Sarah Palin Did It!

Yes! Yes! Yes! Republicans aren’t bumping fists we are pumping fists up high and strong today.

Wasn’t she terrific? You sort of thought she would be because you don’t move up that quickly in politics unless you can give a great speech, right Obama? But Gov. Palin surpassed all expectations. You can tell she was enjoying every moment of it when she relaxed against the podium and smiled as she drawled out zinger after zinger while the crowd roared around her. The critics complained that she was reading speeches others had written. Oh how petty. Do they really think Obama wrote all of his speeches?

The other complaint was that she didn’t go into details. That’s right, she didn’t. This wasn’t a policy speech; this was a party speech, to introduce her to the convention and the nation and to build up enthusiasm for the ticket. And she did that in spades while the Republicans made some history of their own. (I can only imagine how angry, disappointed and envious Hillary must be right now.)

Anyway, back to the argument that there were no specifics. This is a very important fact that the liberals have never understood. Most of the voters are the ordinary citizen living in small towns and not policy wonks like they are in Washington. Instead they judge a man (and woman) by their character and by their past performance. Who are you? Can we trust you? Do you believe in the same basic things we believe in? And at top of those basic things are Family, God and Country, not necessarily in that order. Sarah Palin’s speech told us her life story and woven throughout it was how these three things impacted her life; her love for her family, even the least of them, her love for her Country with her service in government and as a mother and aunt with sons in the line of duty and her love for God. And the crowd recognized themselves in her speech and cheered.

Today, the media and liberals are shaking their heads and wondering how people can be “taken in” by a speech that didn’t address the issues in details. In 2000 the liberals had the greatest political wonk of all, Al Gore and he lost. They lost again in 2004 when they again ran John Kerry. And in both cases the media and liberals couldn’t understand it when the people said “morals” were a primary issue. And just a few days ago the media went crazy when a top Republican advisor said it wasn’t about issues, it was about character.

More on this in another blog, because I think it is important, but back to the conventions. In addition to Palin there were a number of other speakers last night. As someone put it, we heard from “the losers”; Romney, Huckabee and Giuliani. The first two, well, let’s just say I remember why they lost. I thought Giuliani started off slowly but after the first five or ten minutes really got into his speech and got the crowd cheering (and booing). He was as good as I had hoped he would be. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Fred Thompson from the night before. Now he was terrific. I hope he goes out on the trail campaigning for them.

One last thought on last night. Sarah Palin wasn’t the only female to win the heart of the convention and viewers last night. Barack Obama, you no longer have the lock on adorable little girls. Wasn’t Sarah’s youngest daughter just a hoot? Apparently even the cameramen couldn’t resist her as they kept turning the cameras on her all night. The shot of the night was of that little girl holding her baby brother, licking her palm and using it to wet down his hair. How many mothers could relate with that? It made Sarah Palin seem like any other mother, like you and I, and maybe just maybe like the next Vice President of the United States.