Video and Text of Palin’s RNC Speech…

I made the comment during last night’s live blog of Governor Palin’s speech that she had clearly stolen the show from her running mate, Senator John McCain.  This was one of the best convention speeches I’ve ever seen and it was quite “Reagan-esque” in its composition and delivery.

I’m embedding the speech in its entirety below so you can see for yourself. It is worth watching, believe me.

The video below is from the CSPAN channel on YouTube, so you won’t have to put up with Brian Williams annoying whining on how everyone that spoke at the RNC was attacking the media and serving up “red meat.”

(If you are unable to see the embedded video of Sarah Palin’s speech above, please click here.)

I said last night that they’d be describing Palin’s speech as an “attack” and the phrase “red meat” would be the talking point—in much the same way the word “gravitas” was several years ago–and it has already started this morning.  The opening paragraphs of this Associated Press piece on Palin’s speech clearly telegraph what the liberal corporate media hacks will be chanting for the rest of the day:

An embattled vice presidential candidate, a novice on the national
stage, the head of a family suffering its “ups and downs,” the
first-term Alaska governor rocked the GOP convention with a
star-turning performance.

Wielding a stiletto and a smile, Palin
belittled Democrat Barack Obama and praised her new boss, John McCain,
jolting the crowd of GOP partisans.

“Don’t you think we made the
right choice for the next vice president of the United States!” McCain
said, hinting the controversy surrounding his pick. “And what a
beautiful family.”

Indeed, the family was on display for the TV
cameras — five children, including a 17-year-old unmarried daughter
who is pregnant. Their mother lacked the soaring oratory skills of
Obama — a man she attacked as a tax-raising, terrorist-coddling,
self-indulgent liberal. But the former TV sportscaster spoke in calm,
TV-friendly tones reminiscent of Ronald Reagan. Like the former GOP
president, Palin warmed the crowd with quips and jokes.

So, in four paragraphs the AP manages to say that Governor Palin is embattled, unexperienced, inattentive as a parent and someone who lacks oratory skills and they point out that she’s a former TV sportscaster and immediately liken her to “that actor.”  (They also said that Barack Obama has “soaring oratory skills,” which is utterly laughable.)

She apparently also “belittled Barack Obama,” “jolted GOP partisans” and “attacked” Obama.

This commentary would be funny if it weren’t so predictable.

Enough about them…the text of Governor Palin’s speech is below.  You’ll notice it differs from the video, but that’s only because the teleprompter broke during the speech and the Governor decided to wing it from memory.

I’d like to see Barack Obama try that.

Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be
considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United
States…

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.

I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election… against confident opponents … at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come
through much harder missions … and met far graver challenges … and
knows how tough fights are won – the next president of the United
States, John S. McCain.

It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington
counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to
the security of the country he loves.

With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost -
there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose
an election than see his country lose a war.

But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.

They overlooked the caliber of the man himself – the
determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The
voters knew better.

And maybe that’s because they realize there is a time for
politics and a time for leadership … a time to campaign and a time to
put our country first.

Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.

He’s a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years,
and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now
brought victory within sight.

And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the
kind of man I want as commander in chief. I’m just one of many moms
who’ll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going
into harm’s way.

Our son Track is 19.

And one week from tomorrow – September 11th – he’ll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.

My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.

My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and
women serving the country in uniform. Track is the eldest of our five
children.

In our family, it’s two boys and three girls in between – my strong and kind-hearted daughters Bristol, Willow, and Piper.

And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one
into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the
inside, no family ever seems typical.

That’s how it is with us.

Our family has the same ups and downs as any other … the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.

And children with special needs inspire a special love.

To the families of special-needs children all across this
country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more
welcoming place for your sons and daughters.

I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Todd is a story all by himself.

He’s a lifelong commercial fisherman … a production operator
in the oil fields of Alaska’s North Slope … a proud member of the
United Steel Workers’ Union … and world champion snow machine racer.

Throw in his Yup’ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package.

We met in high school, and two decades and five children later
he’s still my guy. My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school
in our small town.

And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that
this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of
opportunity.

My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the
daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath. Long ago, a young farmer and
habber-dasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice
presidency.

