Sarah Palin's Keynote Speech at Glenn Beck's "Restore Honor" rally in Washington, D.C. today

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On The Run

Liberals are on the run. They feel Obama has thrown them under the bus much in the same way he did to his grandmother and the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

Liberals should now and forever be distrustful of Obama. He’s proven himself to be the typical politician who says conflicting things with feigned conviction to whatever audience he happens to be addressing at the time. Think First District Congressman Tim Walz and State Representative Andy Welti.

Just last week, Obama was saying that the public option was, well ... optional. The next day, Kathleen Sebelius, his Health and Human Services Secretary, tells the Sunday shows that the public option is not an essential element of Obamacare. They even floated the idea of so-called health care co-ops, remember?

None of this was lost on rank-and-file liberals. They had been taking it on the chin for weeks from Sarah Palin on Facebook to grandma and grandpa at town hall meetings across the country. Now, the One on Whom They Had Placed Their Hope and Change seemed to be equivocating on the key element of the socialization of health care in America. Such egregious betrayal so soon after Obama’s Immaculation!

Maybe Obama is the one at whom they are really incensed, not Independents, Republicans and principled Democrats who oppose socialized health care, its death panels and public options. Their rage, however misplaced is palpable, particularly among the President’s Astroturf agents

"An Hourglass Turned Upside Down"

Contrast Sarah Palin's loving, moving and enthusiastic support for the Special Olympics with President Barack Obama's insensitive, vulgar and dismissive "joke" about it last night on "The Tonight Show" and judge for yourself who is the better person.

Palin Power!

"We had John McCain and Mike Huckabee and Gov. Romney and Rudy Giuliani, but Sarah Palin came in on the last day, did a fly-around and, man, she was dynamite. We packed the houses everywhere we went. And it really did allow us to peak and get our base fired up."

-- Re-elected Georgia Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss on how Alaska Governor Sarah Palin put him over the top


Chambliss: Palin 'allowed us to peak'

By ANDY BARR 12/3/08 10:20 AM EST

Fresh off his runoff victory Tuesday night, Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss credited Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with firing up his base.

“I can't overstate the impact she had down here,” Chambliss said during an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News.

“When she walks in a room, folks just explode,” he added. “And they really did pack the house everywhere we went. She's a dynamic lady, a great administrator, and I think she's got a great future in the Republican Party.”

Chambliss said that after watching her campaign on his behalf at several events Monday, he does not see her star status diminishing within the party.

The Republican also thanked John McCain and the other big name Republicans that came to Georgia, but said Palin made the biggest impact.

Just when you thought liberals couldn't hate Sarah Palin more than they do, her uncanny ability to energize the conservative base of the Republican Party has denied liberal Democrats a filibuster-proof senate majority. Go Sarah!

Paglia on Obama-Ayers, Sarah Palin and Liberal Democrats' "Grotesque Lock-step Parade of Bourgeois Provincialism"

Given that Obama had served on a Chicago board with Ayers and approved funding of a leftist educational project sponsored by Ayers, one might think that the unrepentant Ayers-Dohrn couple might be of some interest to the national media. But no, reporters have been too busy playing mini-badminton with every random spitball about Sarah Palin, who has been subjected to an atrocious and at times delusional level of defamation merely because she has the temerity to hold pro-life views.

How dare Palin not embrace abortion as the ultimate civilized ideal of modern culture? How tacky that she speaks in a vivacious regional accent indistinguishable from that of Western Canada! How risible that she graduated from the State University of Idaho and not one of those plush, pampered commodes of received opinion whose graduates, in their rush to believe the worst about her, have demonstrated that, when it comes to sifting evidence, they don't know their asses from their elbows.

