Sarah Barracuda

Our quote is 'Stupid is as stupid does.'

The new Palin-hater blog - Women Against Sarah Palin - has chosen a hilariously inappropriate quote for its masthead. Why? It's from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and reads "Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles, and see that the world is moving."

The problem is that like Governor Palin, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was opposed to abortion and favored the Republican Party. Perhaps the "conservatives" in the current situation are the hidebound feminists who can't see past a 40-year-old defunct-and-debunked Marxist political framework that has little to do with today's Americans, female or male.

Heh. I have to admit, I'm pretty tired of hearing Sarah Palin's hockey-mom/pit bull-joke - I think I've heard it more than 50 times now - so putting it in an ad might be a bit of overkill. Still, it's nice to drag Katie Couric into it.

Update: CBS requested that YouTube pull down the ad, so if you want to see it you'll have to go here. Politico has the story. CBS is claiming that the ad is misleading because it suggests that Katie Couric supports McCain, though it seems unlikely that anybody who actually recognizes Katie Couric would believe she was supporting a Republican.

Hm. I think that's what he was doing.

Another fake rumor going around is that Sarah Palin wanted to ban books up in her home town in Alaska. It's not true. Check out the fake Palin banned books list at MichelleMalkin.com for more information on this anti-Palin smear.

According to Michael Silence, Sally Quinn said "I was wrong about Palin" in the first half hour of The O'Reilly Factor. (I was at the supermarket and didn't tune in until halfway through - Drat!!)

[BREAKING NEWS: Quinn: "I was wrong" about Palin - Knoxnews.com]

Lots of people are rushing to attack the GOP for using "Barracuda" because the band's trademark singing sisters Nancy and Ann Wilson are unhappy with the use of the song. However, the sisters have no legal right to restrict use of the song and it's a surprisingly unsophisticated response from two women who have been around long enough that they really ought to know better.

As an example of grown-up behavior, when the Obama campaign used Brooks & Dunn's "Only in America" at the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention (without specific authorization), Kix Brooks said, "Very flattering to know our song crossed parties and potentially inspires all Americans." Unlike the Wilson sisters, Brooks & Dunn have a sense of proportion. They apparently have an appreciation for the importance and legitimacy of the two-party system. And, yes, they have class.

Running counter to the opinion of the Wilson sisters, Reuters received an email today from Roger Fisher, a former member of Heart and one of the co-writers of the song. Here's a quote from the article:

In an e-mail to Reuters, the band's former guitarist, Roger Fisher, said it was a win-win situation. Heart gets publicity and royalties, while the Republicans benefit from "the ingenious placement of a kick-ass song," Fisher said.

Fisher and the Wilsons wrote "Barracuda" with drummer Michael DeRosier. It appeared on the group's second album, "Little Queen" in 1977. The song was inspired by the band's anger over an obnoxious record label executive.

So not only don't the sisters have any legal right to restrict the use of the song, they're being presumptuous in acting as if they're the only writers. The media's so busy reminding us that Sarah Palin didn't write her speech without help, but don't hold your breath waiting for most of the media to acknowledge that the Wilson sisters aren't the only songwriters behind "Barracuda".

[Rock group Heart says "Barracuda" use is fishy - Reuters]

You know what they say about opinions; everybody's got one:

• Roger Simon says that Joe Biden will look like hackopathropus erectus next to Palin. (I would have said 'antediluvian apparatchik', for the alliterative effect, but that's me.)
• Katherine Miller at The Next Right has a comprehensive but concise overview of the speech.
• Ed Morrissey liked the speech.
• John Fund at the Wall Street Journal writes that Palin may be a "future Margaret Thatcher", which I suppose isn't as bad as people saying that Barack Obama is the second Abraham Lincoln. Considering that 600,000 Americans died in a civil war during the administration of the first Abraham Lincoln, I'd just as soon not be around for his second coming.
• The Washington Post looks to have pretty good coverage of the speech. I only read the first page, though.
• Oh, and the Boston Herald doesn't like the way Sarah Palin does her hair.

Update: Michael Tomasky gives a fair take from the left at the Guardian (!), and then faces cuticle-bursting rage from the commentariat. To quote one of the enlightened, "As for Palin, she is a bell weather [sic] for the mental state of America. If she helps win the Presidency for McCain, then America gets the trailor-trash [sic] hick veep it deserves. Its [sic] not as if its [sic] the first time America has had a really nasty, unpleasant, and intolerable woman in high office." Or married to someone in high office, I might add - there does seem to be a fair amount of projection being directed at Palin.

Wow. I'd say that was a pretty damn good speech.

Here's the AP's take on Palin's speech, posted before she has actually given it. If only they'd told me what I'm going to think of it, then I wouldn't have to watch.

In her Declarations column in the Wall Street Journal today, Peggy Noonan comes out a bit tepid for Sarah Palin. Calling Palin's selection a "Hail Mary pass" she also asks, speaking for the left, "What does Sarah Barracuda really mean?"

First things first, McCain probably would have won anyway without Palin. He didn't need to throw a "Hail Mary pass" and I don't think Palin is a high risk/high reward pick. Obama's performance in polls this summer has been very weak as compared with past Democrat contenders, and Democrats typically fade after Labor Day. Granted, the conservative base was not enthusiastic about McCain before Palin's nod, but Republicans tend to vote from a sense of duty rather than an adolescent desire to change the world, so we show up regardless.

On the second point, I think everyone already understands the meaning of "Sarah Barracuda". It means she's got brass tubes. She's formidable and aggressive. Sarah Palin is no hothouse flower. And, yes, a lot of people probably find her pretty intimidating.

Does anybody think Hillary Clinton is any different? Does anybody think Joe Biden or Barack Obama is anything less? Joe Biden, like Hillary Clinton, has been running for president his whole life. Barack Obama has thrown his minister and his "typical white person" grandma under the bus to get where he is. These are not people who hesitate to do what's necessary to get what they want out of life.

Any doubts that I may have had about Sarah Palin being too kind or sensitive for the office were immediately swept away when I learned that she's called "Sarah Barracuda" by her friends and associates. That they call her that at all means she's not to be trifled with, and that they call her that to her face means she has a sense of humor and doesn't take herself too seriously.

[A Clear and Present Danger To the American Left - WSJ]

Update: And then there's this. Well, I'm done with Peggy Noonan.