Global: Palin Brings Down the House

Love her or hate her, international bloggers say Alaska Governor Sarah Palin brought the house down when she addressed the Republican National Convention, in Saint Paul, Minneapolis. Some even see her as a president one day. Following is a mixed bag of reactions from all four corners of the globe.

From New Zealand, David Farrar writes on the Kiwiblog:

Her candidacy is still a risky one. At some stage she will be quizzed on national and international issues and will need to be conversant with the issues. But the pundits all agree it was a great speech.

Egyptian Chronicles notes her remarks on Palin's address as follows:

* Again this woman has got more charisma than McCain , she is speaking as if she was chosen for President not for Vice President.
* She is a good speaker in her way.
* The Cameras in the RNC were concentrating mainly on ladies.
* Sarah’s description to her family as a typical one with Ups and Downs with an excellent way to handle all that buzz about her family.
* She is targeting a new segment in this election , the special needs kids families ,it is a niche segment with no power but it can bring more votes outside the Republican Base.
* She is targeting the small towns and cities again and again, using the attack on her experience.
* She is attacking Obama in a very bold way since the beginning.
* She is so proud of her 19 years old son going to Iraq and so happy that he is going to fight for nothing ,I do not know what her feelings will be if her 19 years old son returns back home in his coffin and when after several years she sits down and rethinks whether it is worth or not !?
* The same old ill talk of terrorist countries “Dear Syria” and bad nuke Iran !!
* She spoke about the Victory in Iraq that is coming so near , what victory in Iraq this woman is speaking about !!??
* Energy Independence is a good slogan but does this mean that the American army will empty its army bases in the Persian Gulf for good and leave the Middle East for , because she is speaking as if the rich Arab oil gulf states were controlling America !!??
* She demonstrated that she understands in foreign policies ,of course according to the Republican standards.

Zeinobia continues:

Look for sure her speech was a strong one and she revived somehow this old spirit of the Republicans with her energy , an energy she is wasting I am afraid. I am not surprised that the Republicans are so happy with that speech, she was their Obama ,she should take McCain’s place or may be they know that she will !!??Look I do not have anything against her except that I do not like her policies towards our region, the middle East.

Super Frenchie, from France, is in a state of shock. He says:

Turns out, Republicans can always find a way to beat the odds: Sarah Palin may well be a future U.S. president, and she is someone who believes in creationism and who thinks that global warming is a hoax!

In the most scientifically advanced nation in the world, this is beyond shocking.

Meanwhile, Canadian Stephen Taylor, who was at the Republican's convention, shares his thoughts saying:

Last night I saw Sarah Palin accept her party’s nomination for Vice President of the United States. I was sitting a couple of rows behind the VIP stand and watched as Palin’s family, the subject of intense media scrutiny (both fair and unfair), were seated and as they watched their mother, wife and daughter make history as the first woman on the GOP Presidential ticket.

Sharing similar sentiments, fellow Canadian The Strong Conservative says Palin brought the house down.

Who said Palin isn't ready? Governor Sarah Palin brought the house down in Minnesota. I think it's safe to say that a new political star was born tonight.
Her best line was definitely, “And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.”
Oh, how the mainstream media and left wing will hate her now. But Palin is her own woman, she'll handle it like she's handled challenges in the past: head on.
Sarah Palin may one day be the first female President of the United States, and what a great day that will be.
Palin also did an incredible job of describing the character of John McCain and the strength of conviction he would bring to the White House. I've been a fierce critic of McCain myself, but he's made a marvelous choice for his running mate and would be a man of integrity in the Oval Office.

From Bangladesh, Mash is adamant that Palin, the McCain campaign and those who wrote her speech, have made two deadly mistakes, which will cost the Republications the election come November 4. First, she did not redeem herself in the eyes of the American public:

This was her first big opportunity to introduce and define herself to the American public. After 5 days of negative press and the series of revelations about her that has marred her rollout, this was her chance to tell her story. She needed to introduce herself not as the hockey mom that she and McCain like to push, but as a person who is qualified to be the president of the United States in the event the president were to become incapacitated. She failed. To be sure, she spent a long time introducing her family in her speech, but she did not fill in her political biography. What we were left with was the same impression we had going into the speech – that she was a mayor of a small town and is now serving her first term as Governor of Alaska. That was not enough before the speech, and that will not be enough going forward – especially since she is running on the ticket with a 72-year-old man with a history of cancer.