Liberal Democrats are going to wake up from their sadomasochistic, anti-Palin orgy with a very big hangover. The evil genie released during this sorry episode will not so easily go back into its bottle. A shocking level of irrational emotionalism and at times infantile rage was exposed at the heart of current Democratic ideology -- contradicting Democratic core principles of compassion, tolerance and independent thought. One would have to look back to the Eisenhower 1950s for parallels to this grotesque lock-step parade of bourgeois provincialism, shallow groupthink and blind prejudice.

As for the Democrats who sneered and howled that Palin was unprepared to be a vice-presidential nominee -- what navel-gazing hypocrisy! What protests were raised in the party or mainstream media when John Edwards, with vastly less political experience than Palin, got John Kerry's nod for veep four years ago? And Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, for whom I lobbied to be Obama's pick and who was on everyone's short list for months, has a record indistinguishable from Palin's. Whatever knowledge deficit Palin has about the federal bureaucracy or international affairs (outside the normal purview of governors) will hopefully be remedied during the next eight years of the Obama presidencies.

The U.S. Senate as a career option? What a claustrophobic, nitpicking comedown for an energetic Alaskan -- nothing but droning committees and incestuous back-scratching. No, Sarah Palin should stick to her governorship and just hit the rubber-chicken circuit, as Richard Nixon did in his long haul back from political limbo following his California gubernatorial defeat in 1962. Step by step, the mainstream media will come around, wipe its own mud out of its eyes, and see Palin for the populist phenomenon that she is.

-- The Indefatigable Camille Paglia

Happy Liberal Halloween!

"The image of a hanged black man is a lot more intense than the image of a hanged white woman, for our country and the history of our country."

-- West Hollywood resident Chad Morisette, whose Halloween decorations include a mannequin of Sarah Palin hanging by the neck from a noose, who also muses that if the scene had feature Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, "there might have been more outrage and maybe even vandalism to the home."

Hanging Palin Causes Controversy

A mannequin dressed as Sarah Palin is hanging from a roof in West Hollywood, CA and is causing a stir.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Some laugh and others just stop and stare...it's a Halloween decoration showing a mannequin dressed as vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hanging by a noose from the roof of a West Hollywood home.

The mannequin is dressed in brunet wig, glasses and a red business suit. Another mannequin dressed as John McCain emerges from a flaming chimney.

Chad Michael Morisette, who lives in the house, told KCBS-TV that drivers and bus passengers have been stopping to snap pictures of the macabre scene.

Morisette says the effigy would be out of bounds at any other time of year, but it's withinthe spirit of Halloween. He tells KCBS "it should be seen as art, and as within the month of October. It's Halloween, it's time to be scary it's time to be spooky.

How "artistic" would it have been to hang a mannequin dressed like Obama or Hillary by a noose? Would liberals have taken it "within the spirit of Halloween?" I would like to think not.

Hillary: Palin "Very Composed and Effective Debater"

"It's amazing, you know, she's been thrust into the national spotlight with very little preparation and I think that, all things considered, you saw a very composed and effective debater last night."

-- Jilted running mate Hillary Clinton on Sarah Palin's vice presidential debate performance.

It looks like Bill is not the only Clinton trying to undermine the liberal Obamafraud/Hair Plugs presidential ticket. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

VP Debate: Advantage, Palin

Biden looked like he had been medicated and hour or so before the debate. The MSM reaction was that Sarah Palin stood toe to toe with Hair Plugs. Up until the debate started, the “conventional (i.e. liberal) wisdom” was that Palin was going to implode and bring the Republican ticket down with her. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

KTTC showed reaction from local Republican and Democratic debate parties in town. Republicans were universally pleased with Palin. Liberals, not so with Biden. Olmsted County DFL chair Lynn Wilson looked bitter and downcast when interviewed. But then again, what's new.

What struck me during the debate as one of the main and perhaps the pettiest reason why liberals don't like Governor Sarah Palin is her beauty queen looks. I mean, really. How many female elected officials are physically attractive?

Go, Sarah!

Biden’s performance and liberties with “the facts” reminded me of a Mark Twain quote:

“Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.”

