1) The experience factor.
Read just about any liberal columnist and you will find a reaction something between condescending snickering, righteous indignation, and uncontrollable fear about Sarah Palin's lack of so called experience. There are several problems with this line of attack. The first is that each and everytime her so called lack of experience is brought up, her colleagues immediately measure it up against Barack Obama's. There is nothing the Republicans would like more than a debate between the lack of experience of their VP nominee, and the lack of experience of the opponent's Presidential nominee. Second, this line of attack is rooted in the beltway elitist view that experience in small towns and states is somehow inferior to experience in D.C. It is exactly those very small towns, and sometimes states, that will play a vital role in deciding this election. In fact, the Obama campaign initially attempted to do just that with their comment alluding to her being a small town mayor immediately after the announcement. Obama, himself, very soon distanced himself from the comment and their own criticism has been muted since. Third, Palin has a remarkable record in her relatively short time in politics. All of these things contrast rather favorably to both Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and thus the media that is allied with Obama would be wise to drop this criticism as it only spotlights Obama's own shortcomings.
2) The personal smears and "dirt"
The most famous is the one created by the Daily Kos claiming that Sarah Palin wasn't really the mother of Trig. This absurd and vicious smear only goes to making her a sympathetic figure. Besides that, so far the so called "dirt" is rather undistinguished. Her seventeen year old is pregnant. The New York Times is trying to push this story as much as possible with three above the fold page one stories on the matter. She once got a ticket for fishing without a license. Her husband got a DUI 22 years ago. She's involved in some sort of scandal involving a dairy farm. She might have worked for a 527 once. She hired a PR firm to lobby for earmarks when mayor. The most damaging is the scandal in which she may have put undue influence over her administration to remove a trooper that was involved in a divorce with her sister. If that's it, she is a remarkably clean politician.
In Greek philosophy, there is the story of Diogenes. He spent his entire life roaming the Earth looking for a perfectly honest man. He ended his life disappointed as no such man existed. The same can be said of any politician. There is no politician without something damaging on their record. That said, if the best they can find is this, that says quite a lot about the character of Sarah Palin. Let's remember that her political opponent came from the Chicago political machine. This is the political machine in which Richard J. Daley (the current mayor's father) once famously pronounced
vote early and vote often
Barack Obama rose through its ranks and in the process made political allies of the likes of Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers, Todd Stroger, Emil Jones (his political mentor), and Richard M. Daley. Compared to the cesspool of politics that Barack Obama grew from, getting a ticket for fishing without a license speaks for itself.
3) Sarah Palin is an interesting and fascinating political figure and person and there is no attacking that, it is what it is.
She was a state champion basketball player. She earned the nickname Sarah Barracuda for her toughness and tenacity including playing through a fracture in her ankle. She was Miss Wassila and second in the Miss Alaska contest. She was a part time sports anchor and a business owner before getting into politics. She is not only a backer of the 2nd amendment, but she has been known to hunt at three in the morning. Her favorite food is moose. She has fought corruption, big government, and big taxes successfully. She blew the whistle on fellow Republicans in act of remarkable courage. Furthermore, she is a self described "hockey mom" that never sought high office but rather, she has been thrust into the political arena. In other words, she has shown a remarkable lack of political ambition.
She relates to and fascinates so many people and that is something the MSM can't shake. There is no story or revelation that will take away from her biography. That is something the MSM doesn't get. Some think that some obscure revelation or self serving column will somehow counter act from her remarkable biography. It won't.
The Obama campaign, on the other hand, has realized this. Unlike their political allies in the media, they have been rather muted in their criticism of Palin. Unlike their allies, what the Obama campaign wants to do is throw the focus away from Palin and onto McCain. Rather than going after Palin, they want to continue their narrative that McCain is Bush's third term. That's what they have done for the most part since the Palin announcement. Unfortunately, that line of attack gets muted if the entire media apparatus continues in their fascination of Sarah Palin. So far it is day five and it doesn't seem to be letting up. The worst thing for the Obama camapaign is if this becomes a referendum on Sarah Palin. Frankly, the Obama campaign's best counter to Palin is a strong performance by Joe Biden in his debate against her. That will play out in a way that no one can determine. If she holds her own the Obama campaign is in trouble, and if she doesn't the McCain campaign is in trouble. No media firestorm prior will change the debate outcome. The best thing the media allies of Obama can do for their candidate is stop talking about Palin. That is hard to do since she is such a fascinating figure.
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