Intro by Hawaii governor Linda Lingle:
I’m really not sure this helps. “Sarah and her family are avid outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy long distance running as well as hunting. In high school, she led her basketball team — as point guard and captain — to victory in the state championship. Two years later, she was crowned Miss Wasilla and finished second in the Miss Alaska pageant.”
I mean there’s nothing wrong with it, but it sounded like she was offering these as qualificaitons rather than windows into her personality. I mean maybe if she’d WON Miss Alaska….
Proving her toughness by mentioning her fifth childbirth? I actually think that works. Most women who’ve given birth think men are wimps since they’ve never gone through childbirth, so I’m guessing women WILL think that’s a sign of toughness.
She’s trying to make a virtue of the small size of Wasilla.”This is the size of many cities all across our country. The size where everyone knows everyone, and where as mayor you are held personally accountable for your decisions.”
Now she’s emphasizing that Obama and Biden have no executive experience, and getting big cheers. This is effective unless you remember that McCain doesn’t have executive experience either. She uses a quote from Lyndon Johnson about how hard it is to be a mayor. This would be the same Lyndon Johnson who had no executive experience before he became president after John Kennedy, who also had no executive experience before becoming president.
I’m really feeling like this intro is not helping her. It just feels like she’s reallllly stretching.