Her second fault, according to Mash, was:

Her failure to add meat to her political biography in the first part of the speech secured the failure of the second part of the speech. She spent much of her speech attacking Barack Obama – sometimes personally – for lacking the gravitas to be president of the United States. Such attacks coming from a candidate with a pitifully thin political biography were eaten up by the Republican base, but probably seemed a little hollow, a little too sarcastic, and way too negative to the American public at large. If her task was to go after Hillary voters, this was not the speech to get that job done. Instead, this speech will bring out the base against the “angry left”. The base, if they can keep the enthusiasm up for the next few months, will flock to the polls to make the red states redder. You will hear the term “culture war” a lot for the rest of the campaign. The Republicans apparently have decided to one more time go to the well – the Republican base – to squeak past to victory.

Mash continues:

The McCain campaign has made a strategic error. This election is not going to be a base election. Although, given the state of the race, McCain may have had no choice. The man who is known to enjoy gambling made the only gamble available to him. He launched a culture war. It will get very ugly, but it will not work

Back in Canada, Darryl Wolk, runs the headline: Sarah Palin was awesome! He adds:

After all the unfair media attacks, witch hunts in Alaska and criticism about her experience, Sarah Palin came out strong and confident yesterday, delivering the best speech at the Republican convention last night. I have to say she is impressive. Solid speaker (perhaps the female Obama on the teleprompter), ultra-Conservative and clearly a mom who puts family first. I think she has become a star and is a role model for females looking to enter politics. As a Conservative in Canada, I would love to see her hit the campaign trail with Harper for a couple days! Convention organizers for November should be trying to recruit her as the keynote speaker. I am still supporting Obama, but for the first time in this campaign, I think there is reason to get excited about the Republican ticket. Congratulations to Palin for delivering such a powerful and well executed speech under the circumstances she faced going into it. Awesome is all I have to say.

Cuban diaspora blogger Babalu adds she was moved by the speech:

Those of us that caught it live witnessed history. I've no qualms about stating this, though: Sarah Palin will most assuredly be the first woman President of the United States someday.

On the other hand, Barbadian diaspora blogger Jdid admits he wasn't “particularly impressed” with the speech:

Felt like she pandered a bit in the beginning with her whole this is my life segment. Here's my eldest son he's going off to Iraq to be shot at. Here's my baby with a disability which now makes me more in touch with all you folk with kids with disabilities.
Seems like Obama was right and the Republicans are trying to make this more about personalities than about issues. She tried to attack Obama on some trivial stuff that he's been attacked on before, she didnt break new ground and with her Tina Fey look and those weak punchlines was it just me or was anyone else expecting her to break into “Live fom New York its Saturday night”?
Got to say though that this Palin pick is pretty crazy. I mean on the surface I thought they just wanted a female pick to offset Obama but Palin really? That was your best choice?

13 comments

  • Naomi

    This article is just stupid. There are literally millions of blogs in the world and you intentionally pick the few ones that were very or somewhat favorable to Palin’s empty speech.

  • Thank you Naomi. Please send us any posts you see – from non American blogs, and we will be happy to include them in our coverage.

  • SMALLTOWNAMERICAN

    John Mc-Brilliant made the right choice for VP. Sarah Palin is a real American. She brings a breath of fresh air and offers change we can believe in. She has more executive and leadership experience than any candidate.

    Obama “HOPES” we won’t notice how many times he has “CHANGED” his mind. He has based his entire campaign on lies. He has too many ties to terrorists and anti-Americans (Ayers, Rezko, Said, Farrakhan, Pfleger, Wright [‘God Damn America’], etc.).

    If you are the leader of a country — or a business for that matter, there are no “present” votes. That’s how Obama voted most of the time. He worked 142 days in the Senate and spent the rest of the time running for president. He cannot be trusted.

    Obama will bankrupt America — especially with his capital gains taxes. His death tax will hurt our children and grandchildren. He is not experienced enough to run this country.

    John McCain has worked for our country for all of his adult life. He has earned my vote!

    COUNTRY FIRST! THE HONORABLE JOHN McCAIN!

  • Patrick Henry

    The Republican Party has been high-jacked by the religious right as McCain’s selection of Palin proves. I thought McCain might bring some sanity to back to the party but it turns out experience does count and he is following the George Bush/Carl Rove play book of appealing to the “Gun tottin, God fearin” mob with his choice of Sarah Palin. The least you can say for George Bush is that he picked Cheney, whatever you may think of him, he is no light weight. Another trait about McCain that makes me very uncomfortable is his quick shoot from the hip decision making process. His selection of Palin seems to be a perfect example of this. This seems very similar to George W. Bush’s decision making methodology which landed us in $3 Trillion and counting war without end. And I’m not a democrat. I voted for Bush the first go around. But McCain just doesn’t seem to have the necessary personality traits to be an effective executive. He lost my potential vote for good with his selection of Palin.

  • SMALLTOWNAMERICAN

    I hate to break the news to “y’all” — but Southerners believe Biden should be the Democratc Presidential nominee (not the VP). Sorry to break the news.

    Biden on Obama: “I think he can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.”

    OBAMA WAS NOT VETTED — THE DNC AND BIASED MEDIA HID HIS SORDID PAST UNTIL OVER HALF OF AMERICA HAD VOTED. HE HIRED ATTORNEYS TO STOP THE VOTES FROM COUNTING IN FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN. THEY STABBED HILLARY IN THE BACK. HE HAS WRITTEN TWO BOOKS — ABOUT “HIMSELF”! DID HE TAKE HIS GREEK TEMPLE HOME WITH HIM?

    NOW — THEY’RE AFTER SARAH PALIN. IT WON’T WORK. SHE IS GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF ALASKA — TALK ABOUT LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE! THE HEARTLAND OF AMERICA WON’T LET THEM BASH HER. WE LOVE HER. SHE IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. SHE REPRESENTS TRUTH AND CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN. SHE UNDERSTANDS THE REAL WORLD.

    McCAIN HAS WORKED FOR AMERICANS ALL OF HIS ADULT LIFE. HE HAS MORE EXPERIENCE AS WELL AS GOOD JUDGMENT. McCAIN MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE IN SARAH PALIN FOR VP.

    I’M VOTING FOR McCAIN / PALIN IN 2008.

  • Susan Currie

    Sarah Palin’s personal strength has been her guide when dealing with difficult decisions in her life. This has led her to success. You cannot take away from a person the things they have done. She is a Mother. She is a Mayor. She is a Governor. She is a Patriot. She is a Hunter. She is an economic decision-maker. She is bright and energetic. She is OPTIMISTIC!! Sarah Palin is the REAL DEAL and the anti-American crowd hate her because she has reached such success. She is a STRONG AMERICAN WOMAN!!!. She is from the fabric of the Pilgrims pride. She is a proud individual. She is a STRONG LEADER. She will be a STRONG VICE-PRESIDENT!! She is the REAL DEAL!!! Shame on anyone is jealous and hateful towards her. They are personally bankrupt while she is filled with personal RICHES!!! SHE DOESN’T WANT anyone’s approval!! She LOVES HERSELF!! AND… SHE LOVES THIS COUNTRY!!! I want her to be Vice-president!! I like her a lot!! :)

  • […] recent post by Amira al Hussaini covers global blog commentary on Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s speech at the […]

  • EAST COAST - USA

    From Obama’s book: Audacity of Hope: “I WILL STAND WITH THE MUSLIMS SHOULD THE POLITICAL WINDS SHIFT IN AN UGLY DIRECTION.”

    ISN’T IT FUNNY THAT MIDDLE EASTERN MUSLIM COUNTRIES HAVE BEEN SENDING MILLIONS TO HELP ELECT A ” CHRISTIAN ”

    http://WWW.USAWAKEUP.ORG

    WAKE UP AMERICANS.

    VOTE FOR THE HONORABLE JOHN McCAIN IN NOVEMBER!

  • Shawn

    Why is the MSM in the US so afraid of exposing McCain of what he is?
    What happened between McCain and his first wife:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html

  • Kayla

    Quoting EAST COAST – USA…

    From Obama’s book: Audacity of Hope: “I WILL STAND WITH THE MUSLIMS SHOULD THE POLITICAL WINDS SHIFT IN AN UGLY DIRECTION.”

    ISN’T IT FUNNY THAT MIDDLE EASTERN MUSLIM COUNTRIES HAVE BEEN SENDING MILLIONS TO HELP ELECT A ” CHRISTIAN ”

    This statement is a rewording of a passage from page 261 of The Audacity of Hope, in which Barack Obama spoke of the importance of not allowing inflamed public opinion to result in innocent members of immigrant groups being stripped of their rights, denied their due as American citizens, or placed into confinement, as was done with Japanese-Americans during World War II. The original contains no specific mention of “Muslims”:

    In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans, for example, have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging. They have been reminded that the history of immigration in this country has a dark underbelly; they need specific reassurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.

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