The first female Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, took the podium at the Excel Energy Center last night, flashed a smile and rocked the house.
Palin introduced herself to the American people:
I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better. When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.
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.
Sarah Barracuda continued:
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.
Ouch. Palin then took a bite out of the media elites:
Well, 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 great country.
While I disagree with Palin on abortion, guns, sex education – pick an issue – the media’s coverage has been blatantly sexist. Should Joe Biden have called it quits when his wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident? Biden was sworn into office from the bedside of his injured sons.
Did anyone question whether the late Robert F. Kennedy should have run for president? Kennedy had 10 children and a pregnant wife. Fast forward 40 years, did the media call for John Edwards to drop out when his wife was diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer?
I am one of 11 children. My father was a blue-collar worker and my mother was a domestic worker. It was exponentially harder for my mother to juggle her dual roles than it would be for a mother of five living in the Vice President’s Residence at the Naval Observatory.
So, attack Palin on the issues, her experience and readiness to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. But the notion that Palin has “crossed a tipping point” as a working mother begs the question: Says who?
