Willie Brown: How does President Palin sound?

[BT]

Willie Brown: How does President Palin sound?
Willie Brown

Sunday, September 14, 2008

 
For first time in modern history, a presidential race is actually going to be decided by the vice presidential pick.

Thanks to Sarah Palin, this is no longer a contest between Barack Obama and John McCain - it's between Brother Barack and Sistah Sarah.

Rock star vs. rock star. Inexperienced vs. inexperienced. Newcomer vs. newcomer. Change vs. change.

His "change" is East Coast intellectual. Her "change" is NASCAR.

His change is wine and cheese. Her change is mayonnaise by the gallon.

And notice how everyone is calling her Sarah Palin - not Gov. Palin. That's not good for the Democrats. It shows a certain familiarity that goes beyond just issues or her knowledge of the "Bush Doctrine."

Heck, even I didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was when Charlie Gibson asked her about it the other night on her first national TV interview.

The Democrats have got to get to the core of this new campaign. It's not a pretty thought, but somehow Democrats must plant in voters' minds that, given McCain's age and his health history, he might not make it through the term if he's elected.

Even if McCain does make it through a term, it's not likely he'll seek re-election and she will be the natural successor.

In other words, Sarah Palin may indeed be president someday.

Then there is the question of how to boost the turnout in key states.

Palin has become an instant heroine with the Wal-Mart crowd in Ohio, Nevada, Pennsylvania and other critical states. And Wal-Marters are a lot more likely to volunteer or show up at the polls than the younger people Obama has attracted.

Right now, the best shot Obama has of winning is to get out and register 12 million or so unregistered blacks, especially in the South. But he has got to do it without anyone noticing.

Palin will have no problem signing up new voters in her group. She can go to the Mountain Dew 250 in Talladega, Ala., and pitch for votes, and no one will bat an eye.

But Obama can't go to a meeting called by Al Sharpton to get out the black vote, because if he does there will be a backlash.

He's got to do it under the radar.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And forget the comedy, Barack. You are not naturally funny and you do not speak "street." You speak like a professor. And you do not know how to set up a joke.

That "lipstick on a pig" line clearly backfired.

If you had said, "As John McCain said about Hillary Clinton's health care ... lipstick on a pig is still a pig," at least you would have had a frame of reference to fall back on.

You didn't, you left yourself left wide open and you got nailed. Now everything you say will be double-examined for sexism.

On the bright side, as far as Obama is concerned, is that the Susie Buells of the world - the hard-core Hillary supporters - are starting to get worried. That might translate into some action.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/14/BAU112SFSU.DTL

[sirs]

[Religious Dick]

President Palin sounds fine to me. If McCain had picked a mediocrity like Tim Pawlenty, I'd have voted for Chuck Baldwin or Bob Barr and never looked back.

This is a feature - not a bug!

[Amianthus]

President Palin sounds fine to me. If McCain had picked a mediocrity like Tim Pawlenty, I'd have voted for Chuck Baldwin or Bob Barr and never looked back.

Actually, Pawlenty is every bit as good a governor as Palin. That would have been another good pick for McCain, IMO.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Actually, Pawlenty is every bit as good a governor as Palin. That would have been another good pick for McCain, IMO.

==========================================================
But would it have triggered the Disney movie that nominating Palin seems to have provoked?

[Amianthus]

But would it have triggered the Disney movie that nominating Palin seems to have provoked?

Probably. The Democrats were already gathering information about him to launch the same kind of attacks.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I suggest that McCain/Palin is a Disney movie plot.
McCain/Pawlenty isn't. There are no opportunities for wild Alaskan scenery, no sled dogs, no hordes of plucky children.
Pawlenty wasn't Miss Almost Alaska, either.

I suppose you think that it is unethical for the Democrats to prepare to campaign against the Republicans.

[Amianthus]

I suggest that McCain/Palin is a Disney movie plot.
McCain/Pawlenty isn't. There are no opportunities for wild Alaskan scenery, no sled dogs, no hordes of plucky children.

