Very good first speech for Gov Palin on the national stage in my opinion. Nice points *for* McCain, nice use of her own experience *for* her party's ticket, and she didn't show anger or hysteria when pointing out the differences between the Repub and Dem candidates. Her jabs were delivered with humor and irony, not the spite, jealousy, or irrational rage you expect from the Dems. She didn't take herself too seriously, she laid out her position and took the opportunity to highlight a long list of ways where she and McCain differ from Obama and Biden.
My favorite part - she didn't portray her, her family, her party, or the American people as victims. Not once. Totally awesome.
I wouldn't call it a grand-slam home run, more like a long series of solid base hits and an occasional single-run homer that sent the crowd wild with applause or laughter. I was laughing several times during the speech, and I think it was the right tone for her first major speech of the campaign.
Well done IMHO.
As a footnote, I think the presence of her family was appropriate and positive. Her youngest daughter looked happy and cute, her infant son didn't seem to mind all the hoopla, and the rest of the family helped fill in the background of a solidly grounded hockey mom / mayor / governor / VP candidate. People blathering about how her family shouldn't have been there are just pissed she's a good VP candidate and are grasping *anything* to bash. It was appropriate and they seemed to both contribute to the event and enjoy themselves as well. It's going to be a tough campaign and an even tougher 4 or 8 years if McCain / Palin are elected, so why begrudge them a little fun to kick it all off? And puhleeze, the baby can handle it. He looked fine and my own baby has fallen asleep quite comfortably in busy public places, so that's a pretty dumb thing to criticize.
