After two days of unrelenting negative coverage, media analysts last night and this morning almost universally lavished praise on Gov. Sarah Palin's convention speech. Immediate reaction by the broadcast punditry was positive. On NBC, Tom Brokaw said a few moments after Palin concluded, "Tonight makes a very auspicious debut as the vice presidential candidate before this hall and a national television audience. She could not have been more winning or engaging." On CBS, Bob Schieffer said after the speech, "I think she passed the first test. The people in this hall absolutely loved this speech. ... Now we'll see how it plays with the rest of the country." On ABC, George Stephanopoulos said, "There were a lot beautiful and effective lines in this speech." On ABC's Nightline, Stephanopoulos added, "She definitely gets an A. ... It was appealing and funny and warn at times. Very, very tough at times as well. And she really did have an ability to bring these things down to earth, bring it down to earth."
On CBS, Jeff Greenfield said she "made a very strong first impression, the kind Republicans want appealing to people beyond the base." On NBC, Brian Williams referred to a "tough and warmly received speech," while on MSNBC, David Gregory said, "I think this was a very strong presentation. ... If this was a first test for...Palin on the national stage...then she's gone a long way toward being very successful." On CNN, Wolf Blitzer said, "She really did hit it out of the park tonight not only here but for millions of Americans watching across the country. No doubt...their first real impression of her had to be very, very positive given this speech that was obviously very carefully written but very well delivered." Anderson Cooper added, "If anyone is wondering why she is such a popular governor in the state of Alaska, you saw the answer tonight."
Praise came from more than just Republicans and the media. On CBS, Democratic strategist Joe Trippi said, "She passed this test with flying colors, but this one was controlled, a crowd that adored her with a teleprompter. Now she has to go out, face the press, answer their questions, see how she does against Joe Biden. But if you are the Democrats right now, you're taking this thing a lot more seriously."
Print coverage this morning is echoing the praise in front page story across the nation. The New York Times reports on its front page that Palin's appearance "electrified a convention that has been consumed by questions of whether she was up to the job," while the Washington Post says on its front page that Palin "may be controversial, risky and untested on the national stage. But at the convention Wednesday night," she "proved to be an instant jolt of energy for a political party that has been worried and demoralized for much of 2008." Another Washington Post front page story notes Palin "offered at least one apparent ad-lib: 'The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?' she asked. 'Lipstick.'" The Los Angeles Times similarly notes that Palin faced an "enthusiastic audience whose frequent cheers were like balm after the political pain of the past several days." USA Today, under the headline "Palin Makes Landfall in St. Paul," says, "Looking confident and poised, she depicted herself as an independent-minded fiscal conservative, an advocate for special-needs children such as her son Trig -- and a critic of Obama." The Politico says Palin's "poised and flawless performance evoked roars of applause from delegates who earlier this week might have worried that the surprise pick and newcomer to the national stage may not be up to the job. When the nearly 40-minute address came to a close, however, all doubts were doused and Democrats were on notice that Palin will not flinch from the fight."
In an analysis, the AP reports, "With a forceful speech that served as her introduction to millions of Americans on Wednesday," Palin "seduced many on television who had spent days doubting her candidacy." USA Today reports, "In interviews after Palin's speech, voters across the USA gave her generally positive reviews." The Wall Street Journal reports, "Pulitzer-prize winning historian David M. Kennedy gave her high marks. 'I think she's been quite effective,' he said. 'She's clearly no patsy. She's a pretty effective speaker. She's not afraid, at least in this particular format, to be quite combative. I think she's going to be a pretty formidable candidate.'"
Some stories did express lingering doubts about her candidacy beyond the convention. The Wall Street Journal reports Palin addressed "a loudly enthusiastic crowd of delegates," but adds "the broader question was how her speech would play to the audience beyond, a question that was impossible to answer immediately." In a similar analysis, titled "Easiest Task For Palin May Have Been Speech," the New York Times reports, "From here, Ms. Palin moves into a national campaign where she will have to appeal to audiences that are not necessarily primed to adore her." In an analysis, the Los Angeles Times reports that Palin "delivered the most important speech of her career with poise and pugnacity. ... But Wednesday was the easy part."
