I guess you might say he’s barking up the wrong Bush.
So I went to brunch with Sarah, Mrs. Palin if you’re nasty. I have to say, having been to enough of these shindigs in my day, this was about as well organized and as time conscious as they come. By that I mean, not very well organized and certainly not on time, by any stretch of the imagination. No one ever expects the Secret Service to search every bag and yet every time the Secret Service searches every bag. It’s just like at the airport but without the mouth-breathers.
Once you get past the check-in, which happens in one place, and the security check, which happens in another place (separated by 5 five and an endlessly long line) you have to go find a place to sit. This is a lot like back in the days at high school. There are some tables in front, for the popular kids, in this case people who raised $10,000 in donations, there are groups of people who all clearly know each other from middle school, or rather people who regularly attend these functions but refuse to fork over that kind of cash, and are now congregating around the second tier tables, and then there are all the other people, not really familiar with anyone else, maybe knows a single other person there and now must approach a partially full table and ask to sit there, you know. Luckily Bruce and I were early enough to snag goodish seats at well located table.
When we started introducing ourselves around it turned out the guy next to Bruce worked a very similar job (same general profession) at a competing firm where a friend of mine works (who he knew). There were enough commonalities that we had some good ol’e fashion conservative talk while the rest of the room filled. It was interesting to see the crowd of almost 2000 fill a ballroom because the original venue was a private estate that fits only a few hundred. The GOP definitely underestimated the desire for the Bay Area to show their support of Sarah. I get why, few people are bold enough to verbalize the fact that they are republican, never mind voting McCain/Palin. People are so rabid, insane, and assumptive in their support of democrats that they never imagine that someone might just in fact be voting for the other guy. And of course, someone from Boston would be even more liberal! Except go checkout Massachusetts. We are the place that elected Mitt Romney, a Mormon Republican, and we’re not ashamed by that. We were the first to give the gays the right to marry, we were the first to have universal health care for all people in the state, we’re not fans of the death penalty…BUT we are very conservative in many other ways and that is how we have a very healthy and active republican party.
But enough about me, on to Sarah. As always there were a few speakers. Some guy from some place working the campaign trail. Maybe the governor of Utah. Then some other dude, local republi-dude. And then dodadodah. Then we got us some food. Hotel food served en mass, much like some sad business brunch, is always a meh. It’s not like we were there for the food. But while we ate there was a little ditty about Sarah Palin projected onto a series of screens. Nothing everyone hasn’t heard or seen before. Well there was a humorous little thread about Moose Stew, but you kind of had to be there. Trust me, it’s not at all funny when I re-tell it.
Then after what seemed like days on end, but was probably about 30 minutes, Sarah came out. I would love to say it was inspirational and that she was a moving speaker, but I cannot tell a lie. Well, actually I can, but it seems silly to waste a lie for Sarah. She was just like every other politician I’ve heard speak. I’ve been in the room while Jesse Jackson waxed poetic, I’ve gotten drunk with a Bulger , I’ve eaten with Bill Weld and Mike Dukakis, several Kennedys, the Krafts, a Heinz and a Kerry so trust me when I say this, most politicians are just okay when they speak. (If you ever desire a chance to meet these types of people go get a low-paying job at a large state-wide non-profit organization that cares for the under-educated, the homeless, the unskilled and the generally out of luck. The grant money the NPO runs on comes from the good graces of the guys in charge. The guys in charge loooooooooooooove telling you how great they are over a glass of whiskey.)
Let me be very clear. Sarah Palin is a politician. She is no better or worse than any other politician. She’s not smarter or dumber, she’s certainly prettier, but considering the pool of candidates, that’s not really saying much. She read her speech, that was written for her by someone else, very well and was able to drive home the points that she was supposed to as the vice presidential candidate. She stayed on point and said the name John McCain easily 40 times. She drew applause and waited politely for it to finish, she drew jeers (at the mention of the New York Times!) and waited politely for it to finish and she drew laughter and waited politely for it to finish. Sarah broke no new ground at the brunch. She brought forth no new ideas. She merely did what a good foot solider in a campaign like this is supposed to do and that was tell everyone why her guy was the better guy for the job.
I know a lot of people have some lofty ideas about what a campaign should be and what the players should be saying. Quite frankly those people are idiots. If that is what you think politics are about you clearly have never been close enough to see what it really about. I’ve been on the inside of these things and Sarah Palin, while prettier, is no different from any of the other people stumping out there. Knowing this, I have no problem saying that I am charmed by her. She is funny. She can clearly take a joke. She cares about her family. She has a different perspective than the other three people on the campaign trail this year. She doesn’t make me want to slash my wrists every time I see an add with her in it. In fact, she’s the only one I would like to see in the White House, if only she would run as a Libertarian, it would make all my wet dreams come true.
I know that a lot of people, mostly democrats, are talking about the election like it’s a done deal. Maybe, but maybe not. I think things will be interesting in a few weeks. And judging from the turn out in Burlingame, you never know when the Californian Republicans/Libertarians are going to take matters into their own hands and turn out another victory for a republican president.