Last night my first reaction to Sarah Palin's speech was that it was a good one, perhaps a great one, but that it might have been a little too hot for the audience. Judging by the reports on focus groups that watched Palin's speech, it looks like my reaction might not have been that far off. First, here's Jake Tapper:
The Detroit Free Press invited a panel of Michigan voters to weigh in on Gov. Sarah Palin's speech last night. Their reactions run the gamut, but the independents didn't seem to care for her very much.
Now here's Seth Colter Walls:
In two different focus groups of Clinton-supporting Nevada women -- married and unmarried -- conducted immediately after Gov. Sarah Palin's Wednesday night speech to the Republican National Convention, a few common reactions quickly took shape.First, women in both groups were impressed with Palin's speaking ability and poise. But they were hardly convinced that she was qualified to be vice president, or that she truly represented the "change" they were looking for, especially in light of what was deemed an overly harsh "sarcasm" pervading her address.
I'd recommend you reading through both stories to get a fuller picture of the reaction of these largely undecided voters, but what comes out is what is reported in the lede: Palin may have delivered a barnburner, and she might have gone far in helping John McCain shore up the Republican base, but when it came to wooing skeptical voters her performance was underwhelming -- and perhaps even counterproductive.
Americans aren't looking for another Newt Gingrich -- a hyper-partisan fire-breather who puts ideology and party over country -- but from the sounds of last night's speech, which again was very impressive, Palin might be just another Gingrich (or Spiro Agnew, if you prefer). Let's wait to see the polling before jumping to too hard of conclusions, both because these initial reactions are preliminary and unrepresentative and because the coverage of the speech matters nearly as much as the speech. But for now it looks like the speech might not have been the great success many within the GOP had hoped for.
Update [2008-9-4 18:54:10 by Jerome Armstrong]: Well, take te Detroit one with a large dose of skeptcism. Looks like they got played for 'Independent' alright.
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