Sarah Palin: Hockey Player

In an irreverent and intriguing commentary, Nate Silver of www.fivethirtyeight.com makes the case that Sarah Palin is, in reality, a hockey player....not a hockey mom. He cautions Democrats from giving her too much attention, as her goal is to agitate to arouse her fans and distract the opposition, thereby getting them off message. In addition to reading this column, we recommend his site for daily updates on polling and trends for both the Presidential and Congressional contests. Here's an excerpt from his take on the Palin role:


"In the hockey analogy, Palin wouldn’t get within a thousand miles of an NHL All-Star Game because she’s not a scoring talent. She’s a role player, an emotion-rouser. Emotion messes with the chalkboard-drawn game plan and thus achieves a specific strategic objective. She can make game-changing agitation plays that rouse her home team and provoke the other side into counterattacks that – 100% of the time – end up punishing the team who hits back. Democrats would be smart to understand her as such, and I see a lot of reaction that doesn't seem to grasp what Palin is doing and the value she's providing. I see a lot of Democrats taking a lot of bait.

This applies more to Democratic surrogates than it does to the top-ticket duo. Joe Biden had the smart response yesterday – naming the behavior – expecting it, and then riding through without taking the bait:

“It was about how well placed -- and boy she is good -- how a left jab can be stuck pretty nice. It’s about how Barack Obama is such a bad guy.”

And that’s all he says of Palin’s antics. Name the behavior, even praising the skill
with which the agitation was attempted, and then back to focus. It's "the economy, stupid."