folksy, flawed, "just like us:" the candidate folks can relate to

[amborin]

palin scares me tremendously; i'm sure rove engineered her selection

i know, i'll be labeled a 'concern troll'

but elections are about emotions

sad to say, much of the general electorate is not up to processing nuanced treatments of the issues

they want someone they can understand immediately, who talks to them on their level, who's down to earth seeming, and just one of them

that's the way palin came across last night

it's the same phony populism bush and crew used successfully to con the masses into thinking he was the kind of guy they'd love to sit down and have a beer with

i'm not sure what strategy the dems should use now, but i am worried

<http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/354172>

[CatsDogsBabies]

1. I think it sounds like she was overly sarcastic

Mocking the poor and those who try to help themselves and their community. Mocking Obama's community organizing experience is just as good as mocking the people he was helping. Do you think most people think that ridicule is a good way to relate to others?

[quiet.american]

2. Not for nothing, but Palin's got nothing on Barack and Joe in that department.

Voters like them. Love them. Have broken bread with them. And trust them.

[Alter Ego]

3. I think the overwhelming reaction from anyone who wasn't a Bush Republican

was that she was smug, sarcastic, and hateful.

[Sensitivity]

9. Her selection is signal that Mark Penn playbook has been borrowed and PALIN is on point

[still_one]

4. She is a extreme religious zealout. Do you really think people relate to that?

Do you think that people relate to no abortion, even in the case of incest, rape, or the life of the Mother?

You are right, her ideas are scary

However, most women see right through this. They are not going to vote in someone who will put women's rights behind a hundred years

Young people will not vote for endless war

and the majority of the people are not going to vote for someone who embraces the bush doctrine

bush has a 20% approval rating

As long as people turn out to vote we win

[Sensitivity]

5. UNFORTUNATELY, Many voters don't care about IDEOLOGY, but "PERSONALITY" and "VALUES"

[amborin]

7. exactly

and that's what's so worrisome

[yardwork]

11. I saw lousy values and a mean personality on screen last night.

[amborin]

6. did you all read The Nation article linked above?

it argues how rethug after rethug has won elections through this fake populist b.s.

regardless of how well you and I can see through Palin's b.s., what matters is how she plays to the masses

she came across brilliantly, from a rethug strategic standpoint

and the article's author thinks McCain's choice was quite clever, that his ability to see the need for emotional symbolism is underrated

[FSogol]

8. "just like us" is GOP doublespeak for "not white"

these people were not going to vote Democratic before. Nothing has changed.

[yardwork]

10. That's not the way she came across last night.

I agree with you that a lot of people are overly influenced by sound bites, but Palin failed to come across as folksy or charming. Huckabee is folksy, charming, and "kinda like ordinary folks" even those he's crazy.

Palin came across as mean, spiteful, sarcastic, and bullying. Nobody wants to have a beer with her.

[Sensitivity]

12. Hope you are right! I found her unbearable in every way. But that prob means she's a WINNER.

[yardwork]

15. Hard-core mean Republicans will eat her up but everyone else hates her.

They can't win with 30%. The same people who inexplicably think that chimpy is doing a heckuva job probably loved Sarah Palin's performance last night. The other 70% threw up.

[backscatter712]

13. She came across to me as nasty, snotty and patronizing.

I get the feeling I'm not the only one that got that impression. She won't make many friends that way.

[amborin]

14. again

she came across to me as horrible in every way, and she is

but it's not about how she comes across to *you* or to *me*

but how she comes across the rethugs and the undecideds