49% under those conditions is phenomenal.
Palin must have pulled in the base and alienated everyone else. The bad news is that she has demonstrated the sleazy mean-spiritedness and thuggish corruption of character which could make her a player in the R establishment.
I'm not so worried that she'll win this election. I'm more concerned about a run in 2012 or 2016, when conditions could be more favourable for an authoritarian kook run.
About 15-20% are wafflers who'll trend towards the candidate for whom the wind is blowing, and for the candidate who makes the most powerful-sounding case. I don't think there can be any doubt that the wind is blowing the Dems' way, and, having now watched both speeches, I think it's reasonable (understated, actually) to say that Obama's acceptance speech was the more powerful- and authoritative-sounding. (Not that that's saying much. Obama is a gifted speaker along the lines of Clinton and Reagan -- probably a little more raw talent than either one -- while McCain is a terrible speaker even by the Bush Standard.) Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
It may have come from somewhere else, originally, Further I Cannot Say.
