LIVE BLOG: Sarah Palin's Speech at the RNC

8:54 p.m. I decided to start with the live blog covering Sarah Palin’s speech at the RNC Convention. I am terribly excited about hearing her speak. Linda Lingle is addressing the convention right now, and she made a point about how Palin is a Washington outsider who wants to bring real reform to Washington politics.

8:59 p.m. I can’t stop thinking about how Palin’s candidacy is energizing women. Right now, both my precious husband and I are sitting here discussing how awesome it would be to have the first female Vice President, as it paves the way for a future female President.  I am texting madly with my RNC pals about the excitement building.

9:03 p.m. My favorite New York Yankees fan, Rudy Giuliani is addressing the crowd. He is really enthusiastic and energizing. “John McCain is a true American hero.”–Rudy Giuliani.

9:07 p.m. Rudy is talking about Barack Obama’s experience, or lack thereof. Rudy also attacks Barack’s voting record…hahaha! “For President of the United States, you can’t vote Present.”–Rudy.

9:10 p.m. “Tough times require strong leadership…this is no time for on-the-job training.”–Rudy Giuliani about Barack Obama’s inexperience John McCain is tested and ready to be President of the United States. We will be safer, no doubt with McCain’s leadership.

9:14 p.m. Rudy is talking about McCain adhering to free trade, energy independence (offshore drilling mentioned)…drill baby drill! We talk about change…they [dems] talk about hope. The only hope you will need with Barack is the hope that he will not send big brother snooping constantly over your shoulder.

9:16 p.m. Rudy mentioned the state of denial that the Democrats did not address during their convention by not addressing 9-11. McCain aligned himself with the troop surge, and we have seen success (how does the capture of Saddam sound…Iraqis having the right to vote).

9:19 p.m. “If I were Joe Biden, I would want to get the VP thing in writing.”–RG John McCain said we were all Georgians…Barack created a moral equivalency looking at both sides. Who has the most inexperience? BHO. “Advice for Barack…call John McCain”

9:23 p.m. “Gov. Palin represents a new generation…and already has more executive experience than the Democratic ticket combined.” Palin has encouraged energy exploration and is one of the best Governors in the country. Two mavericks on the ticket…way to shake up Washington…yeehaw!

9:28 p.m. Our next Vice President is on the stage. What a rising star…standing ovations abound! There are tears in my eyes. “Chairman, delegates, ladies and gentleman, I accept your nomination as Vice President of the United States.”

9:33 p.m. “There is a time for politics, a time for leadership, a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.” “Our candidate for President is a true profile of courage…the troops in Iraq brought victory in sight.” Palin mentions her son’s service to country…excellent! She is proud of her son and nephew and all of America’s troops…we have a winner!

9:37 p.m. “Our family has the same joys and the same challenges.” Mentions special needs children. “You will have a friend and advocate in the White House.” Sarah’s message to families of special needs children.

9:40 p.m. “Every woman has a place at the table.” Mentions parents and thanks them. “I had the privilege of living in a small town, being a hockey mom, and signing up for the PTA. The difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull is lipstick. I signed up for the PTA, because I wanted to make my children’s public education better.”

9:43 p.m. “I guess being a town mayor is a lot like a community organizer.” Good line, Sarah.

9:46 p.m. “Americans expect us to go to Washington to make a difference, not socialize with lobbyists.” “I pledge to all Americans to carry myself in this spirit as Vice President of the United States.” “When I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, oil companies and the good old boys…we shook things up and put government back on the side of people.”

9:49 p.m. “Use of veto is in the public interest.” Palin used this in Alaska to stop government spending. “Thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build ourselves.” “Americans, we need to produce much of our own oil and gas. Take it from a girl from Alaska, we got lots of both” Drill here, drill now…ease government regulations! “There is no excuse to do nothing at all.”

9:53 p.m. “On the first day of the McCain/Palin administration, we are going to build new energy plants.” “American energy brought to you by American ingenuity, brought to you by American workers.” “Barack authored two memoirs, but not a single bill.” Right on, sister!

