Sarah Palin is a Rock Star!

Just to get us off on the right foot… I couldn’t help but bring this up.  Someone obviously didn’t inform HP’s former CEO that the projected backdrop for her speech would totally clash with her pantsuit:

YIKES!  But for reals… down to business.

After this first real night of the Republican National Convention, I have to say, Sarah Palin is a rock star.

All this time I’ve been asking for a compelling reason to vote for someone.  Barack Obama has offered me some very inspirational and motivational reasons that have attracted me, but nothing compelling.  He’s promised to not raise my taxes, even though he acknowledges he wants to raise them on everyone richer than me.  So my basic problem with him has been that, while he’s been an attractive choice for all the soft reasons (the historic post-racial nature of his candidacy), I still couldn’t get behind his solutions for America’s problems. (For reals… you think the American Government really needs more money?  Ha!  What I could do with 15 trillion/year…)

Enter Sarah Palin.

I have been cautiously optimistic about her, and have watched carefully as the media and democrats have scrambled to find the skeletons in her closet.  After her speech tonight, for the first time since Mitt dropped out of the race, I have felt revved up about the Republican party.

I really hope the likes of Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney are the future of the Republican party!  Forward thinking, well spoken, pro-business, and pro-family.  I’ll take it!  These people understand that, as Mitt puts it, America is great because of its people, not because of its government.

Sarah Palin introduced her family in the speech, and did not apologize for their being human like every other family in America.  They are a classic American family, and one of the most beautiful families we’ve seen in politics for a long time.  (And I’m not just saying beautiful to look at, you can tell they have substance behind it)  There was no attempt to sweep her pregnant daughter under the rug, and no apology or explanation – or even validation of the media’s shady characterization of them.

Then it was off to the races…

Responding Barack’s quip about her only having been a mayor of a small town, she says:

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.

And in another pointed moment she shot back at Barack: “the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery.”

This was the most convincing night the “experience” argument was made.  They successfully made the Obama ticket look not just inexperienced, but they made them look like a non-starter.

While it would be fair to call the speech mostly an anti-democrats speech, she did talk policy and substance, and shared her vision for government and for America, especially in the case of the Alaskan energy possibilities.  As only she could do she says, “take it from someone who knows the north slope of Alaska.”

On the other hand, I think the “drill baby drill” chant is going to come back to haunt the Republicans.  It’s a little creepy… It conjures an image of these oil crazed lunatics going around the countryside raping it of its natural resources.  Can’t we chant something like, “drill friendly” or something?

There were a few other moments tonight worth a mention:

Mitt Romney gave a speech in one of the worst time slots of the night, and it was quite apparent where he and his family stood in the pantheon of Republican VIPs.  Rather than getting seats by the McCains, Palins, Guilianis, and even (shudder) the Huckabees, they got stuck in some nether region of the VIP section.

The best point in Mitt’s speech was that during the democratic convention last week, there was absolutely no mention of radical jihad, or even terrorist extremism at the democratic convention.  If they ignore it, it will just go away?

Another Rock star this evening was Rudy Guiliani.  His speech basically built a bedrock for all upcoming anti-Obama campaigning.  His line about Obama voting “present” in most of his votes in the state legislature was classic and had me rolling on the floor.  You can’t simply vote “present” when you’re the leader of the free world…

I’m no big fan of the Republican’s tried and true strategy of ‘the surest way to win is to beat up your opponent,’ but it is nice to see them bare their teeth for just a minute, and explain in a balanced way why they feel their positions and vision for the government is better for the nation.

Now let’s talk briefly about political theater.  These people need training… badly!  Whoever thought it was a good idea to bring in the Imax screen and show video on it the whole evening was on crack!  Thankfully, someone made a change sometime between day one to day two so that the part of the screen that was behind the speaker would at least be a solid color.  (I got seasick watching Fred Thompson’s speech last night with white wavies going behind him the whole time.)  But still… where is the cool podium that rises out of the floor?  Where is the multi dimensional projection arrays?  And will SOMEONE please shoot the camera position that keeps looking over the speakers shoulder and DIRECTLY into the teleprompter!  (I saw no such angle at the Dem’s convention)  It’s super tacky.

So I’ve finally gotten passed those quirks and am enjoying my post-Palin buzz, when “Beavis” McCain shows up… and then everything gets awkward.  Didn’t someone tell him to say goodnight and see you tomorrow to the crowd?  No… we just all stood their awkwardly and wondered what to do.  Finally Palin is like, “I’m outta here,” and starts taking off toward the door.

That is what I want in my next President.  Resolve.  Decision making.  And someone who can successfully walk through a door…

Just please don’t let “Beavis” McCain kill my buzz tomorrow…