Prometheus Unbound

Evidence that Sarah Palin polarizes the electorate: ten million dollars flowed into the Obama campaign via the Internet after her speech.

Ouch.

And focus groups of Michigan independents appear distinctly under-enthused about Palin’s convention debut. Here’s two focus group participants:

Diane Murphy, 42, Sterling Heights independent: “It appears that, once she makes up her mind, that is the end of it. We live in a gray world, not every answer is black and white.”

Jan Wheelock, 58, Royal Oak independent: “Nothing worked for me. I found her barrage of snide remarks and distortions to be a major turnoff. She is not a class act. The most important point she made is that she will be an effective attack dog.”

And here’s some more focus group independents giving their impressions of Palin’s speech: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/michigan-indepe.html 

Thus the rhetorical “shock and awe” base strategy that Palin represents is likely to prove a strategic blunder by the McCain campaign.

It cedes the center to Obama-Biden (where the race is likely to be decided).

But McCain was—and continues to be—clearly in a bind, essentially hostage to the theocratic wing of his party.

He had to hope that Hillary voters, centrists, and independents would overlook, or not notice, Palin’s far-right ideology.

But it’s not working.

And it doesn’t help when Rush Limbaugh enthuses over your pick in apoplectic terms. It tells people something about how extreme Palin must be when Limbaugh gets this excited about a candidate.