When Sarah knocked it out of the park

On September 3, 2008, at least 37.2 million viewers watched what was basically the coming-out party for Sarah Palin. Her speech resonated with and inspired the viewers, and it made many, including the Snowed family, think that Gov. Palin would and should be part of the solution to the issues facing our nation.

In case you missed it, or you need to reminded that Sarah Palin is not the caricature pushed on you by the elites in both parties, I invite you to set aside 45 minutes and watch that RNC speech, and get to know the real Sarah Palin.



(Video courtesy C-Span)

The transcript, as provided by the NYTimes, may be found here. As can be seen, Gov. Palin truly shone, for example, when speaking about energy policy (applause breaks cut):

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.

The stakes for our nation could not be higher. When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we're forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And families cannot throw more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.

With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of the world's energy supplies, or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia, or that Venezuela might shut off its oil discoveries and its deliveries of that source, Americans, we 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.

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

And, while she ended up not being part of a McCain-Palin administration, as it turns out, she did have a pretty good idea of where government would go under an Obama administration (again, audience reactions cut):

What does he actually seek to accomplish...? The answer -- the answer is to make government bigger, and take more of your money, and 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. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions.

[...]

Government is too big; he wants to grow it. Congress spends too much money; he promises more. Taxes are too high, and he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan.

It's worth giving Sarah Palin another listen, isn't it?