Thursday, September 04, 2008

Sarah Skewers

I was at the end of the row, press level the top of the convention center, so I was right next to the volunteer ushers, they happened to be a couple of women. When she did her hockey mom shtick, we laughed and looked at each other and I said I'm a hockey mom, well it's been a few years, and one of the women said, "I'm a hockey grandma", and hey, we're in a hockey stadium in hockey-happy Minnesota. Sarah is one of us.

Watch out for the slapshot Barack. This woman plays basketball too. And last night she played hardball with humor and grace. Full video and text here. Some Sarah skewers:

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco."

"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 country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people."

"I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law. While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay."

"I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves."

"With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers. To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies ... or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia ... or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries ... we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both. Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already. But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all."

She restored competition to the Alaskan oil market and after a 30 year impasse, forged a bipartisan solution to approve the construction of the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history--a $40 billion pipeline to bring oil to the lower 48. One more quote:

"But 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 reform - not even in the state senate.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign."
Sarah Palin takes on Barack Obama. And the way the media reacts to her, you would think they think she's running for president--against their candidate, Barack Obama. Watch this from the other day (HT Mick): The crowd roared their approval last night. America will too.

UPDATE: John Kass, Chicago Tribune, "Palin's small town ways will play big across U.S." and this:
She also poses the greatest threat yet to the Obama reform narrative. The cynical epic has become the establishment media bedtime story, with Obama as the young King Arthur riding forth to promise change. In this, the Washington Beltway media colony has been his eager Merlin, hoping to guide him, cleaving desperately to the theme that he's some kind of reformer, even though Obama is a politician backed by Chicago's Daley machine and never once challenged the political corruption in Chicago and Illinois. Not ever.

The contrast with Palin—who actually went after the Republican Party bosses in Alaska on the corruption issue—is profound...

No comments: