Dan K. Thomasson: Sarah Palin Has Charm and Staying Power

Dan K. Thomasson, former editor of the Scripps Howard News Service, wrote an article for the East Valley Tribune in regards to Governor Palin's appearance at Saturday night's Gridiron dinner. Here are some excerpts:

The former Alaska governor and last year's much maligned GOP vice presidential nominee and now author showed up at one of the toughest venues in town -- as the Republican speaker at the winter dinner of the venerable Washington Gridiron Club, a bastion of opinion makers who, for more than 125 years, have roasted politicians with glee, claiming rather disingenuously all the while that their fire only singes but never burns. As they say in the Army, "Hoo Ah!"

The very fact she was willing to take the chance of appearing in a room full of her most disdainful critics is testimony to her courage as if that were ever in doubt. But when you're shooting percentage is as good as the ex-basketball star from Wasilla's has been of late, confidence leads one into situations that might otherwise be called foolhardy. Her luck held and she came away with at least a consensus of grudging admiration, having hit several threes and a driving lay-up.

The mere politeness that normally prevails in this setting disappeared in a welter of good will and produced at times the most extraordinary scene of inside the Beltway cynics and their significant others asking for autographs, an event almost as phenomenal as she is. Meanwhile, her husband, Todd, who she recently made graphically clear in answer to tabloid rumors of a pending split was a hunk no woman in her right mind would give up -- "Are you crazy! Have you seen Todd?" -- was the center of similar attention from the ladies.

[...]

Throughout an evening when club members filled the air with quips about her penchant for sourdough experiences, the onetime impersonator of Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey laughed good-naturedly. She even joined a chorus of Gridiron singers to perform a parody of the "Twelve Days of Christmas," which included some biting comments about her and her philosophy, inserting her own line about adding mash potatoes to the moose steak.

In sharp contrast, her counterpart for the night, veteran Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, one of the leading figures in the economic bailout, sat unsmilingly and obviously uncomfortably throughout Palin's appearance, obviously aware that he was upstaged in star power even in a town where his acerbic wit is celebrated.

Read the rest here.