After a few hours to cool down, I'm starting to feel giddy...

[calmblueocean]

Palin was nasty, and the voters are not interested in nasty this year.

She had every chance to be the inspiring, moderate, mainstream figure Obama is, and she threw it all away to be the darling of the wingnut crowd.

Now she's just "Bush in a dress". With even more religion. And a knocked-up unwed teenage daughter.

Ha ha ha.

I'm making my prediction now -- the polls a week from now are going to show Obama up by 5%. And that gap is only going to grow once we hit the debates.

Thanks, Sarah, for letting the public know what a nasty weasel you really are!

[skooooo]

1. I agree - they totally blew it.

All of Palin's handlers did nothing for her but ensure that her political future at the national level will never happen.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Can't even manage her private life. The whole thing is going to implode.

It'll be Obama 60/40.

[d_b]

3. i slept through the speech

not even interested in reviewing it. Sounds bad though.

[Diane R]

4. I felt MUCH better when I read the CNN comments. The independents truly despised her.

[stolivodka]

5. Miss Wasallia is a nice lady.

Their only hope was fooling everyone into thinking that she was a "nice Christian lady". Too bad for them that she showed the nation and the world that she was nothing but low class white trash.

[Captiosus]

6. As I posted while the speech was going on live:

CNN's responses and blogs covering the speech were on FIRE, almost literally. I had to keep refreshing the browser to see new responses every 2 minutes. The vast majority of the responses were decidedly negative with very, VERY few coming out in support of Palin or McCain.

There were quite a few folks posting comments like "I was waiting to hear Palin before deciding who I was voting for, and after this speech I've decided to vote Obama". There were a LOT of responses chastising the GOP for taking the low ball attack route from ALL of their speakers and a lot MORE who were criticizing the GOP for not spending ANY time talking about policy. There were people there posting how they were waiting to see how Palin's first speech went and they were very dismayed that she came out and went rabid after a short biography.

CNN's boards, even with the anonymity of the internet, proved to me that people in general, not just "liberals", are tired of the republican fear-n-smear campaigns of 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 and are angry that the republicans could be using this convention to spread a message of genuine concern but are, instead, going right back to the low, slimeball, attack em all methods.

[grasswire]

9. I wish someone would post a link to the CNN comments

I'd like to read them.

[eshfemme]

10. Yes, where do you go on CNN's site to see these comments? I'm interested too.

[Captiosus]

11. This is the only one left after they did their nightly

tidying of their webpages.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/03/rnc.day/index.html

The comments left are at the very bottom under "SOUND OFF". It only shows three, initially, until you click "show next 25". Then just keep clicking "show next 25" to read further.

They abandoned comment posting on this article shortly after the convention broke for the night.

[eshfemme]

14. Thank you!!

Watching the MSM so much is kinda like being surrounded by a roomful of people saying the sky is red when you KNOW the sky is blue. And seeing so many comments about Palin's rudeness and arrogance helps me feel better about the American electorate.

[writes3000]

7. And she was a nasty, spiteful ass with all of her kids right there. Neutrals won't like her. nt

[flamingdem]

8. She's one tweaked moose, thanks for your perspective nt

[curious one]

12. I had to get out and drive around to calm down. Tonight we all saw desperation from a campaign that

knows they have lost it. But this does not mean our work is done, we need to work harder in the next 60 days to get our team into the WH. I need a landslide.

[regnaD kciN]

13. I hope you're right...

I'm making my prediction now -- the polls a week from now are going to show Obama up by 5%. And that gap is only going to grow once we hit the debates.

I think we're about to find out, for better or for worse, something about the American electorate.

As I said in a post earlier tonight, it is clear from Palin's speech (and those of Giuliani, Romney, and the like) that the G.O.P. has decided their election strategy will be virtually the same as every time since 1980, only more so. More warnings that Democrats will "raise your taxes." More fear that Democrats will "leave us defenseless against our enemies." More contempt against Democrats as "out-of-touch elitists." And more insistence that (despite the fact that Republicans have controlled the nation for the last eight years and twenty out of the last twenty-eight) the country is controlled by "liberals" and the only way for the "ordinary American" to "fight back" is to "throw the bums out" and put conservative Republicans in their places. :crazy:

Will it work again, in this political climate, where the Republican president of the past eight years has an approval rating of 28%? I don't know -- but we're about to find out. We're about to see how well American voters respond to the same old Pavlovian bell. You say you think Obama will be up 5% a week from now. I think it's possible -- but I also think it's possible that McCain/Palin might be ahead by 10%. In any event, the coming days will, for me, be a test of the intelligence and perception of the American electorate. I hope to hell they pass!