The opinion pages today also contain praise for the speech. A sampling: In a column titled "BARACK, MEET YOUR NIGHTMARE," Rich Lowry writes in the New York Post, "Last night, the question about Sarah Palin wasn't if she's risen too fast, but where she's been for so long. ... Annie Oakley brought a gun to a knife fight and made like the Obama-Biden ticket was a moose lazily meandering into her gun sights. ... John McCain may have found himself the ideal wingman." In his New York Daily News column, Michael Goodwin writes that Palin "has turned the political world upside down. ... She used sarcasm, a baby-doll voice and a confident delivery in the speech of her life. Hell, given the stakes and the doubts about her ability, it was one of the best political speeches of the year. She pulled it off like she was born for the moment." Philadelphia Inquirer TV critic Jonathan storm writes, "A star was born last night." In the Chicago Sun Times, Lynn Sweet writes, "With steely grit and humored determination, Palin started the job of righting her turbulent political launch." The Washington Post, in an editorial however, calls the speech "impressive" but said Palin's resume is "astonishingly thin."
Tough Rhetoric Gets Media Attention A common theme in the coverage of Palin's speech are descriptions of it as hard-hitting or even too negative. On ABC, for example, George Stephanopoulos said, "One other thing we saw tonight is one tough cookie. She said the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull was lipstick. And she proved it with that speech tonight." On NBC, Ann Curry took it further, saying, "I think that she surprised them here with how much of an attack dog she was in her speech tonight."
On CBS, Katie Couric called the speech "feisty, folksy, fiery, and emotional," and added she "pounded Barack Obama, attacking him on everything, from his positions on Iraq to terrorism, to taxes, and said some politicians 'use change to promote their careers.'" On CNN, Campbell Brown said, "I would say also that John McCain got his attack dog."
The Washington Times (9/4, Dinan, 83K) reports Palin "showed she could punch with the political brawlers," while the New York Times refers on its front page to "slashing attacks on Mr. Obama's claims of experience," which "reinforced new television commercials by the McCain campaign that similarly belittled the Democratic nominee's experience." Another front-page Washington Post piece, headlined "Palin Comes Out Fighting," says Palin "embraced the role of leading the attack against the Democratic ticket." Similarly, the Los Angeles Times headlines its front-page story "Defiant Sarah Palin Comes Out Swinging," and describes Palin as "gleefully tearing into" Obama.
Palin Challenge's Media's Criticism At one point in her speech, Palin took direct aim at her media critics. The Chicago Tribune says Palin "cast herself as a victim of hostile reporters and a scornful Washington establishment, skewering a favorite conservative target and evoking shouts of 'shame on you' from the delegate floor to the press corps. 'Here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators,' she said. 'I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this great country.'"
On NBC, though, Tom Brokaw indicated that the media wasn't going to back down, saying, "But in fact tonight, when she talked about opposing the bridge from nowhere...she was in favor of it until Congress decided that Alaska would have to pick up the rest of the tab. So there are those issues that legitimately need to be examined as there are with Joe Biden and Barack Obama and we'll continue our role."
Obama Compares Palin To Bush However, not everyone was enthralled by the speech. The Financial Times notes "the Obama campaign said Mrs Palin's speech sounded 'exactly like the same divisive, partisan attacks we've heard from George Bush for the last eight years.'" McClatchy quotes the statement from the Obama camp, "If Governor Palin and John McCain want to define 'change' as voting with George Bush 90 percent of the time, that's their choice, but we don't think the American people are ready to take a 10 percent chance on change."
The AP reports Rudy Giuliani "said Wednesday night that Barack Obama and the Democrats 'are in a state of denial' about the threat of terrorism against the United States." Giuliani said Obama "is a celebrity senator without a record of leadership or legislation." On NBC, Brian Williams said, "In Rudy Giuliani's speech right before, it was a kind of stabbing, mocking speech. He said of Barack Obama, his rise is remarkable in its own right. It is the kind of thing that can only happen only in America. He was kidding. He said it in a mocking way." USA Today reports Giuliani "said Thursday that the nation must choose this fall between 'a true American hero' who survived torture in Vietnam and a Chicago 'machine politician' who 'has never led anything. Nothing. Nada.'" The Washington Times reports Giuliani "released a relentless attack on" Obama, "energizing a previously moribund Republican convention and setting up one of the most anticipated vice-presidential speeches in recent history." Giuliani said, "The choice in this election comes down to substance over style. John McCain has been tested. Barack Obama has not."
The Minneapolis (MN) Star-Tribune reports that two other primary contenders preceded Giuliani. Mitt Romney "went first with a full-throated denunciation of liberalism -- and a barely veiled whack at Sen. Barack Obama." Mike Huckabee "also took a shot at the news media after thanking them for uniting Republicans. 'The reporting of the last few days has proven tackier than costume changes at a Madonna concert,' Huckabee said."
