Lashing Out
The Democrats appear to have sent in their big guns against Sarah Palin on the Sunday talk show circuit. Personally, I watched none of the shows, being busy yesterday, but what I’m reading this morning over at Memeorandum indicates they went bonkers bashing merrily away at the Governor of Alaska. Why the full frontal assault? The answer may well be in Today’s Wall Street Journal. Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, usually has very insightful analysis of polls and polling numbers. His take on what is happening may very well be the reason for the panicky behavior of the Democrats. It may be about women.
It is worth remembering that Hillary Clinton got about 10 million votes from women in the Democratic primaries, but expectations are that roughly 62 million women will vote this November. Most of those 52 million are among the majority of American women who shy away from calling themselves feminists because they see it as having a negative connotation, and most of those who didn’t vote in the primaries tend to be more moderate and less interested in politics.
The fact that Gov. Palin doesn’t come from Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco; that she didn’t go to an Ivy League school; that her husband works with his hands; and that she has family problems to which many of these 52 million can relate on a nonpolitical plane makes her attractive to them.
Much more so than Sen. Hillary Clinton or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who are now the country’s highest-profile women politicians. Their views, values and way of life could not be more different from those of Gov. Palin.
If Gov. Palin becomes Vice President Palin, the clearly political National Organization for Women, the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood, as well as a host of other officially nonpolitical but left-leaning women’s groups, have a problem.
How could such groups and their political allies claim to speak for American women when the country’s highest-profile female politician represents everything they don’t?
To be sure, there are conservative women’s groups who have backed antiabortion female candidates, almost always Republicans. But they are smaller and less known than their more prominent left-leaning counterparts.
These conservative women are overjoyed by Gov. Palin’s selection, using it to argue they are more in touch with the typical American woman.
The polling data Brown cites indicates a huge - really huge - problem for the Democrats. Prior to Palin’s selection, Obama led among white women by eight points. Since Palin came onto the national stage, McCain is now up by twelve in that group.
If Brown is correct, as I rather suspect that he is, then it explains much, including Obama’s decision to launch direct, personal attacks on Palin - a strategy that has usually indicated desperation on the part of Democrats running for the highest office. It also explains the media’s rabid reaction to Palin.
By Quilly Mammoth, Monday, 15 September , 2008 @ 10:14 am
Wait until they unleash the First Dude. Todd Palin is a steel worker who commercial fishes in the toughest area of the world, wins one of the toughest motor sport races in the world numerous times and pilots a bush float plane. A manly man who is comfortable being Mister Mom when required and fully supports his wife’s ambition and mission. And he is a Native American.
He _is_ the embodiment of what the Democrat Party bills itself as: working class that see no limits based on race or gender; and is not bound by outdated roles for men and women. Only they aren’t.
I’m betting Mr. Palin is getting the best crash course in speech making ever seen and will be part of McCain’s October Assault.
By McGehee, Monday, 15 September , 2008 @ 12:44 pm
Quilly raises an interesting point. I’ve just e-mailed some of my friends in Alaska about whether Todd Palin did any campaign talk when Sarah ran for governor. I’ll post back here if/when I hear back.
By feeblemind, Monday, 15 September , 2008 @ 12:47 pm
A fresh round of polls released this a.m. show The One continuing to lose support. Minnesota and even NY could come into play.
By martian, Monday, 15 September , 2008 @ 1:07 pm
The Obamessiah’s problem is that he and his surrogates paniced and lashed out at Palin without thinking about it first. The vicious attacks, Charlie Gibson’s adversarial interrogation of Gov. Palin (where they are still trying to say he was right and she was wrong about the “Bush Doctrine”), and the news coverage, even in the MSM, that the Obama campaign has dispatched as many as 300 operatives to Alaska to try and dig up dirt on Palin are all things that smack of rank fear and desperation on the part of the Obamessiah and his campaign. I think the voting public is starting to smell (Obama’s) blood in the water and is reacting accordingly.
By McGehee, Monday, 15 September , 2008 @ 1:24 pm
First replies to my e-mails:
CD: “I think she was her own spokesperson. She had me at ‘Hello.’”
TB: “To my recollection Todd was portrayed only as a loving supportive family man and husband who was not involved in his wife’s political activities. I did not heard him utter a word during her campaign.”
Unless one of my other correspondents contradicts these, I guess Todd’s entry into this campaign, if it comes, will be his first.
But I don’t think he’s held his own this long in that household without knowing how to say what he means.
By Ropelight, Monday, 15 September , 2008 @ 4:15 pm
Someone said: If you can’t say what you mean, you can never mean what you say.
On topic, no one needed a poll to know that Sarah Palin scared the living bejesus out of Dems and their MSM house organs, although, it’s nice to have numbers confirm intuition. While Palin was giving her acceptance speech Dems were writhing in shock and agony. They sensed a paradigm shift underway right under their noses. Could it be that yet another election was slipping away? Well, yes, that’s exactly what’s going on.
Dems are caught in a Catch-22, they’re damned if they attack Palin, and damned at the ballot box if they don’t find some way to humiliate her before the election. Dems fully deserve the disaster they brought on themselves, with a little help, of course, from the moose shootin’ hockey mom and that wiley old guy who’s too dumb to send an email.
By Plumb Bob, Tuesday, 16 September , 2008 @ 12:29 pm
The 20-point swing induced the panic; that, and sheer hatred at a rube who is so deeply deceived that she actually opposes the unimaginable personal sacrifice offered by the Left on behalf of oppressed women, rather than showing them the obeisance and gratitude they deserve.
I cannot believe they actually care all that much about the facts supporting or not supporting their pretense at representing women. The Democrats’ treatment of blacks does not support the claim that the D party represents equal opportunity, either, but that’s never stopped them from claiming it. Likewise, the feminist groups absolutely lost any right to claim to defend women while defending President Clinton’s sexual abuses, but that has not stopped them from claiming absolute moral authority nonetheless. They’re not concerned with facts; facts don’t count.
By Tom, Tuesday, 16 September , 2008 @ 9:39 pm
Palin is more in touch with the average American than the rest of the bozos running…