9:56 p.m. “Barack wants to meet terrorists without preconditions.” Sarah is definitely showing her strength…Go Sarahcuda!! “Government is too big and he [Barack] wants to grow it. Taxes are too high and he [Barack] wants to raise it.” Highlights her sister and brother-in-law starting a small business and talked about how higher taxes oppress business growth. “McCain isn’t looking for a fight, but isn’t afraid of one either.” Mentions “Dirty Harry” Reid and the do-nothing Congress…we have chosen the right man. “Dirty Harry” can’t stand up to John McCain. The American Presidency is not supposed to be one of personal discovery.”

10:04 p.m. “It is a long way from a 6′ X 4′ cell in Hanoi to the White House.” His service to our country is admirable. “John McCain has inspired with his deeds. If character is the theme of this election, then I hope you will join our cause.”

10:10 p.m. Our next President, John McCain walked on stage to be with the family. It is a beautiful night to be an American and a Republican. Country first!

It has been a truly historic night. Sarah Palin makes me even prouder to be a Republican woman, and she now a heroine in my book. I pray that I can be like her one day, what a great role model! She handles pressure with grace and strength…may God bless you and your family, Sarah Palin.

I inquire (via text to my friend Beau) if I am too old for a Sarah Palin poster on my wall - he insists I should get one for him too!

BIG SHOES TO FILL

Thank you for breaking the glass ceiling, VP Palin!!!

Pressure, What Pressure???

No one better could have put Sarah Palin’s speech tonight in better perspective than the late legendary movie trailer announcer Don LaFontaine. Called the “king of voiceovers” LaFontaine could set up the story line:

“In a rough and tumble world where the enemy is everywhere — from CNN’s Campbell Brown asking questions of a spokesman — the world awaits … and wonders…"

MUSIC CHANGE to the William Tell Overture…

“Could a former beauty queen, now a mother of five from Alaska be the next Vice President? First she has to win the hearts and minds of a skeptical America."

“It’s the outrageous, feel-good movie of the year: “Sarah Goes to Washington.”

OK. Real world: Taking on the Alaskan establishment and wrestling away the top political office in the state after beating two powerhouse names was no small feat for Palin. The woman has shown she knows how to win and impresses people on both sides of the aisle for her substance.

But that hasn’t stopped political insiders and pundits from observing that the rising Republican star could have used a few more years of seasoning before running for the second highest office in the land.

Early or not, she’s got the spotlight now. And she’s had it since last Friday. It’s been five complete days since John McCain reminded the country why he’s been called a renegade, a maverick, a cowboy. By selecting the-then virtually unknown Palin, he made her the main subject of the GOP convention so far — and her speech tonight the most widely anticipated of the week.

Contrast this to five days after Barack Obama selected Joe Biden. The news of the day? Hillary Clinton’s “come back to the fold” speech, Montana Governor’s yee-haw fire-em-up oratory, and Mark Warner … does anybody recall what he said?

Politico asks this morning, “Can the GOP stop talking about Palin?” It’s not just the GOP, it’s everywhere.  I think she is getting more buzz than Michael Phelps!

A quick perusal around some of the major mainstream news sites shows the LA Times leading with, “McCain had criticized earmarks from Palin.” The New York Times has “Palin’s start in Alaska: not politics as usual.”

The Wall Street Journal leads with “GOP tightens VP image control.” The New York Post - in typical New York Post fashion - screams, “Shining knights - GOP defends damsel in distress Palin.”

The San Francisco Chronicle simply puts it “Spotlight on Sarah Palin.”

People watch tightrope walkers because they might fall and splatter on the ground, and when they reach the end of the line safely, there is a great release of tension. So it is with tonight’s prime-time acceptance speech by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, picked by Republican presidential candidate John McCain to be his running mate.

