Nice Work

I forced myself to watch the Republican convention last night. Ordinarily, I try to minimize my exposure to political programming. Long ago, I abandoned the notion that this should be a political blog. And watching people strive with each other, competing who can tell the most damaging lies, makes my stomach hurt.

My overall impression was that Sarah Palin has electrified Republicans. A couple of weeks ago, we were listless and bored. Now we’re sending money to McCain. We’re cheering for Sarah. We’re furious at the slimy attacks on her daughter. We even like John McCain. That, in and of itself, is miraculous.

Whoever chose Sarah Palin is a political genius. He moved millions of Hillary voters into the GOP camp (check PUMA sites and see for yourself), he woke up the base, he gave hope to Christians, and he added a powerful dose of legitimacy to McCain’s “reformer” label.

The vicious efforts to humiliate her child have backfired. They make Obama’s supporters look inhuman. They exposed the diseased heart of the far left, which includes much of the mainstream media.

President Bush made a brief, polished, gracious video appearance. Vice President Cheney had the good sense to stay away, even though none of the evils the left attributes to him have been substantiated. Then we were treated to a tasteful and appropriate tribute to an American hero, Navy SEAL Michael Monsoor, who threw himself on a grenade to save his buddies and three Iraqis. That was a great reminder of what Republicans are supposed to be about. Duty. Sacrifice. Service to country. National security, which is still an issue, regardless of how much Barack Obama wants it to go away.

Fred Thompson came out and gave the kind of speech he would have given last year, had he really wanted to be President. He told us things about John McCain, which most of us didn’t know. He has a total of seven children, including an adopted daughter who was an orphan in Bangladesh. John McCain had two opportunities to leave Vietnam, not one, and he refused both. When he arrived at the Hanoi Hilton, the kind, enlightened Vietnamese leftists left him on a cell floor with broken limbs and stab wounds, lying in his own waste because he could not move himself. Thompson described the torture McCain willingly submitted to by turning down a trip home. They broke his teeth out. They beat him repeatedly and used ropes to stretch his arms behind his back. He suffered more broken bones. To many liberals, this is simply the fitting and just consequence of having dropped bombs from an American airplane. To healthier minds, it is heart-wrenching.

Fred was great, but the speech I liked best came from Joe Lieberman. He’s not the orator Fred Thompson is, but he was the convincing bearer of several crucial messages which may swing this election. Some were unspoken, but they were still powerful.

Here’s what he was trying to convey. 1. Republicans are the only friends Israel and the Jews have, and it’s okay for Jews to vote for them. 2. We need a President who cares about national security, and who will terrify our enemies. 3. These issues are so important, even social liberals need to cross the line just this once. 4. The notion that John McCain is George Bush’s puppet is not only wrong, but absurd. 5. John McCain is willing to include Democrats in his administration.

That’s not demagoguery. Those things are all true. And the man who delivered the speech has zero credibility problems.

Lieberman also pointed out that Obama is a sheep in wolf’s clothing. He claims to be his own man, but he has never been involved in any kind of reform. That’s saying something, for a politician who worked in corrupt Chicago and then went on to the US Senate. He never crossed swords with his leaders. He never questioned the status quo. In fact, he did exactly as he was told. And in the Senate, he did virtually nothing, aside from showing up to vote once in a while.

“Change”? For Obama, the biggest change would be change itself. When it comes to change, he can’t carry Sarah Palin’s purse.

Lieberman spoke against his own best interests, which is a powerful indicator that he was sincere. It may be true that he’s expecting a Cabinet post from McCain, but right now, he’s a Senate bigwig who can use his majority-completing status to make the Democrats crawl. And he knows he may lose leverage in November, if the Democrat margin is expanded. Commentators sometimes call Lieberman “shrewd,” which is often anti-Semitic for “tricky Jew,” and they claim he’s doing all these things purely to advance his career. That would only make sense if Obama were a weak candidate, or if Republicans were expected to maintain their numbers in the Senate. Even if GOP Senate seats were safe, it would be risky, because now Lieberman has to answer to the liberal base that elected him. He may well be ousted.

I like what I’m seeing. Convention attendees seemed energetic and full of confidence, and the liberal pundits are lashing out with as much venom as they can muster, which proves they’re scared. Debates are coming up, and we already know Obama and Biden are very weak debaters. I wish we had had another Reagan up our sleeve last year, but we didn’t. And Barack Obama is Jimmy Carter without the experience. John McCain will do. Maybe he’ll get his chance.