Video: Sarah Palin's RNC Speech, Minneapolis, MN, Sept 3, 2008

Part 1 - Sarah Palin's RNC Speech





Part 2 - Sarah Palin's RNC Speech




Sarah Palin's RNC Speech Video: Parts 3 & 4


by Mondoreb
image: Heidi from Pittsburgh for DBKP

Sarah Palin Quotes: 25 Memorable Quotes from Her RNC Speech

"The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick."
--Sarah Palin, RNC Speech







* A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

I grew up with those people. They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars. They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.

* I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment. And 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.

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.

* My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.

* 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.

* Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.
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.

* 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.

* ...there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

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.

* In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

* And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.

There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you ... in places where winning means survival and defeat means death ... and that man is John McCain.

* 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.

- - - - -

* 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 also drive myself to work.

And I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef — although I've got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending — by request if possible and by veto if necessary.

* It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.

With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost — there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off. They overlooked the caliber of the man himself — the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.

* And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the inside, no family ever seems typical.

That's how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys.

* I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau ... when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good ol' boys network.

* Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge. And children with special needs inspire a special love.

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.

* Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more new-clear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative sources.

We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers.

* My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town. And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity. My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath.

* This is a man [Barack Obama] 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. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.

* ...I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes. 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. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged — directly to the people of Alaska.

* Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions.

Al-Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights? Government is too big ... he wants to grow it.

Congress spends too much ... he promises more. Taxes are too high ... he wants to raise them.

- - - - -

* The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business — like millions of others who run small businesses.

How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio ... or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia ... or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

* Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.

He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House.

* A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pinhole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day.

As the story is told, "When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's door and flash a grin and thumbs up" — as if to say, "We're going to pull through this." My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.

For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.

* Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That's why true reform is so hard to achieve. But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up. And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.

compiled by Mondoreb
image: Heidi from Pittsburgh for DBKP

Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton: Men are the Bystanders Now

Roar
Suzette
Cripes! Suzette

Barack Obama was right when he said that we are the ones we've been waiting for, but it we turns out that "we" are the women. And as fast as that, the men are bystanders in the national drama and it's all about the women.

What is is about Sarah Palin that has people so agitated? I don't mean the laundry list of of the details of her God-fearing, gun-toting, social conservatism that we've all been discovering over the weekend - I mean the absolutely visceral reaction to her very presence.

It's because she doesn't seek permission and she doesn't apologize.

These are the traits that you are used to seeing in defeminized women - those who are past the reproductive years, like Golda Mier and Margaret Thatcher and those who fall into the virile female category such as Janet Reno. That bumper sticker that says "I'm Out of Estrogen And I've Got A Gun" is no joke. It's also reason that women were declared witches, hunted and executed in the most vile and extreme manner possible to imagine - the fear of that power necessitated a response equal in intensity. But to recognize the audacity of a woman's non-dependence combined with the power of a fertility requires a different mindset altogether. And America - you're not doing very well with that.

In between the outrageous rumor-mongering on the left side of the net this weekend, one commenter laid it bare and stated that he could not wrap his mind around the thought of a lactating vice president. Imagine that fear: confronting the idea of a fertile, life-producing, life-sustaining woman. We already have the power of life - it may be too much to contemplate the potential risk of relinquishing other types of power. Who knows to what uncomfortable place that might take us all. And how are we supposed to act once we get there?

It's not the men who are solely responsible for this attitude. Some of us cannot bear the anxiety of reinventing ourselves in our own image but fight to keep our comfortable and traditional place in the world - at the grace of others. Those mouthpieces who shout loudest about racism have the most to gain by perpetuating it; likewise those who express such grave concern about Palin's mothering choices and the impact her decision to seek office will have on her family have a self-preserving interest in keeping things just as they are.

The womanization - different from the feminization - of the political conversation is an awesome thing and apparently a thing to be feared for so many. Compare Palin's presence with that of Hillary Clinton. Hillary, who did what she could with what she had, rode the coattails of her husband along her own career path. I have no doubt whatsoever that she was the mastermind of his career and the success that he had was due in large part to her efforts, both private and public. But her approach to her own public career is based on being allowed to have it. She got the pity vote in NY state for her traditional reaction to the humiliation at the hands of that husband, and as I write this, she is smarting from the refusal of permission by her party to attain her lifelong goal.

This is a turning point indeed. While others were intent on staring at the their own individual impenetrable ceilings, something happened. We turned around and a woman is standing not on the threshold but is already halfway in the door and she got there without seeking permission from the doorman. So many voices raised now, not in recognition of the primal nature that got her to that point, but to remind her in the most dismissive and condescending terms that the world would really be better off if she would just politely get back to her place because no one gave her permission to be where or who she is now.

It's a message to us all, born of fear and spoken on behalf of safety for the greater pack. I will not listen.

WANT More Suzette? Try these recent offerings from Cripes! Suzette: * A Brief Break From Political Blogging Before Sarah-cuda Churns Up The Waters Tonight * "How Does My Ass Taste Now, Barry?" * Just Kidding! I Would Never Do That. * Me and Mrs. Palin

by Suzette
Source: Roar
Image: flickr