Biden is a stranger to both facts and the truth. Apparently his memory is faltering as well. One of my favorite Palin zingers was when she said that Biden dismissed Obama as inexperienced, naive and “not ready” to be president until he was tapped to be the Obamafraud’s running mate. Biden is a self-serving hypocrite.

Blacks, White Liberals, Women and Independents Against Obama. Did I Miss Anyone?

Obama was heckled by a group of about 20 "Blacks Against Obama" protesters during a rally in Florida yesterday. It was a comical and ironic spectacle at the same time. Check it out. Notice the Obamaelist's paternalistic condescension.






But that's not all. Here's a little something that should keep the Obama campaign up nights.

Obama trouble: One third of white Dems see blacks negatively. Will they vote McCain?

WASHINGTON | Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them "lazy," ''violent" or responsible for their own troubles.

The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 — about two and one-half percentage points.

Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He's an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation's oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents — voters Obama can't win the White House without — agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views.

Such numbers are a harsh dose of reality in a campaign for the history books. Obama, the first black candidate with a serious shot at the presidency, accepted the Democratic nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, a seminal moment for a nation that enshrined slavery in its Constitution.

"There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn't mean there's only a few bigots," said Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman who helped analyze the exhaustive survey.

The pollsters set out to determine why Obama is locked in a close race with McCain even as the political landscape seems to favor Democrats. President Bush's unpopularity, the Iraq war and a national sense of economic hard times cut against GOP candidates, as does that fact that Democratic voters outnumber Republicans.

The findings suggest that Obama's problem is close to home — among his fellow Democrats, particularly non-Hispanic white voters. Just seven in 10 people who call themselves Democrats support Obama, compared to the 85 percent of self-identified Republicans who back McCain.

The survey also focused on the racial attitudes of independent voters because they are likely to decide the election.

Lots of Republicans harbor prejudices, too, but the survey found they weren't voting against Obama because of his race. Most Republicans wouldn't vote for any Democrat for president — white, black or brown.

Not all whites are prejudiced. Indeed, more whites say good things about blacks than say bad things, the poll shows. And many whites who see blacks in a negative light are still willing or even eager to vote for Obama.[More]

It's all well and good that "many" Whites who view Blacks negatively are still "eager" to vote for Obama. Problem is, White women are flocking to the McCain-Palin ticket.

Thank you, Sarah "Moose Shooter" Palin!

Cute

"People shouldn't make a decision this time based on, 'I like that guy' or 'she's cute'."

- Michelle Obama's lame attempt to diminish Sarah Palin's appeal

Palin: Way cuter than Michelle. Classier, too. And has ALWAYS been proud of America.

Obama Calls Palin "Moose Shooter"

"Sarah Palin is a WHAAAAAAAAAAT?"

Obama, Dems sharpen personal attacks on Palin
ByJim Vanderhei & Mike Allen | 9/9/08 6:40 PM EST

Barack Obama and his Democratic allies are intensifying their attacks on Sarah Palin, as her sustained and surprising central role in this race is upending Obama’s strategy and often overshadowing McCain.

Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan on Tuesday – introducing Joe Biden at a campaign event – ripped into Palin’s record and punctuated it with this snarky jab. “There’s no way you can dress up that record, even with a lot of lipstick,” he said. Later in the day, Obama used a variation of the lipstick line, though he was clearly talking about the McCain-Palin reform rhetoric. "You can put lipstick on a pig," he said. "It's still a pig."

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, as part of his endorsement of Obama, said Palin “scares the hell out of me.” And Obama hit Palin in nearly a dozen different press releases – one day after drawing laughs at a campaign stop by calling her a “moose shooter.” [More]

Moose shooter? Here is more elitism for you. Obama is low and getting lower.

Hey, wasn't Hillary supposed to attack Sarah Pain? Why is Obama doing all the dirty work?

Pig

"What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick."