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The Washington Post reports in a front page story that in his acceptance speech tonight, John McCain will "seek to recast the Republican Party's brand in his own maverick image, staking his claim to the presidency on a depiction of himself as a political renegade in an attempt to overcome what he will paint as his opponent's more ephemeral call for change." McClatchy reports McCain on Thursday "gets his chance to show the country how he'd break with an unpopular president from his party, George W. Bush. It's a tricky opportunity. Bush remains popular with many Republicans, but McCain also needs to appeal to independents who don't like Bush and who could be crucial in a close election." The Christian Science Monitor says McCain "will have to be as much political acrobat as statesman."
The AP reports Mark Salter, McCain's "closest adviser and top speechwriter, said the address will focus on specific policy proposals but would also shine a light on the promise of transforming Washington and asking which candidate was better suited to make good on that promise. It will also portray McCain as a selfless public servant who has repeatedly taken political risks and challenged his party when necessary, Salter said."
The Gallup daily presidential tracking poll of 2,767 registered voters taken August 31-September 2 shows Obama leading McCain 49%-43%, down from a 50%-42% lead the prior day. Gallup says this latest "rolling average probably does not reflect much impact of the delayed opening of the Republican National Convention now underway in St. Paul, Minn." The Rasmussen Reports automated daily presidential tracking poll for September 2 shows Obama leading McCain 48%-43%, and 50%-45% including leaners. A third poll from American Research Group, released yesterday, surveyed 1,200 likely voters from August 30-September 1, and shows Obama leading McCain 49%-43%.
Obama Has Advantage In Three Battleground States A set of three CNN /Time/Opinion Research state polls out today shows Obama holding large leads in two battleground states (Iowa, Minnesota) and a tiny lead in a crucial one (Ohio). In Iowa, Obama leads McCain 55%-40%. In Minnesota, home of this week's GOP convention, Obama leads 53%-41%. In Ohio, the race is much closer, with Obama up 47%-45%. The surveys polled 828 registered voters in Iowa, 742 registered voters in Minnesota, and 685 registered voters from August 31 to September 2.
ABC World News interviewed John McCain, who was officially nominated earlier in the day yesterday by the convention. Asked if he believed his running mate, Sarah Palin, was qualified, McCain said, "Oh, absolutely. When I think people compare her experience and background, and accomplishments. I mean, ethics and lobbying reform in a state that was beset by the influence of special interests, cutting taxes, giving the citizens back money. I mean, she's got an incredible resume, including a beautiful family and a wonderful, loving, caring family. So, I will think that over time, people will compare her accomplishments with that of Senator Obama. And his are very meager."
The Politico notes Howard Wolfson, "a former top strategist for" Hillary Clinton said yesterday, "There's no way those questions would be asked of a male candidate." And "Phil Singer, who worked with Wolfson on Clinton's campaign, said the news media tend to focus on different sets of subjects when covering women candidates. ... 'There's no question that the issues a woman has to deal with are different,' Singer said, adding that, 'The real indictment that needs to be prosecuted is about her views, not her personal life.'"
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The Wall Street Journal reports on its front page that Gov. Sarah Palin has "been embraced by the right and pilloried by the left as a staunch conservative on social and economic issues. But a look at her record as mayor of the small town of Wasilla and as governor of Alaska shows a politician more flexible in her ideology as she has juggled the needs of governing." Palin has "supported abortion restrictions and floated the idea of pulling books she considered offensive from a local library. But she also drew the ire of the religious right by shelving calls for new abortion limits, when she worried it would distract from her bipartisan deal to push through a new gas pipeline. She forced through property-tax cuts, but also raised taxes on oil companies. She has close relations with organized labor, backing union contracts on a state pipeline."
The Washington Post reports Barack Obama "on Wednesday dismissed the ongoing Republican National Convention as a substance-free spectacle hiding behind Sen. John McCain's biography and ignoring the economic insecurity that many Americans are facing every day as he continued a swing through working-class towns in the Midwest."
The British newspaper The Guardian reports Sen. Joseph Biden "said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November." The comments "attracted little notice," but "represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years." Speaking in Florida, Biden said, "If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution, out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law."
