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Live from RNC: Sarah Palin Makes History
It was the campaign speech of the new millennium — and the GOP fell in love.
Others will dissect the use of humor, the ease of presentation, the remarkable fluidity with the teleprompter (can she teach John McCain that?), the reasoned argumentation on energy policy, and the feisty jabs at both halves of the Democratic ticket. I can tell you the reaction of the crowd. They were simply transfixed and, frankly, stunned. Conservative pundits and delegates alike looked at each periodically — “Can you believe this?!” was the refrain. Indeed they could not. It is impossible in the cocoon of a political convention not to be engulfed in a media storm and not to fret. (“Could the MSM be right for once?”)
As she moved from biography to attack to defense of her own record, it slowly began to dawn on those in the hall: she was not only going to meet expectations, she was going to transform the race. The sense of relief was slowly replaced by an outpouring of joy and of feisty defiance. “The MSM is ruined,” conservatives laughed to one another. Indeed, it is hard to imagine how the media would explain their behavior in the days before the speech and sweep away the now entirely discredited and media-invented proposition that she was an unvetted and badly mistaken choice.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the crowd swooned. The motion was repeated again and again — a delegate or conservative activist or pundit would clutch their chest in mock coronary distress, look at a neighbor, and throw back his head with a hearty laugh. “The girl of my dreams!” one youngish pundit shouted.
It is an understatement to say that conservatives coming into this Convention were nervous, and not just because of the prospects for victory in the fall. They worried that the conservative movement, regardless of the outcome of the 2008 election, lacked a standard bearer. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was still too young, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty perhaps a bit too bland. And then lighting hit the crowd. Is she — dare I say — the one? Not “The One” — conservatives are not given to blasphemy –– but the one to lead them to the secular promised land of political victory.
As they exited the hall, delegates chatted with pundits and pundits with activists. The conversations covered roughly the same points: the pundits had been humiliated, Palin had slain their enemy (the MSM) and inflicted wounds on their opponents (the Democratic ticket), Palin had not just stabilized the McCain camp but juiced it up and assured feverish intensity of support from every element of the base, and — perhaps most critically — they had found the most attractive, engaging, culturally savvy, and articulate leader imaginable for their cause that anyone in a generation had seen.
At one point she asked the crowd what the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom was. (The answer: lipstick). The same might be hoped by conservatives is true of she and Ronald Reagan. But in a sense she provided something Reagan did not (because of his age and personal bearing) other than gender diversity: an alternative conservative pop culture icon. Conservatives hate to be thought of as stuffy. The lady aint stuffy! She combines a sense of adventure with a contemporary family and a picture of feminine beauty with one of steely determination to fight the cultural elite in America.
Vodkapundit Stephen Green said: “Feisty, funny, fierce.” But she is also the future. And that is why Sarah Palin today has the entire GOP in the palm of her hand.
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Jennifer Rubin is PJM's Washington, DC, editor. She also blogs at Commentary’s Contentions.
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42 Comments
1. michael:this just in, Palin’s teleprompter broke, more than halfway through her speeck
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:20 am 2. jeff:wow
http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/sep/04/breaking-sarah-palin-winged-her-speech-bec/
I was there. She gave a great speech. I think the thing that resonated with the crowd was not her attack on Obama (expected), not her attack on MSM(expected, who could blame her), but the fact that she was so proud to be a mom.
not a mother, a mom.
she is one of us. she gets it. there is empathy for her. when she said she would be saying an extra prayer for her son who deploys to Iraq, we believe her.
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:24 am 3. Anthony (Los Angeles):do you believe hillary when she says it?
After the VP debate, Biden’s new nickname will be “roadkill.”
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:31 am 4. Saltherring:Brilliant speech AND delivery. Sarah Palin has converted this fiscal/social conservative from reluctant McCain supporter to active campaigner! And you can stick a fork in the leftist, Obama-worshipping MSM. Any slight claim to credibility and objectivity by CNN, MSNBC, NYT, CBS, ABC and NBC has eroded with this morning’s tide.
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:33 am 5. great unknown:Did you notice how many times the word “feisty” was used in this blog? I think that Palin defines the word, and that’s great, because that used to be the American character – and needs to be again.
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:39 am 6. Kevin:The dems and the MSM better check for bite marks surrounded by lipstick. She shoots, she scores!!!
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:44 am 7. 11B40:Greetings:
Even more importantly and as we used to say in the cavalry, the battle has been joined.
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:46 am 8. k. pablo:It’s hard to believe Tim Pawlenty, Tom Ridge, or any of the others vetted could have matched her. Good decision, John McCain.
