Right Wing Nation

Mark Steyn:

I would like to thank the US media for doing such a grand job this last week of lowering expectations by portraying Governor Palin - whoops, I mean Hick-Burg Mayor Palin - as a hillbilly know-nothing permapregnant ditz, half of whose 27 kids are the spawn of a stump-toothed uncle who hasn’t worked since he was an extra in Deliverance.

How’s that narrative holding up, geniuses? Almost as good as your “devoted husband John Edwards” routine?

McQ is on a Palin roll. Just scroll.

New York Observer: Look Out Mitt and Mike: Palin Can Do This

Both of them delivered technically sound performances. Romney, completing his opportunistic conversion from Massachusetts moderate to Reagan conservative, resorted to a heavy dose of old-fashioned, Arthur Finkelstein-inspired liberal-baiting, while Huckabee used a little more humor.

But all of that was forgotten moments after Palin, who received a standing ovation that lasted for more than three minutes before even opening her mouth. To the delegates in the hall, she had become a living, breathing and besieged symbol of the national media’s (and the Democratic Party’s) mockery of and condescension toward them. This sort of kinship with the audience is an enviable way for any speaker to begin any speech, and Palin never squandered it.

She hit the right policy points - particularly on energy policy, where she brought the crowd to its feet with her embrace of aggressive domestic oil drilling and derision of the Democrats’ skepticism - but what really resonated with the conservative audience was her poise, her confidence, her determination and her humor.

“You know,” she ad-libbed (or at least seemed to) upon spotting a sign in the hall from a fellow hockey mother, “they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull - lipstick.”

A deafening roar ensued, as it did over and over throughout her speech. She flubbed no lines, stumbled over no words, and delivered every sentence with the ease and command of a natural politician.

[ . . . ]

But even if the G.O.P. ticket loses, we probably witnessed on Wednesday night the birth of a new future Republican White House contender, a rival for Romney and Huckabee as ‘12 approaches. Her acceptance speech marked the opening for Palin of a two-month window that ambitious politicians dream about - an opportunity to show her party’s base what she looks like on the national stage, going toe-to-toe with the other party (and the media), and to leave them drooling for more.

She provided strong evidence on Wednesday night that she’s up to the challenge - that she’ll more than hold her own in her October debate with Joe Biden (the next highest-profile moment for her) and on the stump between now and November. If she does that, then win or lose, she will finish this campaign as an obvious White House prospect with a large and loyal following on the right.

Ed:

In the moments after the speech, I told our on-air listeners that this was the kind of speech Zell Miller could have delivered. Palin didn’t deliver it in a shrill manner or sound like she had a chip on her shoulder, though. She sounded like she relished the opportunity to engage. Palin has no intention of allowing herself to get steamrolled by Barack “Sweetie” Obama, Democrats in general, or a mainstream media that suddenly found itself becoming the echo chamber for anonymous Kos diarists.

She didn’t just play the role of attack dog, although her description of hockey moms as pit bulls with lipstick played very well with the crowd. Palin delivered a stirring defense of small-town values and middle America, and told Americans that she’s one of them — just a mother who started off wanting a better education for her kids, then wanted to improve her community, and just kept succeeding all the way up the ladder.

And Ed includes the line I forgot:

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.

They’re the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.

From the other side of the pond

A WEEK ago nobody had ever heard of her.

Today she is the most talked-about woman in the world. And with good reason.

Sarah Palin’s sensational performance at the Republican Party Convention may turn out to be the tipping point of this rollercoaster American election.

Obama fans hoping she would fluff her big night were in for a nasty shock.

This speech has turned the election upside down. It was simply stunning.

Democrats and their Lefty media backers had been sneering that she was a small town nobody, a hick from the Alaskan sticks put into a job way beyond an inexperienced woman.

Believe me, you will not be hearing that again.

Rasmussen (before the speech, obviously):

Over half of U.S. voters (51%) think reporters are trying to hurt Sarah Palin with their news coverage, and 24% say those stories make them more likely to vote for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in November

Clinton operatives — including Deborah Tannen — have had enough and are sick of the anti-Palin sexism. Ed comments.

One last thing. You know, if I were Obama and his groupies, after that woman rocked the house and showed that she is, indeed, tough as nails, I wouldn’t respond by whining — then, I wouldn’t try to tar McCain with corruption or ties to lobbyists, or try to label Palin as inexperienced. But I’m not a Disciple of the Church of the One, so what do I know?

Okay. Off to McCain headquarters.