Palin plunges into the fray

Rips Obama, defends her experience, small-town roots

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin drew applause and roars from convention delegates last night in St. Paul. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

ST. PAUL - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, seeking to overcome a turbulent debut, last night introduced herself to the country as a tough-talking small-town "hockey mom" eager to play the traditional running mate's attack role, mocking Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as an ill-prepared politician driven by personal ambition.

In one of a series of strikingly strong, sometimes sarcastic, swipes at the Illinois senator, Palin said that Obama had "authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform." Echoing the McCain campaign's critique of Obama as a shallow celebrity, Palin asked, "What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?"

The first-term Alaska governor brushed off questions about her qualifications as coming from people who are unused to a candidate who doesn't come from "the permanent political establishment."

Palin, 44, compared herself to Obama, 47, saying that her experience as mayor of Wasilla was more consequential than his time as a community organizer in Chicago. "Since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves," she said. "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

After the speech was over, her family, who had been sitting up in the arena, joined her onstage, including her pregnant teenage daughter's future fiance. As Palin held her youngest child, Trig, and bathed in the applause, an ebullient John McCain bounded on stage.

"Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?" the Arizona senator, who was formally nominated last night, asked the delegates. They roared their approval.

In her speech, Palin also dressed down the assembled media, many of which have reported on a series of controversies about her personal and political record. "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," she said.

"But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators," said Palin, who will be formally nominated today. "I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country."

As delegates cheered and some waved signs that said "Hockey Moms 4 Palin," Palin picked up the cue, asking if they knew the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull. Pointing to her mouth, she exclaimed, "Lipstick!"

Then, carrying the pit bull analogy to a political level, Palin referred to a statement made earlier this year by Obama. "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," Palin said. "We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco."

She lauded McCain as a war hero, and contrasted his record and his stand on Iraq with Obama's. "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," Palin said.

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement last night that "the speech that Governor Palin gave was well delivered, but it was written by George Bush's speechwriter and sounds exactly like the same divisive, partisan attacks we've heard from George Bush for the last eight years."

Throughout the speech, television viewers were shown Palin's family, with the baby boy, Trig, who has Down syndrome, cradled by a family member. Palin's oldest daughter, Bristol, who is five month's pregnant, was shown holding her hands with her future fiance, Levi Johnston, who flew in yesterday morning to attend the speech. Palin noted that her oldest son, Track, who is in the US Army, is to head to Iraq next month. She said her family has the same ups and downs as any other, while promising to be a friend and advocate for families of special-needs children.

Palin portrayed herself in a way that might be familiar to viewers of the old Jimmy Stewart movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Palin told how she went to the Alaskan capital of Juneau, getting rid of a taxpayer-financed chef and luxury jet, rooting out corruption, and taking on powerful interests. She promised to play the same role of reformer as part of a McCain-Palin administration, echoing his call for making the United States energy independent by drilling for more oil and building more nuclear plants.

"Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election," Palin said. "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."

Delegates on the convention floor enthusiastically embraced Palin.

David Stokes, 69, wore a newly popular button with a picture of Palin that said, "The hottest VP from the coolest state."

"I have been hoping beyond hope she would be in this position," said Stokes, an Alabama delegate. "She is the best thing going. She is profamily, prolife."

His wife, Martha, added: "Alaska is a state very, very close to Russia. That gives her foreign policy experience."

"She is just fearless," said Rebecca Adams, a 39-year-old attorney and delegate from Middlefield, Conn., who said she was surprised at how vigorously Palin went on the attack. "I also thought it was wonderful she did it in such a classy and humor-filled way."

While the party faithful cheered wildly for Palin, her challenge last night was to convince the prime-time television audience that she is ready for the White House.

Palin arrived in St. Paul relatively unknown even to many Republican delegates. A two-term mayor of the small town of Wasilla who has served less than two years as governor, Palin's entrance onto the national political stage has been much bumpier than the McCain campaign had hoped.

McCain introduced her last Friday as a social conservative and a fellow maverick and reformer who took on special interests and helped killed the infamous "bridge to nowhere." However, the McCain campaign soon acknowledged that Palin initially supported the $233 million bridge and that she hired a lobbying firm to get $27 million in the kind of federally "earmarked" spending opposed by McCain.

Responding to Internet-fueled rumors, the campaign disclosed Monday that her 17-year-old unwed daughter Bristol was five months pregnant.

Speakers at the convention, one after another, have come to Palin's defense, praising her record and extolling her experience. They argued that as Alaska governor, Palin oversees 24,000 employees, 14 agencies, and a $10 billion annual budget while Obama is a one-term junior senator.

McCain has steadfastly and enthusiastically supported Palin, and when he arrived in the Twin Cities yesterday, his campaign arranged for the media to watch as he warmly greeted her and her family, including Bristol and her future fiance Johnston.

Leading up to Palin's high-stakes speech, the McCain campaign went on the offensive yesterday.

It adopted a strategy of attacking the news media for asking questions about Palin's background. Campaign manager Steven Schmidt said the campaign would not respond to more questions about how thoroughly she was vetted, decrying a "faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee."

The campaign also arranged a news conference in which former Massachusetts governor Jane Swift and other Republican women accused the media of sexism.

"One of the things I heard from Democrats was how disappointed they were in their own party when Hillary Clinton was a victim of sexist attacks," said Carly Fiorina, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee's Victory '08 fund, who said that Clinton's campaign helped to "finely tune women's ears" to such slights." The Republican Party will not stand by while Sarah Palin is subjected to sexist attacks."