Media Swooned over Liddy Dole in 1996; What If Palin Does Better?

Photo of Tom Blumer.

ElizDolePalinSpeaking0908.jpgIt seems that media and Obama surrogates' (but I repeat myself) trash-talking and demonizing have lowered expectations of Sarah Palin's speech tonight to the "Can she get out a complete sentence?" level.

My sense is that this will work to her advantage, bigtime.

One person who can't exactly be accused of having a conservative bias had this to say about Palin's Friday performance in Dayton:

That was the best political speech I have ever seen delivered by an American woman politician. Palin is as tough as nails.

That person would be well-known and usually popular liberal gadfly Camille Paglia in the UK Times Online.

Of course, you can't find Paglia's quote in any major media outlet, even with a search engine:

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  • A Google News search on "Paglia" during the last 5 days has only 18 results (link may show 94, but there are only 18 as of 6:30 this morning ET), none of which are from major media outlets in the US.
  • A separate search at the New York Times shows no relevant results.

What's interesting to remember ahead of Palin's speech tonight is that the network talking heads rained down praise on another Republican woman who spoke at the 1996 convention. Here it is, from the August 15, 1996 issue of the Media Research Center's CyberAlert:

 Finally Find a Republican They Like, But Still Attack Rest Elizabeth Dole: "Masterful"

It took until the third night, but Wednesday evening the networks finally found a Republican they could respect: Elizabeth Dole. However, they still spent yesterday morning and evening disparaging speakers who had criticized President Clinton and questioning the credibility of Jack Kemp for changing his position on affirmative action and immigration.

"Absolutely powerful performance," gushed Dan Rather after Elizabeth Dole finished her reflections on Bob Dole’s life. "It was masterful," agreed Tim Russert on NBC where Tom Brokaw explained: "In the language of this summer, ladies and gentlemen, that was a gold medal performance." ABC’s Peter Jennings pronounced it "an unquestionably brilliant piece of stagecraft by Mrs. Dole."

True, Mrs. Dole confined her talk to an easy topic, her husband and presidential nominee Bob. But you have to remember that the press was ready to pounce on another GOP candidate's wife after Marilyn Quayle's despised (by liberals) 1992 family values-heavy speech. After Liddy's speech, they had to throw away the negatives or look like total cads

Given 12 years of decay in decorum, will anyone challenge the negative spinmeisters if, as appears somewhat likely, Palin clearly meets or beats Liddy Dole's performance?

A related entry is at BizzyBlog.com.

—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters


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The press has already

The press has already decided they want the "fake American" to win.

Ben Shapiro has a great

Ben Shapiro has a great column today at Townhall.com that starts with a quote from none other than liberal female icon Madeline Albright:


There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women.

He then goes on to explain how that "help" is only for liberal women.

I haven't watched a bit of either convention until now, but I think I will tune in for the Governor's speech tonight.

 

Bush/Gore

Remember the Bush/Gore debates

The buildup was so much "Please Mr. Fox, don't throw me into the briar patch"

Rocky & Bullwinkle '08

The MSM reaction to Sara's speech is already written

 The Top Ten Comments Will Be:

1) We were sitting here wondering who wrote her speech for her.

2) Her speech was o-k, but it would have been better if she wasn't distracted by her 17 year-old daughter's pregancy.

3) Not bad for an inexperienced speaker

4) She tried to emulate Obama, but it didn't work on many levels.

5) Speech was generic, not spellbinding like Obama's.

6) I don't think she persuaded one Hillary supporter to cross over and support her extreme views.

7) Her speech doesn't change a thing. Was she properly vetted?

8) Not a word about her husband's DUI conviction.

9) It's more telling what she didn't say than what she did say.

10) She appeared confident, but because she has no experience and wasn't properly vetted, she was very nervous indeed.

To be fair, it is already

To be fair, it is already being reported that McCain's speech writing team is not only writing her speech but actually re-writing it as the speech had originally been written for a man to give and was deemed too masculine.  Just another indication that the intended VP pick had been Lieberman or ridge, and that Palin was a last-minute substitute and not someone McCain had been considering all along as he now claims.

