The left continues to drive Hillary backers away

After trying the who’s-kid-is-it-really nonsense, the lefties, led by none other than Alan Colmes, are implying taht Governor Palin is somehow responsible for her youngest child having Down Syndrome (Wizbang).  Meanwhile, Mountain Sage has the latest in high debate from Democratic Underground.

These guys are literally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory here.

Sarah Palin’s national security experience: it’s more than you think

Part of the negative reaction to the nomination of Governor Palin stems from the fact that most people don’t put “governor” and “national security” in the same sentence.  Even border-state governors have a hard time showing national security bona fides.

However, as any map will show, Alaska is not the normal state.  It’s the only state that borders Russia (at least until the Russian Far East is fully Sinicized, but that’s for another post), and as such, Governor Palin’s day-to-day responsibilities incllude some things that would make Mark Warner blanche and Tim Kaine go running to hide in his parallel universe.

Blackfive has the details (courtesy “Tom W.” – emphasis added):

Alaska is the first line of defense in our missile interceptor defense system.  The 49th Missile Defense Battalion of the Alaska National Guard is the unit that protects the entire nation from ballistic missile attacks.  It’s on permanent active duty, unlike other Guard units.

As governor of Alaska, Palin is briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism.  Her exposure to classified material may rival even Biden’s.

She’s also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security’s counterterrorism plans.

Palin is privy to military and intelligence secrets that are vital to the entire country’s defense.  Given Alaska’s proximity to Russia, she may have security clearances we don’t even know about. 

FWIW, Blackfive himself is skeptical about Palin’s clearances vis a vis Biden.  I beg to differ, though; Palin probably has clearances Biden doesn’t have, especially as he is neither on the Armed Services nor Homeland Security Committees.

The point is, Governor Palin is quite aware of the dangers our country faces - it comes with the job.

The ACC’s week from hell

When it comes to college football, my alma mater is in what they used to call I-AA, meaning I resort to my northeastern roots where what they used to call I-A is concerned.  Thus, as a Big East guy, I can’t help but feel a lot of schadenfreude at the disaster that was opening weekend for the ACC.

Take a look the Conference’s performance this weekend (ESPN).

Thursday: Three schools wax powderpuff opponents (sorry Baylor), while North Carolina State gets goose-egged by South Carolina.

Today: Maryland and UNC squeak by two what-they-used-to-call-I-AA schools, Big East defector Boston College thumps Kent State, and Duke beats JMU.  Meanwhile, USC comes to Virginia and hangs 52 on the home team; Alabama goes to #9 Clemson and waxes the floor with the Tigers; and East Carolina upsets Va Tech with a punt-block returned for a touchdown in the last two minutes.

They’re already waiting for basketball season in ACC-land!

Palin is untested? This is a joke, right?

Some of the reaction to Governor Palin’s selection as the next Vice President of the United States has been beyond funny (not this, that was just sick).  Jonathon Martin of Politico actually implied that Palin wasn’t qualified because she “has never even appeared a single time on ‘Meet the Press’” (NRO  – The Corner) – I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn’t finished my Diet Coke before I read that.

However, even among some on the right, there is a concern that Palin is “untested” – as if she just waltzed into the Governor’s Mansion in Anchorage.  They cringe (or chortle – if they’re Dems) at comparing her to Senator Joe Biden, as if the man who fossilized himself in the U.S. Senate will all but eat her alive.

For those of you with those fears or fantasies (and you know who you are), allow me to introduce you to a fellow named Frank Murkowski.

In 1998, Murkowski won his fourth term in the United States Senate.  Four years later, he decided to run for Governor.  By this point, his ego was so immense that he demanded the state change its Senate seat vacancy law so that he could appoint his daughter to succeed him, and his power was such that the state’s political class – including then Governor Tony Knowles, a Democrat – rolled over for him.

While Murkowski was pulling the strings all over the state, Sarah Palin lost a GOP primary for Lieutenant Governor.  Murkowski placed her on the state’s Oil and Gas Commission; she was just one more GOP politician who got a plum post in the Alaska GOP machine.

That is until she quit the Commission and turned whistleblower against the state’s Attorney General and GOP Chairman.  Then she became an outcast in Alaska politics.  Meanwhile, Murkowski rumbled along to his re-election campaign in 2006, firmly convinced he would be the third piece of the state’s iron triangle (himself, Ted Stevens, and Don Young).

But Sarah Palin took him on – and waxed him.  For good measure, she faced the state’s most popular Democrat in thirty years (Knowles, who had managed to win his first term in 1994), and whupped him by seven and a half points.

Untested?  Don’t make me laugh.  She had a tougher Republican opponent than Barack Obama!

Zogby post-Palin selection poll: McCain up two

Only one pollster has taken a poll entirely after the Palin nomimation – Zogby.  With the usual Zogby caveats and warnings . . . (Newsmax):

Republican John McCain’s surprise announcement Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate – some 16 hours after Democrat Barack Obama’s historic speech accepting his party’s presidential nomination – has possibly stunted any Obama convention bump, the latest Zogby Interactive flash poll of the race shows.

