Palin slams Obama, brushes off criticism
Wordcloud: What did Sarah Palin and Joe Biden say in their veep speeches? Image credit Erica Smith. Click to find out ...
RNC: Day three
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Finally off the bench, “Hockey Mom” Sarah Palin threw down the gloves Wednesday, blaming “the Washington elite” for her turbulent convention-week debut as John McCain’s running mate and skewering Democrat Barack Obama’s credentials for change.
“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,” Palin said, triggering loud booing in one of the most anticipated political speeches in memory.
“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,” she said.
After electrifying the convention with her speech, the 44-year-old Alaska governor got a vote of confidence as McCain strode onto stage and hugged her, grinning and flashing a thumbs-up sign.
“Don’t you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?” McCain yelled.
Despite McCain’s quick cameo and later nomination by delegates, Palin had top billing on a night when her mission was to quell the tempest surrounding her spot on the Republican ticket and to explain how her relatively thin political resume makes her qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Interrupted dozens of times by raucous applause from supporters waving “Palin Power” and “Hockey Moms 4 Palin” signs, the Alaska governor hit those points and flashed some brass knuckles at Obama, contrasting her work as a mayor to his as a South Side activist.
“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,” she said, unleashing a huge roar from delegates.
Palin has faced a string of highly charged controversies since McCain named her as his running mate last week, including disclosures about a legislative ethics probe of her administration in Alaska and the revelation that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant and intends to marry the baby’s father.
Before Palin strode to the podium at the Xcel Center, her family — including pregnant Bristol Palin and her nervous-looking fiance, Levi Johnston — took seats on the convention floor in a head-on response to a personal dilemma that has stirred widespread expressions of support from Republican voters.
McCain also gave his blessing in his brief time onstage Wednesday night.
Pointing to Palin’s family — including her infant son with Down syndrome and Bristol and her fiance — McCain declared “And what a beautiful family.”
In her impassioned speech, Palin took some shots at Obama’s eloquence.
“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 even a reform, not even in the state Senate,” she said, ignoring two state ethics packages bearing Obama’s name.
Stoking the crowd before Palin took the stage, Republicans framed the fall election as a referendum on Obama’s record and painted Palin as a victim of a media smear. A trio of surrogates McCain beat in the primaries — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani — threw the red meat to the hungry crowd.
Huckabee delivered a mock thank-you to the “elite media” for unifying Republicans behind McCain and Palin, drowned out by a mix of applause and laughter as he said, “The reporting of the past few days has proven tackier than a costume change at a Madonna concert.”
But of the three, Giuliani delivered the most high-voltage dissection of Obama, hammering him as a “Chicago machine” politician and “celebrity senator” who voted present nearly 130 times in Springfield.
“He’s never run a city. He’s never run a state. He’s never run a business. He’s never run a military unit. He’s never had to lead people in crisis,” Giuliani said to high-decibel chants of “Zero! Zero!”
“This is not a personal attack. It’s a statement of fact,” he said. “Barack Obama has never led anything. Nothing. Nada.”
But it would be the baby-carrying governor from the 49th state who would get the night’s last word on her wild ride so far as McCain’s running mate and on the Democratic senator they hope to derail.
“In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers,” Palin said. “And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.”