-- Alaska Governor Sarah Palin during her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota last week.

"You know, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

-- Barack Obama, the Pig, during a town hall appearance in Virginia today.


I wonder if leftist pseudo-feminists will condemn Obama. I doubt it. Remember they sided with Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey affairs.

Obama has reached a new low. Is he really so fearful and desperate as to resort to name-calling of the basest sort? I would say, yes.

Feminists for Palin!

A Feminist's Argument for McCain's VP
By Tammy Bruce

In the shadow of the blatant and truly stunning sexism launched against the Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign, and as a pro-choice feminist, I wasn't the only one thrilled to hear Republican John McCain announce Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

For the GOP, she bridges for conservatives and independents what I term "the enthusiasm gap" for the ticket.

For Democrats, she offers something even more compelling - a chance to vote for a someone who is her own woman, and who represents a party that, while we don't agree on all the issues, at least respects women enough to take them seriously. Whether we have a D, R or an "i for independent" after our names, women share a different life experience from men, and we bring that difference to the choices we make and the decisions we come to.

Having a woman in the White House, and not as The Spouse, is a change whose time has come, despite the fact that some Democratic Party leaders have decided otherwise. But with the Palin nomination, maybe they'll realize it's not up to them any longer. Clinton voters, in particular, have received a political wake-up call they never expected.

Having watched their candidate and their principles betrayed by the very people who are supposed to be the flame-holders for equal rights and fairness, they now look across the aisle and see a woman who represents everything the feminist movement claimed it stood for.

Women can have a family and a career. We can be whatever we choose, on our own terms. For some, that might mean shooting a moose. For others, perhaps it's about shooting a movie or shooting for a career as a teacher. However diverse our passions, we will vote for a system that allows us to make the choices that best suit us. It's that simple. [More]

That's what I have been saying for a long time now. Sexism is alive, well and thriving in the "progressive" Democratic Party. They ran Hillary out of town but now object to another woman taking the spotlight for no other reason than she is a conservative Republican.

Gallup: McCain/Palin Ahead

Gallup Daily: McCain Moves Ahead, 48% to 45%

McCain enjoyng increase in support following convention

PRINCETON, NJ -- The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking update shows John McCain moving ahead of Barack Obama, 48% to 45%, when registered voters are asked for whom they would vote if the presidential election were held today.[More]

Give credit to the Palin effect, but also to John McCain's passionate country-first acceptance speech at the conclusion of the Republican convention.

The MSM Jihad to "Swiftboat" Sarah Palin

(Credit: Michelle Malkin)

Media loves to hate Sarah Palin
By Howie Carr
Sunday, September 7, 2008 - Added 4h ago

The Beautiful People just won’t let up on Sarah Palin.

It’s become a regular “60 Minutes”/Texas Air National Guard feeding frenzy of bogus reporting out there. The whoppers about Palin are piled up so high in the moribund mainstream media that the wrinkly newsreaders have taken to blaming their most scurrilous, sexist screw-ups on those nefarious unnamed left-wing “bloggers” - you know, like Brian Williams.

Why do the pampered poodles of the elite media loathe Sarah so much? Let’s go down the list.

She’s only 44 years old. She’s just not seasoned enough - and if you don’t believe me, just ask Gloria Steinem, age 74, or Barbara Walters, age 78, or Sally Quinn, age 67, or Eleanor Clift, age 68, or Andrea Mitchell, age 61, or Gail Collins, age 62.

Why, up on the stage, it has been noted that you can distinguish Sarah’s ankles from her calves. She’s never had a Botox injection. The hags of the Hamptons speak as one on this issue. Snow White Palin must be stopped. Anybody got a poisoned apple? [More]

Palin has become the focus of liberal angst, hate, resentment, envy and overall insanity. The lies and rumors, some perpetuated by the MSM (or is it the MMM, as Carr puts it?) are beyond the pale.

