RNC Liveblogging: Gov. Sarah Palin's Acceptance Speech!
by American Princess

Please join me tonight as I liveblog Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin's acceptance speech as well as speeches by Cindy McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and possibly Rudy Giuliani (no one knows and no one will tell me). You can view more information on tonight's lineup at the RNC's web site.

Image credit: news.bbc.co.uk

Submitted by American Princess (view blog) on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 7:59am

Comments

 

Lohan and Hilton to sing backup?

I'm only going to watch the acceptance speech if Lohan and Hilton are going to sing backup. 

Cato http://www.creaturesoftheearth.com

http://www.teddyatcenterline.com 

Submitted by aella on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 11:53
 

This is one speech not to miss

This is definitely one speech I'm not going to miss.  Since her camp is saying that we shouldn't be investigatingor talking about her 'motherhood' - I wonder how people will react if she addresses her situation head-on and then moves past it. 

In my opinion, she is a mother, that's part of who she is and she brings that to the White House.  We can't sideline the topic.  There's no separation from her political/professional role and her personal role.  She's 1 human being with various aspects to her life, just like all of us.  To try to sweep that under the rug and 'move on' is ridiculous.  

Anyway - I look forward to the liveblog!   

 Lauri Harrison

MomToBeDepot.com

Reviews of "must-have" products for mom & baby (and toddlers). Expert articles on pregnancy, health, & Parenting from national leading experts.

Submitted by MomToBeDepot on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 14:19
 

Definitely not to be missed...

As much as I want to respond to all the haters, I'd much rather put in a "here here" for your comment.

Submitted by Sugar Mama on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 15:55
 

RNC just released this pre-announcement of
Gov. Palin's remarks

This is directly copied from my email inbox:

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Excerpts: Remarks by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Vice Presidential Nominee to Address the 2008 Republican National Convention

SAINT PAUL, Minn. - This evening Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee, will address the 2008 Republican National Convention. Excerpts from the governor’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below.

On her experience as a public servant:

"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."

On why she is going to Washington, D.C.:

"I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment. 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."

On energy policies that the McCain-Palin administration will implement:

"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 nuclear 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."

On John McCain:

"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."

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

BlogHer is non-partisan but our bloggers aren't! Follow our coverage of the 2008 political conventions

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 14:59
 

Not enough vodka, tequila or corn liquor...

I just can't stand it.  I can't believe that well seasoned better qualified republican women can sit there and watch this mess.  Republican women who have dedicated their lives to the political process, who were passed over for this.  Talk about playing politics.  The RNC still has NO respect or interest in women of substance, education and commitment.  Women who could have eaily in their own right ran on the ticket as President.  But no, they hold this woman up as a beacon for what they believe is the ideal candidate. 

I am so tired of the dumbing down of politcal engagement.  I am so tired of lackluster poorly read men and women thinking they could run the free world. 

I just can't bear it I say!

 

Love,

Babz

Submitted by Lovebabz on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 15:11
 

Babz...direct your anger at obama

Babz,

considering president bush (43) has had 3 prominent
women in his cabinet, and considering sarah palin could be the second
most powerful person in the country after nov. 4....maybe better to
direct your anger at barack and his pick of an old, tired washington
insider for VP.

dave

gocalifornia.blogspot.com 

Submitted by davet. on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 16:46
 

Sigh.

That "tired old washington insider" happened to write the violence against women act.

All women are not created equal. Neither are all men.

Mom-101

Cool Mom Picks.com

Submitted by Mom101 on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 19:25
 

sigh

mom,

well, that 'tired old washington insder' writing the
violence against women act would be one more thing than barack obama
has ever done in his 3 years in the senate. i'm still searching for one
of barack's accomplishments.....oh, community organizer....my bad.

Submitted by davet. on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 21:46
 

Here's Gov. Palin's pre-announcement remarks
in Wordle.net

Submitted by allaboutgeorge on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 15:19
 

oo cool tool

This part of the preview, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities." should just about nix independents - it's very elitist and very anti-democratic, very supportive of the aura of unitary executive - trusting and letting the one you elect replace what you hope for with what they want.

