Palin 'hits a grand slam'
2008-09-04 14:05
St Paul - As she cut a perfect family tableau beside John McCain, Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin warned Democrats that beneath her lipstick, heels and tailored suits she's a pit-bull waiting to attack.
The Republican convention erupted in delirium as the self-described hockey mom from Alaska savaged Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama, and laid out her credentials to be McCain's running mate.
In an electrifying speech, the 44-year-old political outsider hammered home a mantra dear to Republican hearts - lower taxes, smaller government and service to the country and American ideals.
After days of fierce scrutiny over her credentials to be the country's number two, Palin, the unknown governor of Alaska, gave an unflinching, unapologetic defence of her candidacy to be America's first female vice president.
"Here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country," she said to rapturous applause.
Standing up to her critics, she veered off script, warning: "You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick."
Trim in a tight black pencil skirt, cream silk jacket and black, peep-toed heels, Palin cut a youthful contrast to the white-haired McCain, who made a surprise appearance to join the party's jamboree in St Paul, Minnesota.
Tugged at heart strings
As the crowd in the 20 000-seat arena went wild, Palin was joined on stage by her five children, including her pregnant teenage daughter, Bristol, and hockey jock soon-to-be son-in-law, Levi Johnston, and husband Todd.
"Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys," Palin said, seeking to sweep aside 17-year-old Bristol's pregnancy which has dominated news headlines, as a family matter.
And Palin tugged at heart strings, as she mentioned her own baby son, Trig, born in April with Down Syndrome.
She vowed to families with special needs children: "I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House."
Her call for greater US energy independence also struck a chord with delegates here.
"We Americans 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," she intoned as the audience rose to its feet shouting in unison "drill, baby, drill".
The only real baby in the vast hall, Trig, slept through the excitement as his mother became the first woman to address the Republican party as a vice presidential candidate.
A perfect family portrait
Tucked away in a front row seat he was cuddled alternately by McCain's wife, Cindy, as well as his father, Todd, and sisters Willow, 14, and Piper, seven, before being handed to his mother on the stage.
"Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?" McCain, 72, asked, following days of political and personal revelations about Palin, the first-ever woman on a Republican ticket.
"And what a beautiful family."
It was a perfect family portrait, which brought the crowd to their feet and openly dared critics to challenge Palin's commitment to the job of being vice president.
"I am very excited about it. I found she is a very strong woman and she represents what small town America is really about," said Mike McNamara, from Austin, Texas.
"I turned on my cellphone as she finished her speech and I was already getting phone calls from my friends and family and they are all excited."
Nancy Bennette, from Indiana, agreed saying: "In the land of baseball, she hit a grand slam.
"She spoke the truth, she laid out our plans, she was very articulate, she spoke from the heart and she connected with the American people because of her experience, her leadership and her vision."
- AFP