[Update: Final thought of the night — how stupid must Democrats feel right now? Who decided it would be a good strategy to kick a Mama Bear?]
Sarah Palin is about half way through her speech and so far she is killing. This woman has all her teeth, she can speak in complete sentences, and she has yet to cry. Those on the left must be so disappointed. So far my favorite part of the speech though was not anything Sarah Palin said. My favorite part was watching her youngest daughter Piper lick her hand and smooth her baby brother Trig’s hair. (I will link video to that later. Update: Kim has linked video of the entire speech here and John Hawkins has video excerpts which include Piper’s precious grooming of Trig) The speech is substantive, and articulate, but it is also accessible and down to earth. This is not the lightweight the Democrats described to us. This is not the trailer trash they spoke of this week. Hell, she’s even wearing shoes! Palin is hitting all the points that a Republican needs to win. In short, she is laying out a conservative message and that is the only way Republicans win the top job.
Update: Obama’s response — the speech was written by George Bush’s speechwriter. Wow. How lame is that? Almost as lame as the reaction from a Kos diarist — liar, student council speech delivery, etc. Republicans acknowledged the quality of both Hillary and Obama’s speeches. We disagree with what they said, but we are smart enough to know they made good speeches. The angry left is in an alternate reality. They are too far gone to acknowledge what every American saw with their own two eyes tonight.
Additional Update via Dirty Harry who has a good roundup posted: Stephen Hayes says Palin worked on the speech herself:
I’m told — and was told before the speech — that she had a strong hand in writing and rewriting the speech, working on for several hours over the past three days. And one of the loudest applause lines in the entire speech was her joke — which Bill Kristol previewed here two days ago — that the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick, was line she improvised when delegates from Michigan, all wearing hockey jerseys, applauded loudly at her initial mention of being a hockey mom.
Heh. Every criticism they have for her blows back in their faces.
This woman is a superstar and the Dems know it and they are scared spitless because they know if she does not get elected VP this year, she won’t be going away. They will have to face her again so they are going to do all they can to destroy her now. But now they aren’t just fighting Palin, they will have to fight all those who fell in love with Sarah Palin tonight.
Update II: Mark Tapscott has reaction, Melanie Morgan has a great Palin graphic, and there are some excellent comments being posted. I really like the one from Modean who recommends Biden wear a cup for the debate.
Update III:Here is the transcript of the Palin speech.
I am watching the response from some women Demcrats on CNN (Kiki McLean, Stephanie Miller, Debbie Wasserman Schultz) and am shocked that they don’t have better criticism. Stephanie Miller found it distasteful that Palin used her family as props. Hmmmm. Who were those little girls who called their daddy Barack on the phone during the Dem convention? Sorry, but American saw that. You can’t pretend no one else had their families join them on stage. Miller even repeated her charge later that Palin was using her family even when both McLean and Schultz disagreed vehemently with Miller.
One complaint was that the speech was mean. McLean brought up Ann Richards as an example of good political theater, but said Palin was too nasty. There was not one clip from the Palin speech that came anywhere close to as nasty as Ann Richards’ “Poor George, he can’t hep it” speech.
They are beyond flailing. They had the wind knocked out of them tonight. Hilarious. Every personal criticism of Palin that Larry King asked these Dem women about (judgment as mother, etc.) got the response “No one in Obama’s camp did that.” They said the only person we have heard do that is on the right — Dr. Laura. King asked what Dr. Laura had to do with anything. I think some of us on the Right could come up with quite a few names of people on the left who have made such criticisms. Or we could direct them to two angry left websites that every Democrat knows well.
The Dem congresswoman Debbie Schultz repeated the lie that Palin cut funding for a teen pregnancy center. All were shocked that the speech said NOTHING about the economy. I guess they don’t believe energy, gas prices or taxes have anything to do with the economy, but we already knew that. Seriously, they are shell shocked. I almost feel sorry for them, but then I think of the past week of attacks.
One more of many great reader comments: From Christina — “My daughter said, “She’s gutting Omaba like a freshly-killed moose.” And Piper? She’s a character and a half, isn’t she? I’d take her home with me but I’d have to fight her mama first and her mama could whup my butt without mussing her hair.”
Kim adds: Remember when we all first got word that she was the one that McCain chose and all the pundits were trying to figure her out? An Alaskan pollster said the landscape up there is littered with the bodies of those who crossed Sarah Palin. I’d say by the time Sarah’s done with Obama, he’ll be one of them.
More reaction: Bulldog Pundit has some words for Joe Biden and talks about the trap Obama fell into, Betsy Newmark, Ann Althouse liked the Piper and Trig video too.
