"A Star is Born"

This phrase uttered by several members of the media within moments of the completion of Sarah Palin's speech.

This is one speech I would strongly encourage you to watch...if you missed the original, I'll find a link to a YouTube version.  Not only is it historic with her being the first Republican VP Nominee, but more than that, she is unlike any major politician I've ever seen.  She was amazing...truly amazing.  She was smart, tough, funny, and "pitch perfect" which is a rare though prized quality in politics.  

She presented herself, her family, her candidate, and her party very effectively, but at least as impressive was the way she sliced and diced Obama and the Democrats.  She was very clever, used humor, but made solid points at every turn.  I found myself filled with pride to sit with my daughter Tori and watch such a remarkable woman in such a setting (who, I should say came across very specifically as a woman and a mother, not as a woman trying to act like a male politician).  Ultimately, I believe strongly that it should be character and policy that should drive our choice in political races, not gender or race or religion.  That does not detract from the separate appreciation of the evident strength of individuals from different backgrounds, and it was really something to see and hear her tonight.  

I will follow in a bit with some lines pulled from her speech and Giuliani's.   Hers was the best but there were great ones from both.  More to come...

Added: I don't know if the whole speech is here, but here's a YouTube link to her speech: here. 

Added: Interesting point made on NationalReview Online about the abuse Palin has taken in the mainstream media the past few days.  

"Don't Tread on Me! [Victor Davis Hanson]
Palin Bites Back...

Tonight I flipped to CNN and was struck by the talking heads flipping out about the Giuliani/Palin mocking of community organizers—as if the Obama team's dismissals of "small-town" mayors was fair play. The MSM networks are going ballistic at her speech and apparently never imagined that anyone would dare bite back—and also at them, the 'elite media' of the press, no less!

Compared to what Kerry et al. said about McCain, Palin was no tougher on the other side, so it is odd to hear CNN female pundits suddenly shocked, shocked that a "woman" would dare attack a man like that, and that it may "not play" outside the hall. Like it or not we are back in a cultural and populist war, brought on by a week of liberal character assassination.

The Left made a terrible mistake in the manner they have smeared Palin, and now they seem appalled at the red-state authentic populist backlash which is a different sort than studied Bidenism, where one recalls a distant childhood, not the recent past, or the living present, to prove they are one with the people."