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:48 am 9. jvon:I stayed up way too late watching her speech last night. I was blown away.
Go get ‘em, Sarah!
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:51 am 10. Stephen:I watch last night and when she finished I just knew we had witnessed history. A once in a generation kind of speech similar to Reagan’s 1976 RNC speech. Gov. Palin IS one of us and that picture last night at the end of the speech, with her family on stage, and the obvious love and affection they feel for each other proved it. It’s relatable across party lines. She unapologetically puts family and country (or her state) first which cannot be said for 95% of Washington or the elite media….just a fantastic night for America.
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:54 am 11. Self-hating boomer:My daughter made an interesting observation; that Sarah was Reagan in a skirt. For any lefties, that was meant in a positive way. I think that after wandering in the Bushes for 20 years, the Republicans have found their new rising star.
When the history books are written 50 years from now, the 8 years of the Reagan administration will pale next to the 8 years of the Palin administration. She’s got all of Reagan’s charisma and spine, and youth and brains to boot.
Obamabots, be afraid. In fact, go ahead and panic, and start throwing things.
Sep 4, 2008 - 7:58 am 12. jay:My wife said her favorite part was when they showed her young daughter holding her new son and then she promptly licked her hand and wetted down the babies hair. All moms can identify with that. It’s not important but I thought it was cute.
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:00 am 13. Alicia O'Finn:Sarah Palin has not yet begun to hit her stride in this campaign. The question you have to ask Obama right now is “do you feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?”
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:06 am 14. Bumr50:Hey!! I think some JEALOUS,ANGRY LIBERAL hacked Michelle Malkin’s site.
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:07 am 15. Ed Wallis:Anybody else have a problem there?
THIS was a speech (I’m paraphrasing here…) “that should be taught right up there with the Gettysburg address and the Declaration of Independence.”
I’m cleaning the chain on my bike with Obama’s.
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:10 am 16. KansasGirl:Phenomenal!
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:11 am 17. Javelin:That is just what we need, a pit bull with lipstick. Pitbulls are rock stupid. Maybe whe’ll attack McCain or one of the staff and have to be put down. She chose those words.
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:27 am 18. sydney jane:Liberal feminists attack her for being on the wrong side of women’s issues. But, how can she be? Just one look at her and how she’s lived her life should be an example for ALL women; I think they’ll have a hard time convincing anyone that she is anti-woman. Instead, it just makes these feminists look foolish.
(Side note – little Piper Palin reminds me of Lucy Pevensie from the Chronicles of Narnia. That scene of her wiping down her little brother’s hair with spit was priceless!)
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:42 am 19. Ed Wallis:“Bumr50″; I also has problems with some “automatic download”; I informed her site and it was corrected.
“Javelin,” you poor thing. I have no pity for your position of desperation and ineffectuality, however. You made your bed(partners), NOW GO SLEEP WITH THEM.
…not that they’ll be sleeping well after Palin’s speech…heh.
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:46 am 20. jay:Javelin:
“Pitbulls are rock stupid” that sounds more like liberals.
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:48 am 21. Valerie:The Black Talk Radio is all busy telling themselves that the reaction to Mrs. Palin’s speech is all about racism. No kidding, I just heard it. And, they actually seem to believe that nonsense from the Obama Campaign, that running a presidential campaign in and of itself makes Barack Obama qualified to be President. Not only that, they think that if only white people will seek out black people and get to know them, they’ll vote for Obama.
They give no indication of understanding how they and their favorite son have been cheated by the radical wing of the Democratic Party.
Sep 4, 2008 - 8:57 am 22. BackwardsBoy:Whoa! This wasn’t supposed to be the best speech ever by a VP prospect. She was going to be all defensive and whiney and start crying on stage and then be forced off the ticket while McCain fumbled around for a new running mate like Joe Lieberman or Mitt Romney.
Heh, heh, heh.
The Vapid One just lost this election.
Sep 4, 2008 - 9:02 am 23. ex-democrat:“if only white people will seek out black people and get to know them, they’ll vote for Obama.”
been there; done that; won’t be.
Sep 4, 2008 - 9:07 am 24. Tony:The blinkered fools on the far left, aided by an out-of-touch elitist MSM, will never let go of their delusional dreams and blatant hypocracies….but there will be plenty in the middle harbouring doubts about the Obama bandwagon who have now been given a reason to vote Republican in November.
What a gal this Sarah Palin is. A high-flying career woman raising a large family to boot. How small should feminists feel today? The more bile they spit at Palin the smaller and more insignificant they are and they know it. Lovely.
