Sarah Palin Takes Charge

Wow. Really. Wow.

To use the inevitable baseball metaphor, she hit that sucker right over the Green Monster and right out of the park. And they are still looking for the ball.

I hate political speeches, even when I like the politician. They are usually boring as hell. Watching one on purpose is pretty much out of the question when the "How Do They Do That?" channel has a 3 part special on drying paint.

But. I happened to be home and flipped on the TV last Friday when John McCain announced his Vice Presidential running mate. He had played his cards close to the vest and it only began to leak out who it might be that morning. Sarah Palin. Who?

I had heard a few details about her on the radio that morning, including the fact that her political career had started at the PTA. There's something you don't usually see on a political resume. I tuned in out of curiosity about her, but mostly to confirm that McCain was not going to doom his campaign by naming Joe Lieberman.

She was good - really good.

In the 5 days since that announcement, I have watched Gov. Palin and her family being subjected to some of the most vicious media coverage ever. (Don't forget, I lived through Watergate, so I know vicious.) The sexism evident in the salacious and slanderous allegations and commentary were breathtaking, even after we spent months watching Hillary Clinton put up with a lot of the same thing. One leftie blog even has a pool going on what day she will be dropped from the ticket.

So last night I was plenty curious to see how Sarah Palin had weathered the storm.

The lead up was pretty impressive. On Tuesday night, Fred Thompson gave the speech of his life. (More than one commentator said if he had shown that fire in the primaries, he might have been the nominee!) Last night the stage was set by Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani. Mitt was my man, so I had a little moment of regret when he was speaking. I had never heard Huckabee speak, and he was impressive. Giuliani of course is a masterful speaker and showed his chops last night.

By the time Palin was up, it was past 11:00. I had just sat through three speeches and I was longing for bed. Besides, I was doubtful anyone could top Rudy.

Boy was I wrong. The woman walked to the podium and took ownership of the audience. Not only was she not intimidated, she was perfectly comfortable. Just watching her, you had to laugh at the insinuations of the past few days that she couldn't be VP and care for her family at the same time. Yeah she can, with one hand tied behind her back!

She had me listening to every word. She did a great job of defining the differences between the two candidates. And she got off a few zingers. My favorite thing was how she did not name Barack Obama but referred to him only as "our opponent." "He who must not be middle-named" wasn't named at all!

Referring to Obama's criticism of her only being the mayor of a town of 9,000, she said, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like being a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."

The one about the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom was a good one too. (Only one of them wears lipstick.)

Yeah, I'm pretty darned excited about having a woman in this race. And not just a woman, but the right woman. While I certainly don't agree with her stand on every issue, what I saw last night was someone who knew those people at the PTA and in that town of 9,000, shared their way of life and knew what their concerns were.

I can't wait for the Vice Presidential debates! Now there's something I never thought I would say.

Added later: Oh, yeah, I forgot about her selling the gubernatorial jet on E-Bay. Priceless!