Been to northern Minnesota lately? I'll give you a hint, the scenery shown in Fargo (which actually takes place in Brainerd, MN) is only about half way up Minnesota... It's still part of the "heavily populated" part of the state.

Wild scenery, sled dogs, snowmobiles, moose hunting, and "pluky children" abound in Minnesota as well.

The population density of the northern Minnesota counties is something like 1 person per hundred square miles.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Wild scenery, sled dogs, snowmobiles, moose hunting, and "pluky children" abound in Minnesota as well.

The population density of the northern Minnesota counties is something like 1 person per hundred square miles.

====================================
I do not doubt that northern Minnesota, the UP of Michigan, Aroostook County in Maine, and lots of parts of Montana, Washington State, Idaho and even North Dakota are just as cold and wild and sparsely populated as Alaska.

But still, they AREN'T Alaska in the context of a Disney movie.

If you were a Disney director writing that script, you might film it in Minnesota (even more likely: Manitoba), but the movie would officially be set in Alaska. Why? Because Alaska owns the cachet on cold and wild places. 

I am sure there are dozens of people at Disney who are outraged by the fact that there is no proper location in which to have both penguins AND polar bears.

"The Coca Cola ads get away with it! Why can't we?", they cry.

[Amianthus]

I am sure there are dozens of people at Disney who are outraged by the fact that there is no proper location in which to have both penguins AND polar bears.

Yeah, like Disney movies take into account realism.

Heck, they have surfing penguins in the tropics. Wasn't that a Disney movie?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Yeah, like Disney movies take into account realism.

Heck, they have surfing penguins in the tropics. Wasn't that a Disney movie?
================================================
Disney has standards. Not high ones, but some.



Those were cartoon penguins. They allow cartoon animals to get away with anything, but real animals have to follow more realistic rules. I don't recall any Disney films where animals talk, as Mr Ed did.

Disney caught a lot of criticism for suggesting that lemmings committed mass suicide by jumping into the ocean (in reality, Disney's wranglers drove them off the cliff, shooing them behind the cameras), and since then Disney films are more realistic when it comes to real animals.

Real lemmings don't commit mass suicide, but there was a folk belief that they did. So Disney made it a reality, and I imagine that most people still believe this. Lemmings, by the way, are not the most intelligent of God's creatures.

[Amianthus]

Those were cartoon penguins. They allow cartoon animals to get away with anything, but real animals have to follow more realistic rules. I don't recall any Disney films where animals talk, as Mr Ed did.

Disney caught a lot of criticism for suggesting that lemmings committed mass suicide by jumping into the ocean (in reality, Disney's wranglers drove them off the cliff, shooing them behind the cameras), and since then Disney films are more realistic when it comes to real animals.

Real lemmings don't commit mass suicide, but there was a folk belief that they did. So Disney made it a reality, and I imagine that most people still believe this. Lemmings, by the way, are not the most intelligent of God's creatures.

While many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide when they migrate, this is not the case. Driven by strong biological urges, they will migrate in large groups when population density becomes too great. Lemmings can and do swim and may choose to cross a body of water in search of a new habitat. On occasion, and particularly in the case of the Norway lemmings in Scandinavia, large migrating groups will reach a cliff overlooking the ocean. They will stop until the urge to press on causes them to jump off the cliff and start swimming, sometimes to exhaustion and death. Lemmings are also often pushed into the sea as more and more lemmings arrive at the shore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemming

I did some playtesting for a game called "Lemmings in Space" - you were the lemming ship captain, and the goal was to kill your crew and yourself in fantastic ways. Other players would then try to save you, while trying to get killed themselves at the same time. It was pretty funny; I don't think it ever got published.

Disney has done some talking animal movies. Off the top of my head, Cat from Outer Space, Underdog, The Shaggy Dog, the soon to be released Beverly Hills Chihuahua, there are some others.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The idea of suicidal lemmings seem to be, for some reason, amusing.

For some curious reason it seems like we NEED there to be suicidal lemmings.

I am certain that this has more to do with us than it does with lemmings.