Sep 4, 2008 - 9:28 am 25. Fresh Air:The greatest favor the Democrats could have done for Barry is to defeat him in the primary and send him back to the Senate with a request to come back and run again when he’s actually accomplished something. Putting up an inexperienced radical is not a recipe for success. Racism has nothing to do with it. Does anyone imagine that Michael Steele wouldn’t be better received than John McCain with the base? Blaming your problems on the prejudice of others is what gets people stuck in a rut. Sarah Palin is the antithesis of that, the neighbor who helps others and never gripes about her plight.
Sep 4, 2008 - 9:36 am 26. Olivia:Amazing!
Sep 4, 2008 - 9:42 am 27. Self-hating boomer:PALIN ‘12
She is the one we seek.
Sep 4, 2008 - 9:47 am 28. Marina:In these couple of days Sarah has already screwed the leftist blogosphere and the MSM. Just imagine what she’ll do to Ahmadinejad or Chavez. Of course she’ll be the great Comander in Chief!
Sep 4, 2008 - 10:06 am 29. Believer:What a winner. Tough act for McCain to follow.
You could see the success written all over the Dems’ faces after the speech. Beyond glum. Loved it when CNN closed in on each talking head’s sour puss when they replayed Sarah’s zingers for them to respond to. Heh.
I thought I noticed her looking at her notes in the second half of the speech — it crossed my mind the teleprompter broke — but she didn’t break stride. Wow. Talk about grace under pressure.
Somebody up there likes her. And we’re the beneficiaries. What a great day for all of us. Congratulations – and thanks – Sarah.
Sep 4, 2008 - 10:07 am 30. Sandy Salt:Way to go VP Palin!!! Great job and keep the hits coming.
Sep 4, 2008 - 10:14 am 31. John Samford:Javelin, I know you weren’t hinting that Sweet Sara is stupid. That would be an ad homuem, which is not allowed. SO I just assumed you are trying to be witty, because you think you are a wit. I think you are half-right.
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool”.
Sep 4, 2008 - 10:19 am 32. Marina:William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, Act 5 scene 1
Greatest English dramatist & poet (1564 – 1616)
I still cannot forget like Blitzer was talking about “republican” “double standards” and CNN chicks were smearing Sarah on his command. That’s what so called liberals do to all their enemies. Remember how they use Jews to attack Republican Jews, religious Jews and Israel? This is just the same. They used women to attack a woman. And they think it will convince us (like Jimmy Carter after his “book” was published: “I have many Jewish friends and they agree with me”). I’m so happy it allready backfires! The day of Sarah’s speach Blitzer hasn’t pronounce “double standards” at all. Obama may rise in THEIR polls, but their behaviour shows what the REAL polls say. They have put the RED STAR out of the anouncement for the DNC, on the last day of Convention, not to associate the dems with the commies ANYMORE. That says a lot about the REAL polls. And now they send the same girl that smeared Sarah the day before to interview her sister in Alaska and to show us what a great person Sarah actually is. C’mon! Give us all a break! MSM flip-flopping on Sarah is too little, too late.
Sep 4, 2008 - 10:23 am 33. Marina:I’m so happy all these Obama’s zombies who attacked our blog yesterday have now gone where they belong to (daily-memory-of-something-used-to-be-obama’s-internet-pitbull). I think they were payed and sent to all Republican sites to immitate “angry Repblicans who will never, NEVER forgive a mother not grounding her 17 y.o. daughter for the rest of her childhood”. Their immitation were so poor, OMG. Someone (Glenn Beck?) have already called it “cartoon republicans”. Yeah, a sort of Mr. Burns in the Simpsons. We called them “Holywood republicans” because it’s the way Holywood portrays reps. And of course there are “Holywood democrats”, fighting for the rights of women, of trees, of stones, of raindrops, of Santa’s reindeers etc. Many people believed these images. How sweet! And now comes Sarah Palin and shows that the reps are not the Holywood reps, and, what – I think – is even more important, that the dems are not the Holywood dems at all. Just imagine someone, even she, would TELL us this simple truth. Very many of us would laugh. She doesn’s speak, she just SHOWS. And nobody will ever convince me that the Democratic party defends the women rights again. BRAVO, SARAH.
