let’s drink tonight, because tomorrow we’re out of the news cycle

The debut of Sarah Palin, the new gal in town, is still the subject du jour 24 hours later, having wiped Obama’s smashing convention spectacular from the news cycle and thus, for all intents and purposes, from memory. His really big shew didn’t have time to stick, because McCain trampled all over it with fresh meat.

The media’s instant switchover from covering Obama’s triumph to covering the sensational instant celebrity Sarah Palin reveals the danger in relying on the MSM to carry your message (and your momentum, not to mention your water), as Obama did with the convention spectacular: you can be swept aside by the next story that comes along. And if the story introduces an exceptionally telegenic new archetype (who scores) into the tired old cast of the “Mediathon” (see Frank Rich’s brilliant article about the phenomenon)—well then, if you’re Obama, you might just have lost your mini-momentum.

But you had a fabulous moment! Even I thought so!

Wretchard analyzes the meaning and impact of McCain’s VP pick:

One of the more interesting questions for political historians is whether McCain chose Palin before or after Obama chose Biden. After a long period of bleeding numbers at the polls, Obama had a chance at Denver to take the initiative in two ways: first to refocus the election on George W. Bush and second, to dominate the news cycle for at least a couple of days. But several circumstances spoiled the opportunity. First, Denver turned out to be at least partly about the Clintons; an misfortune which BHO endured with gritted teeth. Yet even when the duo had sullenly lumbered off and he strode at last into the limelight before the stage the rumor that McCain was about to select his Veep was beating on the edges of the media’s attention. At first there seemed little to worry about; there were contingency plans in the event McCain selected either Romney or Pawlenty. But now it is clear the old attack pilot pulled a move which aims to exploit several chinks in Obama’s armor: gender and class.

From early indications, BHO’s camp has elected to expend at least some ammunition to attack Palin. Despite its aggressive appearances [it] is a defensive move designed to blunt the potential threat she poses to his narratives. The effort will divert resources away from what should have been Obama’s central focus: attacking GWB and McCain.

Every campaign is about both hearts and minds, of course.

We Americans don’t have much in our minds—we’re an ignorant lot, and apparently don’t care to change our ways—but we’ve got open hearts

There’s a surefire way to capture our hearts—with a great story.

It looks like the Red American hot mama from Alaska has got one hell of a story. And the visuals aren’t bad either.

Whether she’ll make a difference in the election is something we can’t know now. But that she has the potential to make a huge difference in the image of rural, conservative, evangelical Americans is undeniable (just as Obama has already made a huge difference in the image of African Americans).

Who’d a thunk it?