Vice-President Sarah Palin

Wow, in a word.  Sarah Palin gave an effective, well-delivered speech tonight accepting her party’s nomination for vice-present, a first for the Republicans. 

If tonight’s speech is any indication, she’s more than capable of doing the job.  Looking young and energetic, Palin put both the Democrats and the liberal media notice that she’s no shrinking wallflower, saying:

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.

But 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.

That won’t make her any friends in the press, not that she had many as it is.  But it will, I think, earn her some respect from some of the better reporters and commentators.

Palin didn’t let Barack Obama get away unscathed either:

…since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

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 are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.

We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

If Democrats thought that Sarah Palin was just a pretty face they learned tonight that they were sadly mistaken.  This makes Obama’s choice of the staid Joe Biden that much more unfortunate for the Dems.

Palin also dealt what deserves to be a crushing blow to Democrats’ obstructionist tactics in the fight to open more offshore and Alaskan drilling opportunities for energy companies:

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 world energy supplies … or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia … or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries … 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.

Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems – as if we all didn’t know that already.

But the fact that drilling 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 … build more new-clear plants … create jobs with clean coal … and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.

The difference between the McCain-Palin ticket and the Dems on energy could not be more clear-cut or more damning for those on the left.  The liberal strategy of is, in a word, insane, for that is what one must be to believe that we can either continue to import oil at the today’s rates or wish new forms of energy into existence.  Neither is true and it’s nonsense to believe that either is.  More than any other single reason, this is why it’s imperative that McCain be elected president:  to ensure that a sound energy policy is followed now, in the mid-term, and for the long haul. 

Tonight Mrs. Palin’s speech went a long way with me in demonstrating that she can help make that happen.