Sep 4, 2008 - 10:40 am 34. Marina:to FRESH AIR:
One day (very soon, in the next two months) you’ll see the Democratic party throwing Obama under the bus: “IT’S NOT BARACK OBAMA WE KNEW”. Sarah’s pic DID change the dynamic of this campaing. It’s not “Obama – Nobama” anymore. It’s not “Obama – McCain” (was it? when?). It’s not “Palin – Biden”. It’s not even “Palin – Obama”, like the dems want us to think the whole last week. Now it’s “Palin – the DEMOCRATIC PARTY”. And the Democratic party looses. First, it had shown the so called “independent media” actually belong to IT. Second, it had shown us these media can create the real cult of personality and the dems has NOTHING AGAINST IT (”gently” to say). Third, it had shown its real face in the WOMEN RIGHTS issues. Etc. etc. etc. How did the informed ones say? Alaska is full of bodies of very rich and very influence people who underestimated Sarah Palin? Oh, after this week I think the whole America believes it. “SARAH BARACK-UDA”, really. Like Obama just has thrown the Daily Kos under the bus, the scum his campaing had paid for, because now it damaged the image of Obama himself. Now the dems will do the same with him. Will they follow Phillipp Berg’s lawsuit against Obama? Or will they just tell us the truth about the REAL NUMBERS OF PEOPLE VOTED AGAINST OBAMA ON THE DNC? I still wanna know how ILLINOIS voted!!!!!!!! And I still want to know the number of PRO-McCAIN VOTES!!!!!! ACCLAMATION? WTF????? And they call themself DEMOCRATS???? ACCLAMATION?????? Really, HISTORICAL rally for the Democratic party. ACCLAMATION??????? omg. Very, very DEMOCRATICAL way to decide.
Who cares how? They’ll throw him under the bus because now it backfires on the PARTY, not only on him or their MSM.
Sep 4, 2008 - 12:54 pm 35. ic:The Dems criticized the speech as written by a Bush speech writer, and claimed Obama wrote his own speech. The problem is, during the primary, Obama was accused of plagiarizing another Dem’s speech. His speech writer came out and said he wrote both speeches. It was a recycled speech, not a plagiarized speech. Ergo, either the Dems lied then, or they lied now. If Obama had written his own speech, then he was a plagiarizer, like his VP pick. Whether he wrote his speech or not, he’s a liar. He either lied in the primary, or lied now.
Sep 4, 2008 - 12:59 pm 36. Marina:I stay where I am. Reps have VOTED for McCain yesterday knowing Palin is on the ticket. And it was democratically. They have VOTED for McCain – Palin actually. But what had happened with the dems? They have started with VOTING, than the results were not as good as the party expected and Hillary has anounced the ACCLAMATION after the convention tried to (to do what, by the way?) hide? the results of the Illinois voting. This makes me suppose ILLINOIS DIDN’T WANT OBAMA!!!!! And that were only Dems!!!!!! Dems have started with VOTING and when results were inconvenient, finished with ACCLAMATION. And we all know the story of Debora from McCain’s ad. How many dems would not acclaim after what the party has done with her? That was not democratical, I have actually seen something like that on the old videos from the Stalin USSR. The actual ACCLAMATION FOR PALIN is just the formality, the convention has VOTED.
Sep 4, 2008 - 4:59 pm 37. Not Impressed:And, after all, reps have VOTED for their PRESIDENT nominee, dems have NOT. I still want to know the results of the DNC-voting, especially from Illinois!
I’m sorry there was nothing interesting about Palins speech. It sounded like a written script for a made up character.Like she was coached into saying her whole life story. She does not impress me and McCain might as well just pull somebody off the street.Oh he did. This is a ploy to get female voters that supported Hilary and it’s a shame the Republican party think we are that stupid that we can’t see through the smoke and mirrors. But according to the people commenting so far.You’ve already been had!!
Sep 5, 2008 - 3:57 am 38. Dodgeblogium » Sarah Palin @ the RNC:[...] Rubin of PJM was well impressed as is Michael [...]
Sep 5, 2008 - 4:18 am 39. Ty Hoffmeyer:Javelin:
That is just what we need, a pit bull with lipstick. Pitbulls are rock stupid. Maybe whe’ll attack McCain or one of the staff and have to be put down. She chose those words.
Actually Javalin, the so called pit bull breeds are very smart,highly loyal to the ones they love, have great strengthand stamina and renowned for their endurance. I get the feeling she described her self perfectly. Beautiful, but screw with the ones I love and cherish and may God have mercy on your soul, because I won’t.
Sep 5, 2008 - 6:54 am 40. Reactions, Media “errors” and more | The Anchoress:[...] Rubin: On the floor during Palin’s speech. Um, the convention floor. [...]
Sep 5, 2008 - 11:16 am 41. Bruce:Wildlife joining Democratic party and the leadership to respond to the problem:
http://siliconinvestor.advfn.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=24915876
Sep 5, 2008 - 2:20 pm 42. Gracobabe:http://siliconinvestor.advfn.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=24915919
Do y’all think she told any lies?
Sep 5, 2008 - 5:01 pm