As Gustav Fizzles, Palin Causes Sparks

On the floor of the Xcel Energy Center where the Republican delegates were hanging around for the truncated opening ceremonies, John McCain’s Veep choice of little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin caused no visible consternation. Quite the opposite: Asked for his view of the Palin pick, California delegate Dan Lungren replied, “Brilliant!” Lungren, a congressman representing a Sacramento-area district, also told me that conservative activists were ecstatic about Palin, and were burning up the phone lines offering to donate and volunteer. “She has energized our base,” Lungren said. As for the news that Palin’s 17-year-old daughter was pregnant? Two other delegates I asked literally shrugged. “She a teenager,” one said. “Why is that important?”

That was one attitude.

Down the hallway where the ladies and gentlemen of the press were preparing their dispatches, the mood couldn't have been more different. “Media frenzy” doesn't do it justice. Gustav may have been a dud of a hurricane, but the Palin pregnancy, oh boy, that galvanized the Fourth Estate. All afternoon, my colleagues pounded away on their laptops or spoke breathlessly into micophones. “A day of stunning Palin disclosures” blared the Associated Press' headline.  “Political stunner,” echoed CNN’s Campbell Brown. In fact, in the 30 minutes that I’ve been writing this blog, Brown and other CNN reporters have referred to it on air as “a bombshell” four separate times.

So, those are two ways of looking at the world: The Republican view could be boiled down to the old MAD magazine slogan, “What, me worry?” And then there was the media's worldview: A huge story. A scandal, a “bombshell,” for goodness sakes!

Which view is fair? Which makes more sense? Republican delegates believe the media’s reaction exemplifies its slant in favor of Democrats. Loose Cannon, while not denying the existence of journalistic bias (particularly on cable news), fears the problem may be deeper than that. I think the problem is a lack of empathy, a lack of restraint, and a lack of historical perspective. Perhaps I'm wrong about that. You see, I’m in the bubble tonight, and find myself wondering what everyday Americans who are not political activists think of this story. If you feel like commenting, please do.

In the meantime, I’ll make two observations. First, the known sex scandals associated with the star speakers during the first three days of the Democratic convention puts this Palin daughter stuff in the shade. Yes, I'm talking about the Kennedys and the Clintons. Readers of this blog know that I was respectful, as always, when writing about them last week—but we ought to keep the context in mind here, and some sense of proportionality.

Second, I stand on these questions with the late, great Molly Ivins. The legendary Texas newspaper columnist was as liberal as they come, but her view about such matters was simple, and decent, no matter whose family came under the gun. “I don’t do children,” she said. Barack Obama would agree. In fact, he did agree--just today. “People’s families are off-limits and people’s children are especially off-limits,” Obama told reporters while campaigning in Michigan. “This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Governor Palin’s performance as a governor or potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories.”  

Amen.