There is the Trig-is-really-Bristol's-baby lie. Then there is the book banning rumor, also a lie.

Palin belonged to an Alaskan separatist party. Another bald-faced lie.

If there's still any doubt in anyone's mind that McCain made the right choice of running mate, look at Keith Olberman's, Chris Mathews', Brian Williams', Tom Brokaw's and every other member of the MMM's viscerally negative reaction to Palin.

Über blogger Michelle Malkin and others are calling it Palin Derangement Syndrome (P.D.S.). Appropriately so. Liberal Democrats and their surrogates in the MMM must be extremely afraid of Palin. And it's not just about the 2008 election. They want to make sure their darling Hillary won't face a popular, energetic and lovable female presidential candidate or, knock on wood, incumbent president in 2012.

Obama's Tanking: Thank you, Sarah Palin!

Gallup Daily: Obama's Lead Shrinks to 2 points
September 6, 2008

PRINCETON, NJ -- Barack Obama's advantage over John McCain has been shrinking since the start of the Republican National Convention, and is now down to just two percentage points -- 47% to 45% -- too close to call.[More]

The momentum is clearly on the McCain/Palin side. The Obamafraud's convention bounce of 8 percentage points immediately after his Styrofoam Greek Temple Ascension in Denver came crashing down almost immediately after John McCain announced that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was his running mate.

Is it any wonder the Left hate Sarah Palin so much and are on a jihad to "swiftboat" her?

Palin On the Rise

Palin Power: Fresh Face Now More Popular Than Obama, McCain

September 05, 2008

A week ago, most Americans had never heard of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Now, following a Vice Presidential acceptance speech viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 37% hold an unfavorable view of the self-described hockey mom.

The figures include 40% with a Very Favorable opinion of Palin and 18% with a Very Unfavorable view. Before her acceptance speech, Palin was viewed favorably by 52%. A weed ago, 67% had never heard of her.

The new data also shows significant increases in the number who say McCain made the right choice and the number who say Palin is ready to be President. Generally, John McCain’s choice of Palin earns slightly better reviews than Barack Obama’s choice of Joe Biden.

Perhaps most stunning is the fact that Palin’s favorable ratings are now a point higher than either man at the top of the Presidential tickets this year. As of Friday morning, Obama and McCain are each viewed favorably by 57% of voters. Biden is viewed favorably by 48%.

Just think about it. It took Hillary thirty years of jockeying for position and constant abuse from Bill to get where she is today. Biden is a 36-year Washington establishment fossil. Obama has been hustling for a little over twenty years to before he achieved celebrity status. Then came Palin.

The hockey mom of a special needs child surpassed all of them in popularity within a week.

Palin's approval rating is a whopping 58%. Slightly higher than either McCain's or Obama's.

59% of independents view Palin favorably. This has got to have the effect of a kick in the Democratic teeth. We're talking about swing voters here.

These numbers have got to do something awful to Hillary's, Obama's and Biden's sense of entitlement to the presidency of the United States of America.

Hockey Mom vs. Shrill Obama Surrogate

"Shame on you, Sarah Palin! You hockey mom of
a special needs child!"

-- Hillary comes to the Obamawuss' rescue

Obama Camp Turns to Clinton to Counter Palin
By PATRICK HEALY and JEFF ZELENY

ST. PAUL — Senator Barack Obama will increasingly lean on prominent Democratic women to undercut Gov. Sarah Palin and Senator John McCain, dispatching Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to Florida on Monday and bolstering his plan to deploy female surrogates to battleground states, Obama advisers said Thursday.

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign event in Florida, her first for Mr. Obama since the Democratic convention, will serve as a counterpoint to the searing attacks and fresh burst of energy that Ms. Palin injected into the race with her convention speech on Wednesday, Obama aides said.

With the McCain-Palin team courting undecided female voters, including some who backed Mrs. Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Obama aides said they were counting on not only Mrs. Clinton but also Democratic female governors to rebut Ms. Palin — and, by extension, Mr. McCain. Those governors include Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.

