Sarah Palin, John McCain’s VP pick, delivered her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night. It was not so much a speech as an angry, sarcastic tirade with a smile. If the presidential ticket of the United States were to be decided by the mean spiritedness of the candidates, then McCain and Palin should win hands down. I will have more to say about this later. For now, here is Gail Collins in NYT. An excerpt:
The speech was very well done. The Palin family — who we’re supposed to ignore, but they did sort of seem to be pretty much front and center — were adorable. And she was way more effective than the keynote speaker, Rudy Giuliani, at the red-meat-tossing detail. If you’re going to be really mean for an extended period of time, it’s better if you don’t look as if you want to lunge for the throat of the cameramen.
We had been waiting for a long time to hear from Palin, who went to the mattresses almost immediately after she was introduced to the nation by John McCain last week. What followed was a long line of unexpected revelations, from the fabled teenage pregnancy to my own personal favorite: the threat to fire the town librarian who refused to censor books.
Message to Joe Biden: Forget about old school chivalry. Give Ms Palin the best you’ve got . This woman doesn’t need genteel deference – all her punches land below the belt.
Accidental Blogger 
7 responses to “Sarah Palin : The Pitbull with Lipstick”
This is hilarious. I just have to laugh at the current state of politics in this country. The choice of words in the speech is sophomoric to the point of embarrassment for the speaker. I know fifth graders with more mature skills of linguistic expression.
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Zuleika,
I will have more to say about the choice of “sophomoric” words in my next post. I wish I could laugh. I am actually quite worried. You’d be surprised how many American voters may have found her speech profound – not for the words she used but the message she transmitted.
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Why, then, do so many commentaries critical of Palin nevertheless praise the speech (or its “delivery”)? Zuleika’s is the most precise diagnosis I’ve yet seen. Speeches are primarily texts, not mere performances. George Lakoff approaches an awareness of this fact, but he doesn’t go far enough. He recognizes more care needs to be given to textual crafting, but then he gives in to “symbolism,” an empty word in this context that only begs the question and essentially urges progressives to use the sophomoric linguistic expression so effectively deployed (purportedly) by the Republicans. His deference to Palin’s “masterful” appropriation of Democrats’ language is exactly wrong. As Zuleika points out, the language is facile, not at all artful, and not able to withstand the slightest level of scrutiny.
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I think the praise for the ‘delivery’ is because she can read off a teleprompter passably well without stumbling, unlike our edjumacated current denizen in the White House.
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Which came first, AB or Slate?
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Dean:
AB came first. I saw Dickerson’s article this morning and it had a different heading. But we both got it from Palin who said it to describe herself last night.
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Bite Me! – mixed media on canvas (24"x36")
What’s the difference between a soccer mom and a pitbull? LipsticK! Good one Sarah. So what’s next, Yo Mamma Jokes? It seems to play with the ‘good ole boys, you have to be willing to jump in the ring and wrestle in the mud. And since the Republican candidate for Vice-President, Sarah Palin, "is a girl" she’ll have to show she’s one tough bitch, capable of ripping the media and political foes a new one, and getting down and dirty with the "boys."
So, please be careful, and stay a safe distance from your high definition TV. These political dog fights are known to particularly bloody and vicious. Rumour has it that Michael Vick has been secretly giving McCain and Palin campaign advice. American politics, you might say it’s a dog-eat-dog world. "Yo! Obama, Biden….Bite Me!"
Bite Me!
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