat terroritory that marked the presidential campaign in mid-August.

CBS News reports that the race is now even at 42 percent. A McCain stemwinder in St. Paul, coming on top of Sarah Palin's momentum today, will set the GOP on extremely strong footing as the post-Labor Day campaigning gets fully under way.

Neilsen Estimates Show Palin Convention Blockbuster

Allahpundit at Hot Air makes the case for a "ratings blowout" for Day 3 at the Republican National Convention.

It turns out that 37.2 million Americans watched Alaska Governor Sarah Palin make her prime-time acceptance speech at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

I'm on the e-mail list at Neilsen Ratings, which has sent its audience estimates for Day 3:

Nielsen just released its ratings for Day 3 of the GOP convention. Some highlights:

• The Sarah Palin speech generated 37.2 million viewers, just a 1.1 million viewers short of Barack Obama’s record-breaking speech on Day 4 of the Democratic Convention. The Palin speech was carried on only six networks while the Obama speech was carried on ten (including BET, TV One, Univision and Telemundo).
• Palin attracted a large female audience (19.5 million women, or 4.9 million more than Day 3 of the Democratic Convention).
• Ratings for viewers 55+ (25.2) continue to be about ten times higher than for teens (2.2)
• Day 3 for the GOP attracted more Hispanic viewers (1.4 million) than Day 3 of the Democratic Convention (1.2 million), even though Univision and Telemundo did not carry the speech.

See also the Nielsen Wire, "Palin Triggers RNC Ratings Spike."

Note, importantly, that Palin's convention address was carried on just six networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.

Barack Obama's speech last week at Mile High Stadium in Denver was carried on ten networks (including BET, TV One, Univision and Telemundo).

The Republican Party has clearly captured the nation's imagination and interest this week - and John McCain's nomination of Sarah Palin as vice-presidential running mate is looking to be the kind of media game-changer that analysts argued was badly needed on the Democratic side.

Sarah Palin Rocks!

Sarah Palin's speech last night at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center is sending tsunami waves through the political establishment. The insiders' expectations this morning suggest that Palin will dominate the news cycle throughout September (and Barack Obama is "yesterday's news").

Americans witnessed Palin's innate skills last night. As Newsweek's cover story this week noted:

She is fearless and natural, and it's no wonder she charmed a fierce contrarian like John McCain.

Jay Nordlinger picked up on that theme in his reaction to Palin's stemwinder:

She’s one of the most talented politicians in America — a natural. You can’t learn that kind of thing. You simply have it (or you don’t). I suppose Sarah Palin will get better as a politician. But she’s damn good now. She will not hit her stride. She entered with her stride.

But Roger L. Simon's kudos perfectly capture the Palin prairie fire sweeping the nation:

In all my years writing movies, going to drama school, etc., I have almost never seen anything so dramatic. It was the rebirth of Frank Capra for our times - Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington. This woman is a star and a star of the American kind we have not seen for years. She really is born live from a Capra movie, from the days Hollywood told stories about the greatness of our country. I don’t agree with her about everything but so what? I don’t agree with anybody about everything except, luckily for me, my wife. But Sarah Palin is a force of nature. Like a Jimmy Stewart character channeled by Claudette Colbert.

The big losers tonight are obvious: Joe Biden, who will look like hackopathropus erectus next to her, a dinosaur out of the Washington everybody hates, and Hillary Rodham Clinton who, I would bet anything, was staring at her television set in horror tonight at the possible first woman president of the United States - and it’s not her!

Palin's performance was so powerful that her address has thrown the left into fits of apoplexy. Indeed, John Dickerson's article this morning boasts the catchy subtitle: "Why the Smiling, Sudden, Relentless Sarah Palin Should Scare Democrats" (although Dickerson's way too quick to suggest Palin's a one-hit wonder).

In a new pre-speech survey, Rasmussen found a majority of 51 percent agreeing that "reporters are trying to hurt Sarah Palin with their news coverage."

While Obama still holds a lead in Gallup's latest tracking poll, the McCain-Palin prairie fire will double its scorching power after McCain's acceptance speech tonight. Early focus-groups survey's indicate that "McCain's selection of the first-term Alaska governor will help his campaign," so by the weekend it's likely that whatever bounce the Democrats picked up in Denver will have evaporated.

It's been a long time in American politics since the public's been so rocked by a vice-presidential nomination, and this election's just now getting started!