Just a note - that's been an argument I've had with my younger brother for literally decades re: do we elect people who go and do what we want them to as in, they represent our desires, or do we elect people whom we trust to use their judgement well and do what they think is in our best interest - like kids have guardian ad litems?

Reality? It's a bit of both - but when I vote, I'm voting with the former in mind - others?

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 15:57
 

mix of both

but the politican who represents my desires will win if I had to choose between the two. And community organizing - aka empowering a community - is definitely a desire of mine. Great example w/ the guardian ad litems!

Re: the independents and the nail in the coffin, I'm extremely interested in seeing what they have to say about that comment and the philosophy behind it. I hope they respond here.

 

Notions of Identity

Submitted by Laracolvin on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 15:59
 

Well what's so bizarre to me about it

Is that community organizing can be ANYTHING - it can be what Palin did to get funds for projects when she was on city council - I don't understand what leads her to think that there's no responsibility in it - I would think some of her constituents at home will have something to say on that front. 

It strikes me as a naive statement that only someone who has never done community organzing might say - I don't know whether she's ever done it or not.

But again - from what we know so far about the "how" of her governing style, she isn't one to delegate - she wants it done a certain way and believes she must do it herself - that's the impression I get.  So community orginazing is very decentralized - it relies on that.  So I guess this may hint toward her leadership style?

I don't think any of us actually know. Yet anyway.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 16:28
 

bizarre indeed lol

You say that 'community organizing could be anything - it can be what Palin did to get funds for projects while she was on city council..."

The diff being that a city councilmember is an elected position, and any 'organizing' as such would be under that rubric.

Then you go on to say it was a "...naive statement that only someone who has never done community organizing might say..."

::double take::

So which is it - you are stating first that acting as a council member counts as community organizer, then you say it's obvious she hasn't.

Who's confused here?

Submitted by Cairny on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 20:44
 

sorry...

...for the poor syntax in the second to last sentence.  It's late and I'm tired lol.

Submitted by Cairny on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 20:45
 

No confusion - it's semantics and labels and
Frank Luntz

Cairny - 

Fair question - my point is that the label you give the activity and what it results in (getting people on board and together to make something happen) involves responsbility no matter what you call it.  Palin is trying to appropriate community organizing in a negative way - she wants to make it nasty, wrong, liberal and something people who are serious don't do.

I could not disagree more and I am surprised given her supposed involvement with a church.  Don't churches and other religious institutions participate in community organizing too?

My point - which maybe I didn't succeed at making, wouldn't be the first time! - is that she wants to brand the title of certain work with a negative image when in fact it's the same thing she's most likely done and does but under a different name, all for the purpose of trying to slander that work and people who do it (i.e., Obama).

I take issue with that.

Thanks -

Jill

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Thu, 09/04/2008 - 03:17
 

Glad we weren't the only

Glad we weren't the only ones who were struck by the slams on community organizing from both Palin and also Giuliani (who actually led the crowd in laughing at the idea of being a community organizer).  And the Republicans call Obama an elitist?  

Palin is so quick to talk about her time as a mother in the PTA - couldn't a lot of what they do be described as "community organizing" as well?

 

 

The Evil Slut Clique
Evilslutopia

Submitted by evilslutopia on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 19:29
 

hmm

Only someone who filters everything they see and hear through a prism of bias would see what Guiliani and Palin said about 'community organizers' as generally degrading or derogatory about community organizers.

 It was quite plain that they were disparaging BO's trumpeting of his experience as community organizer as if it somehow qualifies him for anything - and hammering home the fact that SP was in elected office while he was still 'organizing'.

 BTW - go visit those nabes where Barack Obama was a community organizer - they are as depressed and impoverished as they ever were.

BO used them, stepped on their heads as he ambitiously climbed the ladder of Chicago politics, then promptly forgot them.

PS - SP mentions her PTA stint as part of the narrative of her background, not holding it up as if it qualifies her for public office.

