Hurricane Palin passing with little damage Tom Smith

This is probably too optimistic, but I think I detect a slight change in the tone of the Palin coverage.  Or it may just be a pause in the frenzy.  On the CNN coverage of the RNC tonight, the CNN team talking among themselves sounded defensive, explaining why they were covering Palin as they were.  The latest batch of stories in the N.Y. Times, while hardly laudatory, seem to be making some effort not to be downright scurrilous.  So possibly the push back by the McCain forces, the blogosphere and maybe even readers (probably women) is starting to be felt.  OTOH this could be wishful thinking on my part.

Interestingly, when the MSM goes out on a limb with a message of, what will be the next shoe to drop on Palin, then if there's no shoe, they end up looking stupid.  The looking stupid is starting to set in, perhaps.  The news cycle is so fast, there's a good chance we would have heard by now if there was something else.  But then again, maybe not -- as Dick Morris, a troubled man but very smart, explained back in the day of the last days of the election Bush DUI scandal, there's a timing element to dropping dimes on people.  But my intuition is, they don't got nothing on Palin.  It's Alaska; everybody knows everybody else's business.  Palin has no shortage of enemies up there, and if they had anything, we would have heard it by now.  Also possible is that the Obama press minders really are telling them to call off the dogs, as it really was getting out of control and resulting in a level of rage at the media by Republicans unusual even for Republicans, and not helpful to the Democrats.  Well, we'll see.  Palin's address to the RNC is very important, but I expect her to do well before a very favorable room.

LA Times, ever late with the story, has this lame version of the NY Times meme of where was the vetting.  The problem with this story, is that there is no story.  Some stories lack legs; this story has no head.  The vetting angle ends up sounding stupid.  Did McCain know about Bristol's pregnancy?  He says yes, and the facts seem to bear him out.  Oh.  Well, what about Todd's DUI 20 years ago (is driving drunk in Alaska even illegal?)?  Knew about it and decided it was irrelevant, as it obviously is, especially when you consider Todd seems able to navigate snowmobiles through thousands of miles of wilderness.  The They Should Have Known! line lacks punch if they did know.  Member of the Alaskan Independence Party?  Apparently not true, as Palin was a registered Republican during the years in question.  Hmmmm.  Pat Buchanan supporter?  Buchanan's campaign manager, his sister, says no.  They've met though.  Troopergate?  The trooper Mr. Palin was trying to get fired threatened his family with death.  Arguably a state policeman who threatens to kill family members of the state's chief executive should be fired.  Oddly, the death threats never make it into the MSM stories.  She seems to have had other reasons for firing the head of state law enforcement, as she had every right to do as governor.  There just doesn't seem to be anything for the MSM to work with here, and it's risky just to make stuff up, or to run and runn silly stories along the lines of "Women Question Gov's Commitment to Family Values".  So I think they need to come up with something meaty and fast, or open season on Palin will close.  I will be very disappointed if it turns out she has been grilling seal pups, but if there are no surprizes, watching the MSM get frustrated and cowed on this will be fun.

Oh I forgot.  Todd Palin got a ticket for fishing without a license.  They actually reported that.  Anyone who has not fished without a license while in Alaska is gravely insulting the fish there.  I mean, please.  Sure, sure, you should have your license with you at all times, but what if you don't, and they are biting?  This just proves Todd likes to fish.  He also drove the last few hundred miles of an Iron Dog race with a broken arm after a crash in which he was thrown 70 feet.  And he helps out with the kids a lot.  Even the Times seems to like him.

Comments

[dearieme]

It reminds me of the misogynist vitriol that The Left threw at Mrs Thatcher. They also deployed snobbery; presumably Mrs Palin attracts some of that too?