Maybe It Is Still the Grand Ol' Party

Did you see Sarah Palin's speech last night at the RNC? Phenomenal. I was sitting on my couch watching, and I kept saying, "I LOVE her!" About halfway through her speech, the camera panned the crowd and I saw a women look at her friend and mouth, "I LOVE her!" I think that pretty much sums up what American conservatives feel.

How long has it been since there has been a real reason to be excited about anything Republican? I honestly don't know. The first time W ran, there was a certain level of interest, but nothing like this. Back then it was more of a "we need to take back the White House since Clinton has messed us up" kind of thing. The past week, though, there has been an...I don't know...electricity.

Obviously I haven't been around for lots of Presidential elections. As far as I can tell, though, this is the most brilliant political move in at least my lifetime. Palin is a woman, and a feminine one at that. In her first speech she actually used the words "break the glass ceiling once and for all!" Nobody knew anything about her, so the day after the DNC, the entire media had to focus her, not Obama. She gave birth to a special needs child even though they knew he had Downs...and she talks about the blessing he is. Her unmarried daughter is pregnant and is actually going to keep the baby and marry the boyfriend...They don't see it as being "punished with a baby" at all. She's beautiful, she's a sports nut, she's very well-spoken, she doesn't mind taking on a fight, she does what's right, she's not part of the "system", her son's in the Army, and, like most of America, she is from a small town. The list goes on and on. Brilliant.

Did you see her youngest daughter Piper last night? Hilarious! After the girls were introduced (at which point Piper stood up and told her sisters to stand, as well), she decided she wanted to hold the baby. So her dad passed the baby off. Later the cameraman got one of the greatest shots. Piper licked her hand and smoothed down the baby's hair. So stinkin' funny! I love how real that family is. They've not been groomed for politics. They're just the family next door that showed up on TV one night while their mom winged her VP nomination acceptance speech like it was nothing new.

That's right, she winged it. About halfway through the speech, the teleprompter decided to keep running through all the applause. So Sarah gave the rest of her speech from memory.

In all my imaginings, I never thought I would be excited to vote this year. I was going to vote because I love to vote. But I wasn't going to vote because I wanted McCain to win. More like I wanted Obama to lose. Now I can't wait. Maybe, just maybe, it really IS still the Grand Ol' Party.