Live-Blogging Palin's Night at the RNC

5:15 Palin has been impaled by constant media coverage, some not too nice, so she has a lot to prove this evening. I am looking forward to this speech, dare I say, more than McCain's tomorrow. Some say that if she does well tonight all the backlash she has received the last few days will make her critics look really bad. If she doesn't perform well her critics look right and the McCain campaign face a downhill slope. We shall see...

Obama will be on the O'reilly Factor for the first time tomorrow.

Read Peggy Noonan's article in the WSJ today. It is good. (HT: JT)

This morning I heard on MSNBC some gentlemen basically mock the RNC for the large focus on abortion at the convention. It was treated as an old issue that was discussed in the 80's when now we've, in effect, moved onto more pressing issues like the fact that people are losing their houses. Gimme a break. Houses more important than whether what is in the womb is a human being or not? Now, I doubt the commenter wants to reduce issues of life on an equal playing field to that of housing but that he did.

Inserting Picture for effect regarding above sentence:

Housing


20 week-old baby

(Sources: Image 1 & Image 2)

5:30 "The biggest Vice Presidential speech ever", thus saith O'Reilly.

5:45 A good reminder from Paul the Apostle, in Romans 13:1, when thinking politically: "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." Whether McCain or Obama their authority is derived and given, ultimately, from the sovereign authority of God over and above the authority of the voters. America only thinks the choice is theirs...

5:52 Romney, Huckabee, Guliani up to come this evening on the platform. There has to be a joke there somewhere with those three....

6:10 Romney is hammering liberals. Liberal vs. Conservative. "We need change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington."

6:45 Huckabee congratulating the "elite media for uniting the Republican party." Huckabee throws out a nice compliment to Obama and his historic nomination. Some things we don't want to change: "freedom, security, and the opportunity to prosper." A little play on Obama's change theme. Palin "got more votes running for Governor of Alaska then Joe Biden did running for President of the United States." Clever Huckabee. Olberman of MSNBC corrects Huckabee saying the vote statement is inaccurate and that Lincoln did not found the Republican party. Takes a little zing out of what was a strong ending to Huckabee's speech with an analogy of how kids get there school-desks. Answer: because the veterans earned it for them. Kids can't earn their desks. The veterans already paid the price for freedom to have them. The story was solid and sounded more like a sermon.

6:55 CNN seems to think, at least the current commentators, that the convention has gone too far right and compromises the idea of John McCain as reaching across party lines.

7:00 Another CNN commentator making a strong point about key women who have spoken at the convention like McCain's economic advisor and HP's CEO, which does reach across party lines and isn't classically "Republican."

CNN interviewer going after the sister of Palin on family issues and she is staying private and quiet. Good response.

7:11 Guliani up and rolling with the horizon of New York in the background. He thinks this election is the most important in a lifetime. Everything nowadays is the most important thing/event/person/idea in a lifetime. Guliani points out that everyone acknowledges McCain is an American hero and has "proved his commitment with his blood." Guliani snickering at Obama working as a "community organizer" immersing himself in Chicago politics. Hammering the indecisiveness of Obama voting "present" not "yes or no." An African American man is cheering at that line--shot by CNN. Obama has never run a city, state, military unit and has never had to lead people in crisis. Barack Obama "has never led anything...nada"....Cindy McCain says--me mouthreading--"thats good." Speech mainly showing the great difference in experience against Barack and John. He had some cute one-liners.

7:22 Much talk on the Surge and its success in Iraq. Intense speech by Guliani mainly labeling Obama as a flip-flopper toward the end. Some pretty clear and strong labels there in typical Guliani fashion. His advice to Obama when mulling over the next issue: "Next time call John McCain."

7:28 Endorsing strongly McCain's VP Palin and contrasting her executive experience w/ Obama's. A lot of cheers here toward the end. The strongest speech I've seen yet at the RNC and the most enthusiasm I've seen of course not in comparison to last Thursday at the football stadium. Guliani finishes...

7:28.30 Palin enters to lots of cheers immediately following Rudy.

7:31 She's honored to accept the nomination.

7:47 Introducing--2 boys and 3 girls in-between. A perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig, who as you know has Down Syndrome. "Our family has the same ups and downs as any other." She will be an "advocate" for special needs kids. "2 decades and 5 children later" her husband is still her "guy." "Every woman can walk through every door of opportunity...", as she introduces her parents who inspired that in her. "The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull: lipstick."

She is not going to Washington to get the good opinion of the "media elite" but to serve this good country. "Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties...the right reason is to challenge the status quo..." "We put the government of our state back on the side of the people."

8:00 She got rid of the luxury jet that citizens were paying for and she put it on Ebay. She has vetoed nearly half a billion dollars and the state has a surplus. She brought about the largest private infrastructure process in American history and is helping lead America to energy independence. "We can't leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers."

"When the Styrofoam Greek columns are held back to some studio lot...When that happens what exactly is our opponents plan? Answer: Take more of our money." Obama will increase income taxes, payroll taxes, death taxes, business taxes, and increase the tax burden upon American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.

8:05 Senator McCain's records of reform are why lobbyists don't like him. McCain isn't looking for a fight but "isn't afraid of one either."

"My fellow citizens the American presidency is not suppose to be a journey of personal discovery. In this world of threats and dangers. It's not just a community and it doesn't just need an organizer...let us face the matter squarely. There is only one man in this election who has ever fought for you."

8:08 Blows a kiss to a POW who is obviously emotionally moved.

"For a season a gifted McCain can inspire with his words, but for a lifetime John McCain has inspired with his deeds."

Speech done.

Fox News' Brith Hume: Palin "wow's" the delegates when her knees could have been knocking.

8:10 The whole family is on-stage her young baby in her hands. John McCain comes out and greets the family in a special cameo.

8:11 "Don't you think we made the right choice..." John McCain

8:15 Olbermann: "She clearly gives a great speech." Then Olbermann basically slams her with a quote from another.

"This is cultural alternative to Obama...nothing to do with Hillary Clinton." Chris Matthews.

8:20 FoxNews Kristol thinks most Republicans "now feel pretty good" about the ticket. Hume finds her poise "remarkable."

Oh boy, country music singer. Good ole' Southern Republicanism. Singing: "Were 'all just raisin' McCain."

'What an amazing speech...whether you think she's right...or wrong...clearly a star has been born in the United States." CNN's Wolf Blitzer

8:23 Obama campaign response: basically that it was a George Bush type speech written by a George Bush speech-writer.

8:24 "She was superb. She was a professional." Rudy Guliani

"...She is a force to be reckoned with." CNN's Anderson Cooper

8:30 Abortion not even mentioned--a great comment by Campbell Brown. This surprised me and definitely shows that it was meant for someone not in the conservative camp.

That's it for me. No doubt the enthusiasm that she brings to the ticket, though doesn't rise to the enthusiasm of Obama's supporters, has no doubt more than doubled the enthusiasm for McCain pre-Palin.