Submitted by Cairny on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 21:06
 

What is a nabe?

Here are the google results when I searched on it - I'm sorry - I don't know that term!

I don't see the distinction in how Obama says community organizing or Palin raises PTA - do you have examples of how they present it differently?

Also - I think, having been involved in both, that responsibility is endemic to both. This is a distinction without a difference that Palin has tried to make for the soul purpose of disparaging Obama.

Why that's permissible in politics when you would never allow you own kids to do it, or yourself I hope, I cannot understand.  

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Thu, 09/04/2008 - 03:35
 

nabes = neighborhoods n/t

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Submitted by Denise on Thu, 09/04/2008 - 03:48
 

LOL - sorry, Jill

"Nabe" is contemporary shorthand for "neighborhood".

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated-Americanism."

-Teddy Roosevelt

Submitted by Cairny on Thu, 09/04/2008 - 04:08
 

I, for one, can't wait

I am looking forward to Palin's speech this evening and also Rudy Guiliani's.

Go get 'em Sarah!!!

Submitted by Giggle On on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 15:24
 

I was not disappointed!

They both delivered mightily!

Submitted by Cairny on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 20:53
 

WTH??

I am really shocked at how negatively Ms. Palin has been treated. If you don't like this idea of womanhood, that's fine. Live your own idea. But just know that there are a LOT of women that identify with her strength, character, and family values. If you don't want her to be VP, don't vote for her. What good will come of tearing into this picture of womanhood? Absolutely nothing. If anything, it all just blows a huge hole into the theory that Democrats are more supportive of working women. We can now say without a doubt that Republicans and Libertarians have more respect for the working mom.

Submitted by Sugar Mama on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 15:56
 

What does support mean to average fulltime
working hockey mom

I don't actually know - I am lucky - I do not work fulltime outside of the home and I'm also not a hockey mom, or a soccer mom or a security mom.

I think, and I am being sincere here, that many woman ALSO are like me and that is that they wonder how anyone sees in Sarah Palin someone who reflects the average working mom.  

I've written a mom's column for over four years now.  The working mothers that read my column seem to like the ones where I rave about not being perfect, about the extreme craziness we'll endure to satisfy a child, and the firmness with which we'll stand over the same child and  say "no" when necessary.

With all due respect for the love many voters do seem to be expressing for the VP candidate, we've seen a lot of Gov. Palin working - but what about being a mom?

I don't buy that we can't ask about that.  I agree we should not judge her - or at least tell others what to think for themselves.  But if we're being asked to see her as a working mom, and we're told all about her working, then I think it's a reasonable to ask about the mom part too.  As other comments have reflected - it can't be both ways - she can't be trotted out to be an emblem of working moms but then demand that no one ask her how she does it all.  What's the point of having someone be an emblem if you don't get to learn how they do it!? 

I would offer Michelle Obama as an opposite but I don't think that's really accurate.  Likewise, Hillary Clinton's dau. is independent and an adult.

I see in Gov Palin a determined individually who uses laser focus to pursue what she wants.

I think ALL women should have the ability to pursue that ambition. 

And so I want her to talk about what she has done and plans to do to support working women and mothers pursue their ambitions to the same extent she's been able to.

Esp. if anyone is going to call her average (although I get the sense the average only applies to when she's a hockey mom - when she's working, she's above average? - ok - that's kind of a play on words!)

I am thrilled that this discussion is happening - I agree that we should not bat it away. And, although I am NOT a follower of "Dr. Laura" - someone just sent this to me and I'll just graft the last graphs:

Child-care facilities are a necessity when mothers and fathers (when
they exist at all) are unwilling or incapable of caring for their
offspring.  Unfortunately, they have become a mainstay of the feminista
mentality that nothing should stand in the way of a woman’s ambition - nothing, including her family.

Any full-time working wife and mother knows that the family takes
the short end of the stick.  Marriages and the welfare of children
suffer when a stressed-out mother doesn’t have time to be a woman, a
wife, and a hands-on Mommy.