→ Dammit, we missed it

How perfectly poetic would it have been if Peggy Noonan had written Sarah's speech?

Ronald Reagan's speechwriter providing the poetry for a female VP candidate.  Now, I'm no Chris Matthews, but that thought gives me goosebumps in a patriotic sort of way.

Damn, I'm good.  Late, maybe.  But good. 

Rocky & Bullwinkle '08

Being "reported"

Being "reported" where?

Maybe being "speculated"?

And if they did have a speech already written, it doesn't necessarily mean that it was "intended" to be Ridge or Lieberman. It just means that the assumption was that it would be a man.

 

→ Old news

The speculation last week was that it was Pawlenty, but alas, no bounce.

Insiders surmised it was Ridge or Lieberman, but alas, abortion.

Smart money was on Romney since his flip-flop was already back to flip, but alas, flip-flop-flip?

And I don't know about the rest of the blogs, but thanks to our resident Palin Historian, she was already vetted here at Newsbusters.

Early Christmas. 

Rocky & Bullwinkle '08

How 'MSM' of you, Bruzilla

To be fair, it is already being reported . . .

How long did it take you to decide that line in lieu of "some say" or "according to some sources"?

Pure crap.

Bruz

Reported by who?

Geez.... even if true

If McCain's speechwriters had been told to write it up for a woman, or even with less masculinity, or assertiveness, or whatever, it would have sort of given away the pick, doncha think? (obvious point)

 

Some people

Some people can't be confused by logic.

Me, I'm confused by the "To be fair....."

"fair" about what???

 

That about wraps it

That about wraps it up.

They already have it written. They don't even have to listen to her.

Why bother? Listening won't change what they say.

Motherbelt, you just hit the nail on the head...

You are absolutely correct. The MSM has already decided about Palin before she even gives her speech. Their relentless personal attacks on her and her family are taking priority over her qualifications.  They can't deal with the truth so they resort to character assasination.

Ugly is as ugly does - and those in the liberal left are at their absolute ugliest right now.

"The sun's not going down - the horizon's moving up!" - Firesign Theatre

What color comes after Ultrviolet?

I'm hold my breath.   Let's see if the MSM will be fair and start to question Obama and dig into his past as they have with Palin.  I want more detail on Ayers, Rezko, Pfleger and Wright.  Let's look at his international experience, beyond he once owned an atlas and currently owns a globe that doesn't double as a mini-bar.  What did he do between graduation and 1996?  How did he win his first election?  What does this quote mean in terms of being a bridge and burying the racial divide?

“It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere … That’s the world!  On which hope sits!”– Barack Obama, “Dreams from my Father,” 1995. 

Let's look at Michelle.  Is she really a closet racist?  What was it with that thesis?  How is it that "America is to blame for the problems of Africa."?  

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."  - Sir Winston Churchill

Experience counts

That's why Obama's obvious choice for VP should have been Robert Byrd. 

Rocky & Bullwinkle '08

Robert Byrd, Cool Arrow?

Robert Byrd? That would be a hoot. Picture him giving a speech at the dem convention:

Byrd: My, my, my. How times have changed. Can't believe I'm running with the colored fellow. Back in the ol' days, he'd be running from me!

And then he would say how

And then he would say how Obama's wife and daughters were all so "pret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty....."

yes !!! lets go with the experience factor

LOL  I was having this same discussion with PopTech last nite with his "experience is the MOST important" qualification ..

I pointed out that based on this factor alone we get the following splendid examples of "public service" ...

David Obey   70 D-WI  39 yrs 5 months

John Conyers 79 D-MI 43 yrs 8 months

and the winner is ..

John Dingell 82 D-MI  sucking off the gov't tit for an astounding 52 yrs 8 months

 from the Senate we get ...

Ted "swimmer" Kennedy  76 D-MA  45 yrs 9 months

and

Rob't "sheets" Byrd  91 D-WV   keeping the WV sign painters busy for 49 yrs 8 months

 

Unlike Obama...

...Sarah Palin actually spoke TO people - not AT them.

He's an empty suit, and the fact that the comparisons are not Biden-Palin, they are OBAMA-Palin!

This is too good!

www.ArmchairEnergist...