A writer observed: “We grow good people in our small towns,
with honesty, sincerity, and dignity.” I know just the kind of people
that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

I grew up with those people.

They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America … who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.

They love their country, in good times and bad, and
they’re always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of
my life in a small town.

I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better.

When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and
voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families,
too.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.

And 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.

As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he
goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I’m not a
member of the permanent political establishment.< br>
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. Americans
expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to
mingle with the right people.

Politics isn’t just a game of clashing parties and competing interests.

The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.

No one expects us to agree on everything.

But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and … a servant’s heart.

I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this
spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that
brought me to the governor’s office, when I took on the old politics as
usual in Juneau … when I stood up to the special interests, the
lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol’ boys network.

Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched
interests and power brokers. That’s why true reform is so hard to
achieve.

But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up.

And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.

I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.

While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor’s office that I didn’t believe our citizens should have to pay for.

That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.

I also drive myself to work.

And I thought we could muddle through without the governor’s
personal chef – although I’ve got to admit that sometimes my kids sure
miss her. I came to office promising to control spending – by request
if possible and by veto if necessary.

Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in
defense of the public interest – and as a chief executive, I can assure
you it works.

Our state budget is under control.

We have a surplus.

And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.

I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.

I told the Congress “thanks, but no thanks,” for that Bridge to Nowhere.

If our state wanted a bridge, we’d build it ourselves. When oil
and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury,
I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged – directly
to the people of Alaska.

And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who
kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on
power and resources.

As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.

I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.

And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion
dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy
independence.

That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are
opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on
dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

The stakes for our nation could not be higher.

When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country
should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw
from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.

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.

We need American energy resources, brought to you by American
ingenuity, and produced by American workers. I’ve noticed a pattern
with our opponent.

Maybe you have, too.

We’ve all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.

And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a
man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -
not even in the state senate.

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. 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? What does he
actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters
and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger …
take more of your money … give you more orders from Washington …
and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America
needs more energy … our opponent is against producing it.

Victory in Iraq is finally in sight … he wants to forfeit.

Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay … he wants to meet them without preconditions.

Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on
America … he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights?
Government is too big … he wants to grow it.

Congress spends too much … he promises more.

Taxes are too high … he wants to raise them. His tax increases
are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.

The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise
income taxes … raise payroll taxes … raise investment income taxes
… raise the death tax … raise business taxes … and increase the
tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.
My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station
that’s now opened for business – like millions of others who run small
businesses.

How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or
maybe you’re trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio …
or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia …
or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a
massive tax burden to the American economy? Here’s how I look at the
choice Americans face in this election.

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.

They’re the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark
reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed
presidential seals.

Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown
speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great
things.

And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John
McCain, who actually do great things. They’re the ones who are good for
more than talk … the ones we have always been able to count on to
serve and defend America. Senator McCain’s record of actual achievement
and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists, and
comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of
a McCain presidency – from the primary election of 2000 to this very
day.

Our nominee doesn’t run with the Washington herd.

He’s a man who’s there to serve his country, and not just his party.

A leader who’s not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one
either. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing
Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.

He said, quote, “I can’t stand John McCain.” Ladies and
gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that
we’ve chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was
driving at is that he can’t stand up to John McCain. That is only one
more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White
House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to
be a journey of “personal discovery.” This world of threats and dangers
is not just a community, and it doesn’t just need an organizer.

And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going
on lately about how they are always, quote, “fighting for you,” let us
face the matter squarely.

There is only one man in this election who has ever really
fought for you … in places where winning means survival and defeat
means death … and that man is John McCain. In our day, politicians
have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare
world in which this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered
for their country.

It’s a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.

But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made.

It’s the journey of an upright and honorable man – the kind of
fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across
this country, only he was among those who came home.

To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the
compassion that comes from having once been powerless … the wisdom
that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God … the special
confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome.
A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio,
recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as Lieutenant
Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day
after day.

As the story is told, “When McCain shuffled back from torturous
interrogations, he would turn toward Moe’s door and flash a grin and
thumbs up” – as if to say, “We’re going to pull through this.” My
fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us
through these next four years.

For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words.

For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.

If character is the measure in this election … and hope the
theme … and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our
cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next
president of the United States.

Thank you all, and may God bless America.