One of the most anticipated political speeches in memory will begin to answer whether McCain’s gamble on the unknown chief executive of a sparsely populated and remote state was wise.

But there’s no pressure.

Upon the surprising news a last week that McCain was picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be on his ticket the immediate talking point from the left, emanating specifically from the Obama campaign, was that Palin was too inexperienced. After all, according to the left, wasn’t Palin just a small town mayor a few years ago?

Well now the liberals, including Obama himself, have figured out that bashing a VP pick as “too inexperienced” might not be a good idea when your Presidential nominee is a Senator who hasn’t even completed one term yet.

Obama doesn’t want to go too far down that road.

Obama is clearly going to leave the Palin-bashing to his surrogates, but riddle me this: If Palin is too inexperienced to be VP, how in the world is Obama experienced enough to be President?

What experiences has Obama had that make him more qualified to run the country than Palin? The liberals seem bent out of shape about Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience, but what has he done in that regard that makes him such a better candidate than Palin? Time and again squirming liberals who are pressed to name Obama’s major accomplishments tell us about his having presided over the Harvard Law Review and having worked as a “community organizer” (whatever that is). Comparing those “accomplishments” to Palin’s shows that she’s got a lot more under her belt than Obama.

Palin cut wasteful spending in the Alaska budget. She pushed through a natural gas pipeline that her predecessors in Alaska had been trying to get built for thirty years. She’s refused federal earmarks for her state when she felt they weren’t necessary saying that she didn’t think it was right for people in the “lower 48” to pay for Alaskan projects. She’s fought to expand domestic drilling. She stood up to corrupt members of her own party (most notably Senator Ted Stevens). What has Obama done that rivals any of these?

He gave a good speech at the 2004 Democrat convention? He’s spent most of a partial Senate term campaigning for President?

Basically, the "Palin Buzz" going to create a huge audience for her speech whether she walks out there and blows it or hits it out of the park. With every question, with every controversy the audience gets bigger so that when she walks out there — it could be one of the most dramatic moments of either convention.

The question is, could the audience for Palin’s speech top Barack Obama’s 40+ million?

We’ll find out. She’s in the spotlight tonight at 10 p.m. (9 p.m. Texas time)


Also, set your Tivo's for Tomorrow night -- a long awaited one on one with Barack Obama and Bill O'Reilly at 8 PM Eastern/7 Central on Fox News!!!

Great week!

Brilliant move....

Sarah Palin is just a beauty queen.

She is a member of the NRA and ex-television reporter.

And ironically, the biggest criticism of Sarah Palin, John McCain's veep choice, is she has no experience. Funny, coming from the Barack Obama camp.

Following McCain's announcement of Palin - the first female to be put on a GOP ticket for the White House, and only the second in US history - the Obama campaign skipped the niceties and blasted her as the "former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience." She's also a governor of Alaska, the first woman in that office and the youngest elected in state history. She has an 85-plus percent approval rating. She has turned the state upside down with her reformist zeal and has made enemies of the Republican establishment.

And she can talk energy policy, one of the biggest issues facing this country.  She single-handedly turned Alaska around.  When she became head of state, she took the private jet (purchased by the last Governor) and told her staff, "take a photo and put it on Ebay, we don't need it"   She sold it at a profit.

Is she a gamble? Definitely. But so is Barack Obama, who has himself dismissed experience as a prerequisite for leadership, despite his spot atop the Democratic ticket.

At this point, Palin is so unknown, there's no way to make a clear judgment about her. But listening to Obama supporters take to the airwaves to shriek with indignation about her lack of experience is just a little too rich. Where were they when Obama, two years into the Senate, announced his candidacy for president?

The more I hear about her the more I love her!  Choosing Sarah Palin is solid proof that McCain is not interested in any members of the "Good Old Boy Club" (unlike Obama's choice of Joe Biden).  Sarah Palin will bring change, not to mention make history.

If I knew it only took a beauty queen title, NRA membership card and television reporting past to qualify for the job I would have submitted my name months ago!