She's Like Me?

Wednesday Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin will speak in front of a jazzed up and enthusiastic Republican audience. Hopefully she will avoid Dan Quayle's famous "deer-in-the-headlights" moment and give the barn-burning speech of her (and John McCain's) maverick-lovin' dreams.

Palin, the first female Republican vice presidential nominee, has stayed out of the public eye in Minnesota for two days while the revelations about her family and her record in Alaska surfaced. She has yet to do a news interview or news conference with reporters.

She has been preparing for her address with McCain aides including speechwriter Matt Scully, who drafted her speech in Ohio. "We're just going to rock 'em, sock 'em -- we kind of like it when people underestimate us," a McCain campaign official said of the speech.

The speech will give her a chance to move past the issue of her 17-year-old daughter's pregnancy and the probe into whether she abused her power in having a public safety commissioner fired, although it is unclear if she will directly address either topic.

If watching the Republican National Convention has taught me anything about the Republicans this year is that they can't run on issues and they can't run on the past eight, Bush-tainted years. They've got nothing. So they're pushing the biographies of John McCain and Sarah Palin, twin mavericks in the mold of Ronald Reagan, mounting the steeds of justice and galloping off to round up those earmark-loving rascals, fighting Washington to take back Washington.

Of course by running against Washington the Republicans are basically running against themselves, but hey, if they try hard enough they might pull it off. Of course, I'll probably go deaf if I hear the words "maverick" and "war hero" ever again. What do either of those things have to do with the economy or the dual wars we're fighting?

Palin is being sold as the "she's just like you" candidate. Her family's flaws are now being touted as her simply keeping it real. Her idiosyncrasies are the norm. Her story, no doubt, is dynamic. And she definitely doesn't own seven houses, isn't an heiress to a beer distributorship and enjoys moose stew as a delicacy.

The "She's just like me" argument isn't meant for me, (of course) but conservatives who seem themselves in her views and her family. Suddenly the goal posts have been moved on teen sex for this woman. Her daughter is pregnant and now that's OK, as long as she keeps the baby and marries the father. Premarital sex, no big, as long as you're getting married. Glad to know.

Some think Palin is getting the short shrift, accusing those who say she's a political lightweight of being sexist. (But having no problem with Pat Buchanan who has the habits of calling her a "girl" or "gal.") Call her what you want but don't call her inexperienced!

McCain wants conservative voters, many of whom were lukewarm toward his candidacy, whipped into high dungeon in defense of Palin, angry at the media and the unnamed liberal elites who are denounced by most every convention speaker.

Unfortunately for Democrats, they can't protest too much over McCain's use of the gender card — not after the race between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton stirred sex and racial tensions.

Aren't these the same people who labeled Hillary Clinton supporters cries of sexism as "whining?" Didn't Gov. Palin, herself, call it whining?

And the whole comparison of she's getting it worse that Obama did, I have two words, "Reverend Wright."

However, no one has made the correlation nor has anyone mentioned the hypocrisy that it is. It is ok to say that a man should control his minister, but not ok to say that a woman should control her oldest daughter. It is ok to question a man’s patriotism and religious values, but not question a woman’s politics and family values.

Ironically, while John McCain and Hillary Clinton fueled the fire in the Wright direction, Obama immediately made a statement, telling people to leave Palin’s family out of this. Yet no one still sees the correlation that despite being thrown to the wolves, Obama would not let the same thing happen to her.

Do I want Palin’s family exposed? No. However, I think it’s hypocritical to bring up one thing and not another. Secondly, I think Jeremiah Wright was a non-factor to Obama’s campaign and should’ve never been brought up, but this…this is an issue for the following reasons.

It was "G-D America" this and "G-D America" that for MONTHS. How was that favorable to the so-called media darling?

But that's how it goes.

Still, if Palin bombs tonight one has to wonder ...

With reporters and opposition researchers crawling through Alaska, and with the McCain campaign having dispatched its own team of lawyers to re-vet Palin, Republicans are wondering what shoe might drop next. If further revelations prove damaging enough, McCain could decide to replace Palin or she could choose to withdraw. While such an event seems unlikely given her popularity in some quarters of the party—Jacob Heilbrunn has suggested that social conservatives would view her ouster as “political infidelity”—her rocky reception makes the “Eagleton scenario,” and how it might unfold, a subject of more than academic interest.

That's what Joshua Green's presupposes in his story in The Atlantic, "The 'Eagleton Scenario.'" It sounds like the title of a Jason Bourne film, but it's a decently written article that plays out what would happen if McCain were forced to dump Palin after tonight.

In other news, it's a shotgun wedding for Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin, ages 18 and 17. I'm sure the kids are really excited that they're getting hitched to make this thing "kosher." Pictures of Bristol and her beau are all over the internet, further NOT HELPING anyone. Once again, kids. If you don't want strangers to see it don't put it on your MySpace page!