Image Credit: Flopping Aces

Sarah Palin's New Feminism

Gloria Steinem, in today's Los Angeles Times, claims that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is "an unqualified woman" whose "divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention."

Steinem claims that Palin "shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton," and that for Democratic women to "vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, 'Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs.'"

As I've noted before, John McCain's nomination of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate has thrown the radical feminist movement into a debilitating identity crisis. For years I recall women saying that what they really want is the same opportunity for professional success as men. Now, though, when we have a conservative woman who really does "have it all," women's activists are mobilizing against her with a vehemence of a reverse-Suffragette movement.

Folks on the left may be shocked to realize that the culture wars are back, and Sarah Palin represents the vanguard of the "new feminism," as Robin Abcarian points out in her essay on Palin's challenge to the women's liberation movement:

The topic was Sen. John McCain's vice presidential pick, and talk show host Laura Ingraham was on a roll. Accepting an award from the Republican National Coalition for Life on behalf of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was under wraps working on her convention speech, Ingraham chastised anyone who would suggest that Palin is not up to the job.

As a pro-life working mother of five, including a special needs infant and a pregnant 17-year-old, Ingraham said, "Sarah Palin represents a new feminism. . . . And there is no bigger threat to the elites in this country than a woman who lives her conservative convictions"....

Talking with reporters Monday, McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt took offense at the idea that Palin might have trouble juggling the vice presidency and her family obligations.

"Frankly," he said, "I can't imagine that question being asked of a man. I think it's offensive, and I think a lot of women will find it offensive."

In an interview Wednesday with Katie Couric, prospective first lady Cindy McCain defended Palin and echoed Schmidt: "She will be a marvelous vice president, and she is already a marvelous mother. . . . I think most of the people asking the questions wouldn't be asking this if it were a man."

Later, Cindy McCain nodded strenuously when the Wednesday keynote speaker, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, reacted with outrage to the question of Palin's balancing act.

"When do they ever ask a man that question?" he asked.

Palin's rise to the heights of national politics is nothing short of revolutionary. As Kathleen Parker argues:

Should Palin and McCain prevail come November, feminism can curtsy and treat herself to a hard-earned vacation. The greatest achievement of feminism won’t be that a woman reached the vice presidency, but that a woman no longer needed feminists to get there.

Indeed, and thus we can see why Steinem's so angrily ruffled at the rise of Sarah Palin as America's true feminist role model.

Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times

Citizen Sarah Storms Small-Town America!

Sarah Palin, in her acceptance speech tonight to the Republican National Convention, exceeded expectations with a winning, combative address that set the table for John McCain's speech tomorrow night, and laid down a challenge to her antagonists and detractors: I've come a long way, dude, and you ain't seen nothin' yet!

The New York Times reports:

After days of mounting questions about her qualifications, Gov. Sarah Palin rallied the Republican National Convention tonight by touting her small-town government experience and ridiculing concerns about whether she is up to the job of vice president.

“Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown,” Ms. Palin said. “And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.”

The remark was a not-so-veiled shot at the career of Senator Barack Obama, who began his public service as a community organizer in Chicago.

In spirited remarks that were embraced by a crowd that was thirsty to learn more about her, Ms. Palin also took on what she portrays as an elite media establishment unwilling to accept that her government service in a small town and a sparsely populated state gives her the resume to serve at the highest levels of the federal government.

“I’ve learned quickly, these past few days, that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone,” she said in her remarks. “But here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion – I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country."

At the conclusion of her address, Senator John McCain joined her on stage and asked the cheering crowd, “Don’t you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?

With many of the Republicans gathered here already angry at the intense spotlight that has been put on Governor Palin and her family, the rebuke of the media and her critics found a warm reception in the Xcel Energy Center.

Anticipating a strong performance by the governor, Democrats quickly countered the idea that tonight’s appearance was a test of the vice presidential candidate, saying instead it was a reflection of Senator John McCain’s judgment in selecting her.

After tonight, if there was ever any doubt, McCain's judgment looks shrewdly decisive.

Palin spoke for people all across the country with an aggressive shot across the Democratic ticket:

I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involved.

(APPLAUSE)

I guess - I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.

(APPLAUSE)

I might add that, in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they're listening and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.

(APPLAUSE)

No, we tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

Barack Obama is wiping his brow right now! And Biden better be ready for that vice-presidential debate!

The McCain campaign's storming the nation, from small towns across the country, from Wasilla to the White House in November.

Photo Credit: New York Times