Still, within the Obama campaign and among Democratic officials nationwide, talks are well under way about how the party should treat Ms. Palin in the campaign — and what Mr. Obama and his running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., need to do to regain the offensive after the Republican convention.

Some Democrats were urging Mr. Obama’s campaign not to underestimate the potential power of Ms. Palin’s speech, even among voters not aligned with either party: On liberal talk-radio shows and on left-leaning blogs, some Democrats said the Obama campaign should fight back hard to avoid being caricatured as Senator John Kerry was four years ago when he ran against President Bush. Some party strategists warned that Mrs. Palin’s personal narrative as a “hockey mom” with a special-needs child, would appeal to some undecided women voters.

“What McCain has done with Governor Palin’s nomination is aim right at a demographic that Obama needs to address quickly: noncollege-educated women,” said Mike McCurry, a former spokesman in the Clinton White House. “They need to maximize Biden’s ability to reach out to them, but at the end of the day, it is Obama who has to get that very, very critical group."[More]

Yikes!

It didn’t take long for Scaredy Barack to go hiding behind Hillary’s pantsuit. Such manliness from the Obamadonis.

This latest Obama strategy to counter the devastating effect Sarah Palin's candidacy has had on the Obama/Biden campaign will go over really well. Hillary can't help it but come across as self-important and shrill whenever she is "on the attack." Now she is going to sound catty as well. It should be quite the fight. I wonder whose side Bill is going to be on.

I can hear Hillary’s shrill voice reaching a crescendo as she declares: ““Shame on you, Sarah Palin! You hockey mom of a special needs child!” That will work. Carry on, Obamaboys!

They just don't get it. The elitism continues. Hockey moms without a college degree are just another "critical group" and "a demographic Obama needs to address quickly," not real people, many of whom cling to guns and religion, juggling work and family.

Oh, yeah, send Joe Biden to “reach out to them.” He is a real hit with the ladies. I hear hair plugs drive hockey moms wild with desire.

"Pitbull" Palin in Her Own Words

Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States...

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.

I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.

With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.

But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.

They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.

Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.

He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.

And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. I'm just one of many moms who'll say an extra

prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way.

Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.

And children with special needs inspire a special love.

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.

I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.

My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town.

And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.

A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

I grew up with those people.

They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.

They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.

We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment.

And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

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.

Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests.

The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.

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.

With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies ... or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia ... or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries ... we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.

And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.

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 new-clear 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? 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. 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

.

In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.

And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

If character is the measure in this election ... and hope the theme ... and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.

Fired Up!

The Republican National Convention was in full swing today - much to the chagrin of Democrats who had hoped and wished for Katrina-like disaster in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. The convention picked up steam with its three main speakers tonight, President George W. Bush, former Senator Fred Thompson and Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman.

“Fellow citizens, if the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain’s resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure the angry left never will.”

- President George W. Bush dishing out the red meat at the restart of the Republican Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul

“Some Washington pundits and media big shots are in a frenzy over the selection of a woman who has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Sunday talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit.

“Well, give me a tough Alaskan governor who has taken on the political establishment in the largest state in the Union - and won - over the Beltway business-as-usual crowd any day of the week.”

- Fred Thomson on Governor Sarah Palin

“What, after all, is a Democrat like me doing at a Republican convention like this? The answer is simple. I’m here to support John McCain because country matters more than party.

“When others wanted to retreat in defeat from the field of battle, when Barack Obama was voting to cut off funding for our troops on the ground, John McCain had the courage to stand against the tide of public opinion and support the surge and because of that, today, our troops are at last beginning to come home, not in failure, but in honor.”

- Senator Joe "Country First" Lieberman on the qualifications of his friend Senator John McCain and one of the many deficiencies of his U.S. Senate colleague Barack Obama