Jack & Jill Politics

Al Giordano at The Field just kills it.

I knew something was “off” with the Palin presentation as I watched it last night but was slow to identify the precise moment that she blew it. The mortal error of Palin’s speech was the attack on community organizers. Perhaps because I have self-identified as a community organizer for my entire adult life – with the scar tissue upon scar tissue that makes me used to and unconcerned with the typical belittling response from petty bureaucrats, governmental and corporate – I forgot about how the community that is organized takes special offense when some apparatchik goes after their own organizer.

Al pulls in Roland Martin’s response:

And political satirist (and my mentor) Barry Crimmins:

The Snark Shark energized the condescending portion of the base of the Republican Party last night but maybe not the parts of the base some thought she’d inspire. The speech’s absolute lack of humility and generosity spoke directly to a lot of miserable old men who live in places where even the possibility of a black man becoming president is turned away at the guard shack. They live where community organizing is unnecessary unless the groundkeepers have let the fairway grow a bit too shaggy.

and more

There was nothing blessed or meek in her remarks and her only real mentions of religion were used to kneecap her opponents. What has Governor Palin’s faith done for her other than elevate her to a place where she can walk on the stage at a political convention and say, “Blessed are the power elite!” She didn’t discuss the beauty and majesty of Alaska, she belittled the places where tens of millions of Americans live. She ran a town that was bolstered by almost $30 million in pork barrel graft from Sleazy Ted Stevens but she disparaged the people who reside in places where fundraisers have to be done to buy rudimentary items like textbooks.

and my fave from Crimmins

Because of her, little asshole mayors all over the country are that much more full of themselves. Considering the puniness of these tiny, turfy twits, this could really backfire on Palin. Small-town Americans put up with lame local officials because they hate dealing with the petty nonsense that is the small-time pol’s stock in trade. If Sarah Palin emboldens these Babbits to start swaggering in public rather than to just continue to lurk in the town hall basement, skimming nickels from the parking meter haul, it could remind us why we don’t want the likes of the Snark Shark a rather faint heartbeat away from the presidency.