Sarah Palin's Republican Convention Speech

Just minutes ago, Sarah Palin finished her acceptance speech as John McCain's VP choice on the floor of the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was poised and forceful; she gave a great delivery. Most of her speech was a recommendation of John McCain for president of the United States, and over and over she invoked the spirit of small-town America. The Republican crowd loved her.

I was not as charmed--but that's because nothing I have read about the woman convinces me that she is ready to lead this country. She continued to repeat the lie that she was against the "bridge to nowhere"--even though there's clear evidence that she was all for the "bridge to nowhere" until public opinion indicated it WASN'T going anywhere with the rest of the country. Of course, she kept the money for other projects in Alaska. I'm guessing that the speech writers are gambling (just as John McCain gambled with his choice of VP) that most citizens will take these claims at face value. But what does this tell us of Sarah Palin? The Republican playbook of the past eight years has been to repeat lies over and over again until they are accepted as truth by too many people. So Sarah Palin is a reformer? So Sarah Palin will stand up to big government, to party insiders? The claims sound great. Now she's on a bigger stage, with more at stake. The actions do not follow.

Clearly, this was the night to go after Barak Obama. Okay--that's politics. But Palin's belittling of Obama's community organizing--community service--seemed particularly partisan and demeaning:

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.

The sneering italics around "community organizer" could be heard in her voice. The delegates laughed. Isn't community organizing a good thing, an honorable thing?

Sarah Palin came roaring out of her corner, and the Republican crowd roared back, happy and relieved to see that she can pack a punch. Well, now she's out of her corner and into the public arena. I hope that reporters won't be so intimidated by the McCain campaign's petulance that they fail to investigate as thoroughly as they should the background and ideas of this person who could become the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. I saw Campbell Brown's interview with John McCain's spokesperson, Tucker Bounds, on CNN, and I thought Brown did just what a reporter should do when a political operative tries stonewalling--keep asking the question, keep going for a real answer. The American people deserve real answers; the American people deserve the truth.

Update

Okay, I've now taken a few minutes to read what some of my favorite bloggers/journalists are writing about the speech, and I think James Fallows' analysis is a good one because he discusses some things that had struck me, as well. Now that Sarah Palin has given a biting, sarcastic speech at the convention, the Democrats can take off their gloves, too. And those who call foul because Palin is a woman, shame on them. Also, I'm already tired of the Palin family. Every politician parades his or her family across the stage for the obligatory smiles, but Palin has done so incessantly in a really short time. Some Republicans have been yelling that the Palin family should be off limits to the media, yet they trot out the pregnant daughter and her boyfriend who has promised to marry her, and little Trig has become a particularly important prop.

Oh, and one last thing: Palin's speech went right to the folks there on the floor, but will it resonate with the rest of the country? Will she and John McCain continue the divisiveness of the Bush administration? At this convention, Bush gave a speech, by video link, comparing John McCain's torturers in Hanoi to "angry leftists." Now, that's presidential for you. Palin's speech doesn't promise much more. I was particularly appalled by the following excerpt. I gasped at the sneering reference to the rule of law and human rights. And Palin's appeals to fear certainly don't indicate change:

I've noticed a pattern with our opponent.

Maybe you have, too.

We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.

And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.

Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit.

Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions.

Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights?