Sarah Palin: Today's George Bush

Well, we certainly woke up to a new reality this morning. The Republicans jujitsued the anti-Bush zeitgeist, and today Sarah Palin is a rock star. Good for her! Her speech seems to have been unanimously well-received. The Republicans have their Obama. And from what I gather from her speech last night (full disclosure-I wouldn't watch the RNC convention ever, even if it guaranteed me 100,000 hits a day), McCain-Palin will make the rest of the campaign about 'likeability'.

Yes, the Republicans are about to make this an election for ' With Whom You'd Rather Have A Beer'. Again.

Tomorrow Museum has a great post on the oncoming culture war.

I don’t fear Palin is the female Quayle but potentially the female GWB: a weak leader nevertheless capable of getting elected for the likability factor, falling under the influence of the people surrounding her while moving up the ranks. Remember, Bush had “executive experience” as a governor of Texas before the presidency. And they share a speechwriter.

From the Washington Post: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and McCain campaign manager Rick Davis “suggest Palin would be able to handle foreign policy matters by leaning heavily on McCain’s staff.” You aren’t electing a person, you’re electing a party.

And finally...

It all comes back to Karl Rove’s remark, “Even if you never met him, you know this guy… He’s the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.”

As Jon Stewart put it, “Doesn’t elite mean good?…This job you’re applying for — if you get it, and it goes well, they might carve your head in a mountain. If you don’t actually think you’re better than us than what the fuck are you doing?”

Why can't we elect the person who we believe will do the best job? I know I stated character is a big thing to me yesterday, and it is. But we're not talking about character here, we're talking about relatability. Jon Stewart is right-we're not electing a PTA president. Remember, this is how we ended up with W-even I got fooled. We can't let this happen again.

I guess I'm flummoxed. The Republicans have an Obama, and they are now going to run their Obama campaign. Issues will unfortunately be placed out the window.

Educate yourself, fellow voters. The campaign will now be about who you 'like'. Let's change that. We want real answers. You hear that, Obama and McCain camps? Let's have an issue campaign!

Please.