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Sarah Palin shows she's no lightweight
Birmingham News ^ | 9/7/2008 | Tom Scarritt

Posted on 09/07/2008 6:57:21 AM PDT by markomalley

Say this about Sarah Palin: She is not boring.

Her bio suggested that, and her performance Wednesday night before the Republican National Convention confirmed it. The GOP nominee for vice president has made this year's presidential election a lot more interesting.

She will make John McCain's campaign livelier.

If you like the McCain camp's message, you came away from Palin's speech with a lot to like. If you dislike the McCain camp's message, you found a lot to dislike. Either way, you knew there was a fighter in the ring.

Palin captured some of that sentiment in her tribute to hockey moms, playing off the crowd's enthusiastic reaction to her self-identification as one of them. You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? she asked. "Lipstick," she said.

Republicans saw in her remark the attack dog they believe the party has been lacking. Democrats saw a continuation of what they describe as the partisan meanness and divisiveness of the Bush years. Outside politics, though, anyone who has been around a soccer mom or a volleyball mom or a gymnastics mom has seen that trait at times.

Whether you like her politics, she comes across as a real person, not just another suit wrapped around an agenda. "Our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys," she said. We may not have experienced exactly the same challenges, but we have faced our own fears and felt our own joys. We know what she is talking about.

The Alaska governor and former mayor has lived small-town life, and she knows the cadence of middle-class America. How many professional politicians would think to put the state jet up for sale on eBay? The no-frills approach to government plays well with voters, and so does the strategy. The auction reserve was not met, and the plane eventually was sold through a broker. Still, many voters can identify with Palin's plan to use eBay as a way to make a little money from surplus property.

"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," she said, plucking the dinnertime dilemma chord that resonates with families across the nation.

Even in her attacks on Barack Obama and the Democratic ticket, Palin flashed a smile and sense of humor. She took some of the criticism that has been leveled at her and turned it back on the Democrats.

Noting that her opponents seem to look down on her experience as mayor of Wasilla, she said, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

Expect a lot more scrutiny of the Republican vice presidential nominee's politics, her core beliefs and her record in the weeks ahead. But don't expect her to be dismissed as a lightweight after Wednesday's performance.

Sarah Palin still has to prove to American voters she is the pitcher we want warming up in the bullpen when the fate of the nation is on the line. In her first major league appearance, though, she did show she can play.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008rncconvention; mccain; mccainpalin; palin

1 posted on 09/07/2008 6:57:21 AM PDT by markomalley
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To: markomalley

Author dude, conservatives would rather have Sarah “on the mound pitching” than “warming up in the bullpen”.

However, we’ll take what we can get ... for now.


2 posted on 09/07/2008 7:04:50 AM PDT by webschooner (McWhatshisname/Palin 2008 !!)
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To: webschooner

She warms my bullpen


3 posted on 09/07/2008 7:06:52 AM PDT by al baby (Hi mom)
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To: markomalley
Sarah Palin is going to shake to its foundation, and then bring down the leftist, liberal DNC house...she's already doing so.
















4 posted on 09/07/2008 7:08:34 AM PDT by Jeff Head (Freedom is not free...never has been, never will be. (www.dragonsfuryseries.com))
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To: Jeff Head

Now if they would come out and say “We will be Nominating Sheriff Joe Arpaio for Attorney General” the game would be over, it would be a Runaway Landslide, Soetero wouldn’t caryy a single state.


5 posted on 09/07/2008 7:13:28 AM PDT by eyeamok
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To: markomalley
Democrats saw a continuation of what they describe as the partisan meanness and divisiveness of the Bush years.

I'd like to request one Democrat, or anyone here at FR, to name one nasty thing President Bush has said during almost eight years. Just one.

I remember then Gov. Bush calling Clymer a bad name off the air, only it wasn't so off the air. The "nastiest" thing I can recall him saying during his Presidency was about Ted Kennedy. After the bloviated Kopechne killer called him a fraud and liar, Dubya responded that his words "weren't particularly helpful" or something to that effect. Yeah, this is real mean and divisive administration. < / sarcasm >

Heck, had Dubya fought back during his tenure his approval numbers would undoubtedly be higher.

6 posted on 09/07/2008 7:36:12 AM PDT by impeachedrapist (On Free Republic PBD [political bipolar disorder] rules!)
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To: Jeff Head

I think lots of McCain votes will really be for Sarah.

Check out my new tagline. :-)


7 posted on 09/07/2008 7:39:00 AM PDT by Aria ("An America that could elect Sarah Palin might still save itself." Vin Suprynowicz)
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To: All
bloviated = bloviating
(maybe it was a Freudian slip, with me combining bloviating & bloated!)
8 posted on 09/07/2008 7:48:31 AM PDT by impeachedrapist (On Free Republic PBD [political bipolar disorder] rules!)
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To: Jeff Head
"Sarah Palin is going to shake to its foundation, and then bring down the leftist, liberal DNC house...she's already doing so."

She's definitely already doing it. When you can get "progressives" to basically scream that a woman with kids belongs in the kitchen, you know you have tweaked their world beyond their sensibilities.

9 posted on 09/07/2008 7:48:47 AM PDT by avacado
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To: avacado

This is a funny ad that Palin’s people put together. You can’t say Conservatives dont have a sense of humor or dont have the ability to laugh at themselves. What makes this satire ad so funny is that most DUmmy kind of liberals would believe it’s real.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c60_1220709301


10 posted on 09/07/2008 7:56:11 AM PDT by Chong (IN GOD WE TRUST)
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To: Chong

LOL!!! Hilarious!


11 posted on 09/07/2008 8:00:31 AM PDT by avacado
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To: markomalley
Expect a lot more scrutiny of the Republican vice presidential nominee's politics, her core beliefs and her record in the weeks ahead.

Palin has a core of molten steel.
That's why the left keeps twisting and morphing like Terminator II at the end, in a futile attempt to escape the inevitable meltdown.

12 posted on 09/07/2008 8:23:06 AM PDT by b9 ("Maybe you should revisit your assumption..." ~ Sarah Palin)
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To: avacado

Powuh to the moose killer! Mwahahahahaha!!! Glad you enjoyed it.


13 posted on 09/07/2008 8:25:11 AM PDT by Chong (IN GOD WE TRUST)
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To: Chong
It's funny, but I wouldn't run on it for high office.

Especially the drinking fresh blood shot, it's over the top.

14 posted on 09/07/2008 9:11:14 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The fourth estate is the fifth column.)
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To: markomalley
"Whether you like her politics, she comes across as a real person. . . ."

Back in the 1830's, French jurist Alexander de Tocqueville traveled America and wrote his wonderful "Democracy in America."

He admired the educated citizenry and the spirit of freedom and independence they exuded. He observed:

"The words of a strong-minded man (substitute here, woman), which penetrate amidst the passions of a listening assembly, have more power than the vociferations of a thousand orators; and if it be allowed to speak freely in any public place, the consequence is the same as if free speaking was allowed in every village."

Guess he must have met someone from a small village like Wasilla!

15 posted on 09/07/2008 2:05:11 PM PDT by loveliberty2
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