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NBC Nightly News reported, "US-led forces based in Afghanistan have staged their first known cross-border raid into Pakistan, into a tribal region thought to be a haven for al Qaeda. Dozens of troops ferried by four helicopters landed in South Warziristan, attacking several houses, reportedly killing more than a dozen people."
Calling it an "unprecedented attack," ABC World News reported US officials said "a small number of militants were captured or killed" in the raid, which Pakistan called "a gross violation of its territory." The CBS Evening News reported, "Pakistan today angrily protested a US commando raid on a village near the Afghan border, the first known raid by American ground troops into Pakistan."
The Washington Post reports Pakistan "filed a formal protest with the US government, which had no comment on what appeared to be a new escalation of US pressure on Taliban and al-Qaeda sanctuaries in Pakistan's mountainous border regions." The Post notes that US forces based in Afghanistan "have periodically conducted air and artillery strikes against insurgents across the border in Pakistani territory," but "the arrival of US helicopters...deep in undisputed Pakistani territory, would constitute a new tactic."
The AP reports "a senior US military official" confirmed that "American forces launched a raid inside Pakistan," about "one mile from the Afghan border. The official didn't provide any other details." Meanwhile, "the boldness of the thrust fed speculation about the intended target. But it was unclear whether any extremist leader was killed or captured in the operation."
The New York Times reports the "commando raid...signaled what top American officials said could be the opening salvo in a much broader campaign by Special Operations forces against the Taliban and Al Qaeda inside Pakistan, a secret plan that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has been advocating for months within President Bush's war council." At the same time, "it also seemed likely to complicate relations with Pakistan." The Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor and Washington Times also report the story.
Gilani Targeted In Assassination Attempt The Wall Street Journal reports the raid "came on a chaotic day that also included a failed attack on the motorcade of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. Pakistani officials said suspected Islamic militants fired shots at vehicles sent to pick up Mr. Gilani at the airport," but he "wasn't in his car at the time." The New York Times reports Pakistani television aired footage of "a black Mercedes in the motorcade with two bullet marks on the bulletproof driver's side window."
With security conditions continuing to improve in Iraq, it now appears possible that US troops could depart Baghdad within a year. In an interview with the Financial Times, General David Petraeus "said declining violence in Baghdad raised the possibility that American combat troops could leave the capital by next summer." Asked "whether it was feasible that US combat forces could leave Baghdad by July," he said: "Conditions permitting, yeah." AFP also runs a story this morning on Petraeus' interview.
The Christian Science Monitor reports, "Days before the top US commander in Iraq gives his official assessment on troop levels there, a high-level move is afoot to keep...Petraeus out of the political spotlight. Many senior Pentagon officials want to shift public and lawmaker attention away from Iraq to Afghanistan."
President Bush and his Administration continue to receive positive reviews for the government's response to Gustav, though a number of newspaper reports this morning focus on the challenging conditions found by evacuees as they return to New Orleans. Fox Special Report reported President Bush "arrived in Baton Rouge to assess the Federal and state response to Hurricane Gustav." The President was shown saying, "We're much better coordinated this time than we were with Katrina. The state government, the local government and the Federal Government were able to work effectively together." The AP notes that "buffing his administration's reputation for handling hurricanes," Bush "declared that the government's response to Hurricane Gustav was 'excellent' -- much better than during Katrina." AFP reports New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin "on Wednesday allowed residents to begin returning to the city, voiding a mandatory evacuation order and lifting police roadblocks more than 12 hours earlier than planned." But "those returning home sometimes found less than ideal conditions: Local utility companies said that more than a million homes and business were without power."
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Jay Leno: "You know, I don't want to say the Republicans are trying to distance themselves from President Bush," but did "you notice when Bush was speaking by satellite, they kept trying to change the channel?"
Jay Leno: "And Governor Sarah Palin gave her speech tonight at the GOP convention. And it gave people who didn't know anything about her a chance to finally meet her. You know, like John McCain."
Jay Leno: "I've got to admit, she looked very comfortable at the podium, because it's kind of like Alaska. When you look out over the convention floor, nothing but white as far as the eye can see."
Jay Leno: "And we're learning...more and more about John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin," who is "a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and a firm believer in shotgun weddings."
David Letterman: "John McCain lasted five and a half years in a POW camp in North Vietnam. Even he couldn't get through Joe Lieberman's speech."
David Letterman: "Is it just me, or does Sarah Palin look like a model for LensCrafters?"
David Letterman: "And earlier tonight," Sarah Palin "gave a tremendous speech to the Republicans, though some are claiming it was actually her daughter's speech."
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