Maybe think that Palin will never be stressed out while being a woman, a wife, a hands on mom and a vice president. I can't answer that at all.

But again, if Gov Palin is a choice to symbolize what women can achieve, I want to know what she is going to do to help all women pursue their ambitions as she has been able to do.

We've heard EXTREMELY little but "how does she do it."

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 16:22
 

Maybe...

MAYBE that's because she's running to be VP not "working mom of the year."  It seems to me we should vote based on her abilites to do the job she's running for, not on whether she can balance it all.  The last job interview I had sure didn't include inquiries as to whether I would be able to handle balancing my personal and professional life.  That is up to her discretion.  If she has been able to handle being Governor, she must have an idea of what her abilities are.  So since she is running for office, our only concern should be, what gifts, talents, and abilites can she bring to the job?  Let's be supportive that a woman has accomplished all that she has!  And if you doubt that or can't be, MAYBE you're just jealous??? ;)

Submitted by caribou on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 17:40
 

I know my limitations

And I lost the only race I ever ran for - 18 years ago! - by one vote, after I'd tied twice so - it will be a while before I run for anything - I actually always hoped I'd be in a state where you get appointed as a result of meritocracy but well - here I am in Ohio.

It is true that EEO regs prevent pregnancy discrimination - and that's because our society doesn't, of its own accord, realize that you can't discriminate against women who are pregnant in employment decisions.

People seem to be willfully NOT distinguishing between holding oneself out as an emblem of working moms and being asked, how does she do it, and judging a person on the answer.

Gov Palin and her supporters have put the fact that she's a working mom front and center, among many other family issues. It is hypocritical, disingenuous and unreasonable to think that no one will want to know - how do you do it.

I'll tell you a story - I'm part of a group of bloggers who in 2006 interviewed candidates for all kinds of Ohio offices - including governor and secretary of state - including the current SOS Jennifer Brunner who is the parent of three adult children - in upclose settings.  The on the record sessions were, as you would hope, ALL about the issues and perforrmance of these candidates.  But the very first question I asked Brunner after the interview was no longer on the record was - How did you do it with kids? What worked? What didn't?

It is vital for women to learn from other women how they "do it" when they get to where a Palin is if we're all going to be able to pursue our ambition to the extent that Palin has been able to. How many women are ever able to do that?

Anyway  - that's how I feel. :) Obviously. lol :)

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 18:06
 

And welcome!

Sorry -I just saw that you're new to BlogHer - at least in signing up though maybe not as a reader - so welcome and thanks.  Good debate.

Jill
Writes Like She Talks

Submitted by Jill Miller Zimon on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 18:11
 

travel

I'd rather have a VP who had some clue about the world outside of the US. Going to Canada once is not enough. Living a bomb away from Russia is not enough. My concern is that she is provincial. This is not the person I want a heart-attack away from an elderly president. Male or female, she is no match for either of the Democratic candidates.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Submitted by Mata H on Thu, 09/04/2008 - 09:27
 

Palin

How did you conclude that Democrats do not support working women? I am a working mom and a Democrat-so am I against myself if I disagree with Palin's politics. I can respect her professional career and disagree with her stand on many core issues. To be honest as a working professional I made a conscious decision to prioritize my children over work.  I know many women may disagree with me but I believe she was hypocritical in her critique of Obama by stating that he is in this to further himself. I disagree completely with that statement but you have to ask what made her say Yes to the VP position-knowing that she has a special needs infant and a pregnant teenage daughter. Is this "family values"? I'm not convinced.

Submitted by mrm1099 on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 19:45
 

Is it not weird Palin's speech was mostly
written before she

was nominated? She will literally be a talking head up there tonight. I know speechwriters write all political speeches but this is an extreme situation (source: NYT). What are we really going to know tonight- when she talks about policy, it's the McCain team's voice, not her own!!!

 

Morra Aarons-Mele
www.womenandwork.org

Submitted by Morra Aarons Mele on Wed, 09/03/2008 - 16:46
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