The latest nationwide survey, begun Friday afternoon after the McCain announcement of Palin as running mate and completed mid-afternoon today, shows McCain/Palin at 47%, compared to 45% support for Obama/Biden.

Prior to the Democrats’ convention and the Biden selection, Zogby had McCain up five - meaning the Audacity of Hype’s bounce is a mere three points (FTR, Rasmussen has a bounce of zero, while Gallup has eight).

More to the point, if Zogby is to be believed, McCain-Palin is in the lead before their convention has even started.

Hands up, anybody out there expect that this year?

Not how to win friends and influence people

The folks attempting to inflict the Audacity of Hype on the rest of us had several avenues they could have taken on Governor Sarah Palin.  Which one did Daily Kos pick?  Let Bearing Drift tell you:

According to a Kos diarist, Sarah Palin faked her last pregnancy to cover up the fact that the child was actually her 17 year-old daughter’s.

Very classy. And the comments are even more so.

The PUMA folks – the very people the Audacity of Hype needs if he is to win – are not taking this well (Oooh, nuance!, Not Your Sweetie, NOTE TO OTHER PUMA BLOGGERS: if I missed you, let me know in the comments – I’m in what for me is unchartered territory here).

Meanwhile, Texas Hill Country has flipped (before this nonsense), and is backing McCain-Palin (welcome aboard, THC!).  Something tells me this will merely reinforce that decision – and perhaps get others to repeat it.

What some die-hard Hillary bloggers are saying (UPDATED)

About three-and-a-half weeks ago, I got plugged into the larger world of national blogging.  A pro-Hillary blog (Texas Hill Country, to be exact) chose to link to one of my posts, which meant wider breadth of readership for me and – far more important to me – a new niche in the blogosphere for me to explore: the PUMA die-hard Hillary crowd.

I was particularly interested in the reaction to the nomination of Governor Palin.  Three in particular (Texas Hill Country, The Mountain Sage, and Not Your Sweetie) seemed quite pleased, although TMS noted that other Hillary backers had decidedly different reactions.

Now I won’t even begin to pretend I am well versed in the dynamics of this crew, but from the few I saw, I can say that we have nothing like this in the Virginia blogosphere – which, at the risk of offending my fellow bloggers, looks at lot more insular and parochial to me now than it did just last month.

To see what I mean, take a look at the Not Your Sweetie post again, particularly the graphic.

Let’s face it, none of us were that creative!

UPDATE: OK, I’ve taken a bit of a longer look (check out the PUMA blogroll from Ooh! Nuance! if you want to do it, too),  Reaction to Palin is very positive.  Some are even crossing over to McCain-Palin, and most are keeping the option open.  Now, it’s hard to translate the blogosphere into the rest of the country, but if this is any indication, McCain may have found the ultimate wedge.

Man, Bismark was no dummy.

UPDATE II: Tim Watson reminds me of Howling Latina in the comments.  Mea culpa, HL.

Meanwhile, in Pakistan . . .

. . . the political party of outgoing President Pervez Musharraf (PML-Q) has become kingmaker (Daily Times):

Campaigning for the September 6 presidential election gathered momentum on Thursday as the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) stepped up efforts to win over the PML-Quaid (PML-Q).

Just six monthas ago, conventional wisdom held that the PML-Q was toast, on its way out along with Musharraf.  Now, it has emerged as the third force – just as I figured - and Musharraf himself may be in the position to pick his own successor.

More to the point, this will repeat itself once more when it comes to major governing issues.  I’m guessing that at some point, either of the two major parties will look to the PML-Q as a coalition partner.  Musharraf and his party clearly have enough power and support to be a force in Pakistan.

Whether they are a force for good or ill remains to be seen.

Ken Cuccinelli on the next Vice President of the United States

From Virginia’s next AG:

“Governor Sarah Palin brings a strong conservative, pro-taxpayer and pro-life record to the Republican ticket. She is a reformer with results and her executive experience compliments John McCain’s military service.”

“Sarah Palin’s reforms in Alaska go hand-in-hand with John McCain’s maverick record in the U.S. Senate on cutting spending and reigning in the out of control federal budget. Governor Palin brings a record of executive leadership and reform that the democratic ticket completely lacks. Neither Obama nor Biden have a single shred of executive or military experience. The Harvard Law Review simply isn’t enough to qualify one for President of the United States .”

“Governor Palin also adds an obvious benefit that Senator Joe Biden can’t possibly provide, namely that she’s held jobs in the private sector sometime in the last 35 years.”

I particularly liked the last line.

The next Vice President speaks on the late Bridge to Nowhere

From Jim Geraghty:

When it came to that Bridge to Nowhere, I said ‘thanks, but no thanks.’ If we need a bridge, we’ll build it ourselves.

There, in that one statement, we have the one thing that was completely absent from the Democrats’ little show: self-reliance.  How often did you hear anyone say, “we’ll build it ourselves.”  Never.