Posted by
Always To The Right on Tuesday, September 02, 2008 2:07:02 PM
I’m going to interrupt my breathing into a paper bag about the Blotter’s Troopergate story
— the only source for which is a Democrat, do note — to bring you this
rare shot of optimism, just because it’s the third instance I’ve heard
something like this in the past 24 hours. KP, an Alaska native, tells
me via e-mail that the word back home is she’s a “phenomenal politician
… [who] just blows people away and tunes out the media and criticism.”
That jibes with this too-good-to-check Bill Kristol anecdote
about Palin all but laughing at McCain staffers fretting that she can’t
stand up to media scrutiny. And now here’s another Alaska source warning TNR
that the left shouldn’t invest too heavily in its fantasies of reducing
her to a blubbering puddle. The Democrats, ironically, seem to have
bought into the “ordinary gal” image even more totally than the right
has; they’re actually starting pools about when she’ll finally wilt
under the pressure and beg off the ticket. Put me down for “never”
Don’t believe him? Read through this indispensable Time magazine story,
dateline Wasilla, for a description of the sort of hardball Mayor Palin
used to play. The hockey mom evidently knows how to use social issues
to her advantage. Exit question about the Troopergate story: What’s the
Democrat in charge of the investigation doing leaking about what it’s
“likely” to conclude? If they’ve finished gathering their facts, go
ahead and put out the report. If they haven’t, then how can he conclude
what’s likely? And, follow-up question: Assuming for the sake of
argument that McCain didn’t vet her down to the atomic level, surely
the Troopergate thing at least was thoroughly vetted, no? It’s set to
drop on October 31 and has the potential to finish him if it’s
damaging. That would be the one thing, I think, they have a foot-thick
binder of information on.