The Republicans answered the challenge of the left-leaning media's bashing of Governor Palin over the past several days. I missed Mitt Romney's speech, but everyone else tonight hit their stride. Mike Huckabee's speech was solid. I would have classified it as a home run, but then I saw Giuliani's and Palin's speech afterwards and changed it to a triple. Giuliani and Palin hit homers, and they might have been upper deck home runs. I think the Obama/Biden camp is sweating.
Rudy's delivery and words were simply excellent. Here are his best lines (full transcript here):
"... He worked as a community organizer. He immersed himself in Chicago machine politics.
Then he ran for -- then he ran for the state legislature and he got elected. And nearly 130 times, he couldn't make a decision. He couldn't figure out whether to vote "yes" or "no." It was too tough.
He voted -- he voted "present.
...
But he's never -- he's never run a city. He's never run a state. He's never run a business. He's never run a military unit. He's never had to lead people in crisis.
He is the least experienced candidate for president of the United States in at least the last 100 years.
Not a personal attack, a statement of fact. Barack Obama has never led anything, nothing, nada.
...
Let's look at just one example at a lifetime of principled stands that John McCain's brought about: his support for the troop surge in Iraq. The Democratic Party had given up on Iraq.
And I believe, ladies and gentlemen, when they gave up on Iraq, they had given up on America.
The Democratic leader -- the Democratic leader of the Senate said, and I quote, "This war is lost."
Well, well, if America lost, who won, Al Qaeda, bin Laden?
...
They would have acted in their self-interest, and they would have changed their position in order to win an election. How many times have we seen Barack Obama do this?
Obama -- Obama promised to take public financing for his campaign, until he broke his promise.
Obama -- Obama was against wiretapping before he voted for it.
When speaking to a pro-Israeli group, Obama favored an undivided Jerusalem, like I favor and like John McCain favored. Well, he favored an undivided Jerusalem -- don't get too excited -- for one day, until he changed his mind.
Well, I'll tell you, if I were Joe Biden, I'd want to get that V.P. thing in writing.
Our hero, our candidate, John McCain said, "I'd rather lose an election than a war." Why? Because that's John McCain.
When Russia rolled over Georgia, John McCain immediately established a very strong, informed position that let the world know how he'll respond as president at exactly the right time. Remember his words? Remember what John McCain said? "We are all Georgians."
Obama's -- talk about judgment. Let's look at what Obama did. Obama's first instinct was to create a moral equivalency, suggesting that both sides were equally responsible, the same moral equivalency that he's displayed in discussing the Palestinian Authority and the state of Israel.
Later -- later, after discussing this with his 300 foreign policy advisers, he changed his position, and he suggested the United Nations Security Council could find a solution.
Apparently, none of his 300 foreign policy security advisers told him that Russia has a veto power in the United Nations Security Council.
By the way, this was about three days later. So -- so he changed his position again, and he put out a statement exactly like the statement of John McCain's three days earlier.
I have some advice for Senator Obama: Next time, call John McCain."
These last lines were hilarious and really reflects the inexperience, lack of knowledge, and the lack of fortitude of Obama. We really need a President to hit the ground running during these dangerous times. We don't need a President to go through on-the-job training.
More on Rudy's home run speech, "Giuliani Questions Obama’s Qualifications" NYTimes
"Giuliani rips Obama, touts 'hero' McCain" USA Today
Governor Sarah Palin's speech was a home run too. Maybe a grand slam considering that it was her first time on the national stage. My favorite excerpts (full transcript here):
"... I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the PTA.
I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.
...
I guess -- 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're listening and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.
No, we tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.
...
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.
And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way that they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources. As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.
I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history. And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.
That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are open, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
... Americans, we need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And...
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 didn't know that already.
But the fact that drilling, though, won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.
Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines, and build more nuclear plants, and create jobs with clean coal, and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources. We need...
We need American sources of resources. We need American energy brought to you by American ingenuity and produced by American workers."
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