Palin Takes Swipes at Obama;
McCain Claims GOP Nomination
By Ben Pershing
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
ST. PAUL, Minn -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took repeated swipes at Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and the news media Wednesday night after accepting the vice presidential nomination before an enraptured audience at the Republican National Convention.
Shortly after her speech, convention officials ordered a roll call of the states, and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) was officially handed the Republican presidential nomination.
Facing enormous pressure to deliver a credible performance under intense media scrutiny, McCain's vice presidential pick defined herself in a lively speech as a change-oriented political outsider committed to reform and uninterested in the finer trappings of higher office. To thunderous applause from assembled delegates, Palin trepeatedly mocked Obama's record and rhetoric.
"We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco," she said, referencing Obama's infamous quote about bitter small-town residents clinging to guns and religion.
"This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign," Palin said. "But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot, what exactly is our opponent's plan?"
She also delivered an ode to McCain, saying "In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."
"I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment," Palin declared. "And 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."
McCain joined Palin and her family on stage immediately after she completed her speech, shortly after 11 p.m. eastern time.
Palin defined herself as "just your average hockey mom" who got into local politics, and detailed her rise up the ladder to bolster her case for the vice presidency, "since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience." And Palin took a swipe at a line on Democratic nominee Barack Obama's resume by contrasting it with her service as mayor of Wasilla: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."
Palin's speech was nearly marred by a pair of activists from the antiwar group CodePink, who got to the very edge of the stage and were a moment away from apparently running onto it, next to a host of McCain's most senior staff, until the Secret Service grabbed them at the last minute and dragged them out.
Palin's speech came as the McCain campaign sought to put an end to media scrutiny of the process by which the Arizonan picked his running mate, including a Washington Post report today that Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of McCain's vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and that she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting.
Calling the media's storyline "nonsense," senior campaign adviser Steve Schmidt said in a statement: "The McCain campaign will have no further comment about our long and thorough process."
But even as the campaign sought to put the vetting questions behind them, it elected to make a public statement about another potential controversy - an anonymously sourced report in the National Enquirer alleging Palin had an affair with an associate of her husband. "The allegations contained on the cover of the National Enquirer insinuating that Governor Palin had an extramarital affair are categorically false," Schmidt said in the statement. "It is a vicious lie."
The diverse roster of speakers tonight included three former opponents of McCain in the GOP presidential race: ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who made the case that McCain can "enlarge our party," and is "the candidate who can credibly reach out for the votes of Independents and Democrats."
Even more so than the other speakers, Giuliani took the lead tonight in deriding Obama's record.
"He's never had to lead people in crisis," Giuliani said. "This is not a personal attack, it's a statement of fact -- Barack Obama has never led anything. Nothing. Nada."
"The choice in this election comes down to substance over style. John has been tested. Barack Obama has not."
Romney, whom many conservatives preferred to McCain during the primaries and was reported a finalist for the vice presidential slot, argued that McCain is the man to return the country to the "course of Ronald Reagan."
"We need change all right -- change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington," Romney said. "We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington -- throw out the big government liberals and elect John McCain."
As Palin did, Romney also lashed out at the media and the political establishment. "For decades, the Washington sun has been rising in the east," Romney said at his speech's start. "Washington has been looking to the eastern elites, to the editorial pages of the Times and the Post, and to the broadcasters from the coast."
Huckabee, a conservative favorite, lamented that he wasn't accepting the nomination himself this week and called McCain his "second choice for the Republican nomination." Like Romney, he took an anti-media tack.
"I'd like to thank the elite media for doing something that I didn't think could be done - unify the Republican Party," he said, in a departure from his prepared remarks, to raucous applause. "The reporting of the last few days has proven tackier than a costume change at a Madonna concert
Tonight's schedule also included an emphasis on diversity within the Republican party. Former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams, both African-American, appeared, as did Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuno.
Prominent women on the speaking roster included former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, both key McCain campaign advisers, as well as Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle.
Lingle, whose speech was flipped with Giuliani's so the New Yorker would precede Palin, made a specific reference to a controversy surrounding Alaska governor's disclosure that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol Palin, is pregnant.
Lingle said that Palin has "a grandchild on the way" and said of the Palin family: "They face the same challenges that moms and dads do, every single day in our country. Difficult things happen to families, and just like yours, families pull together and get through it."
Fiorina and Whitman both devoted much of their remarks to domestic policy, and to making the case again for McCain as a leader. "Many people talk about changing Washington," Fiorina said. "John McCain has the knowledge, the guts, and now in Sarah Palin, the partner he needs to actually get it done."
But the first speaker of the night to spark real energy from the crowd was Steele, who now serves as chairman of the fundraising group GOPAC. Calling for the country to reduce its dependence on foreign oil, Steele said: "In other words, drill baby drill! And drill now!"
September 4, 2008; 12:23 AM ET
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