[cross-posted on mdgopconvention2008.com]

Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin wowed the crowd and proved her mettle last night, ridiculing the complaint of the Obama campaign that she is just a “small town mayor.”

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

And this was just the beginning.

Thumbing her nose at the media and Washington elite alike, this hockey-mom-turned-government-reformer delivered blasts at the entrenched bureaucracy of each with shots like this one, aimed squarely at the mainstream media

But here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.

Ouch.

On Obama:

Government is too big … he wants to grow it.  Congress spends too much … he promises more. Taxes are too high … he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.

The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes… raise payroll taxes… raise investment income taxes… raise the death tax… raise business taxes… and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.

On small businesses and American workers:

My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that’s now opened for business - like millions of others who run small businesses. How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you’re trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio … or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia… or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy?

Such great questions!

On government reform:

I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that brought me to the governor’s office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau … when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol’ boys network.

Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That’s why true reform is so hard to achieve. But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up. And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.

I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law. While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor’s office that I didn’t believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.  I also drive myself to work.

And I thought we could muddle through without the governor’s personal chef - although I’ve got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending - by request if possible and by veto if necessary.

Imagine that:  a government on the side of the people.  And if ever a woman needed a cook it is a woman with five kids.  So much for using her office to protect her own interests!

On budget:

Our state budget is under control. We have a surplus. And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.

It will be interesting to see what tactics the Obama campaign uses to blunt the force of her attacks on the elite establishment in Washington, of which Joe Biden is a 30-year veteran.  And it will be fascinating to watch her respond deftly to their accusations of inexperience.

Certainly the good-ol’ boy media network will intensify its scrutiny on her unwed pregnant daughter, her use of “God” in public language, and her family…looking for discrepancies in her life stories that contradict her core beliefs and her message, all the while overlooking their own candidate’s most egregious fabrication of qualifications in the history of American politics.

But one thing is certain:  McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate adds some color and vigor to the party previously described by critics as a bunch of “old, white men.” The Biden choice is pale in comparison.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 6th, 2008 at 2:08 pm and is filed under National Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.