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September 4th, 2008 at 6:59 am

Video & Photos: Sarah Palin Acceptance Speech Republican National Convention 2008 9-3-08

Sarah Palin Vice Presidential acceptance speech, Republican National Convention 2008 - September 3, 2008

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin delivered her highly anticipated acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention 2008 (RNC) at the Xcel Energy Center on September 3, 2008 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin electrified the Republican convention Wednesday night, pitching herself as a champion of government reform, mocking Democratic candidate Barack Obama as an elitist and belittling media criticism of her experience.

In a speech that served as her introduction to most of the nation after Sen. John McCain’s surprise decision to pick her as his vice presidential running mate, Palin pitched herself as the product of small-town America and laced her address with sarcastic digs at Sen. Obama. She said it is his experience, not hers, that is lacking, and she embraced the role of leading the attack against the Democratic ticket.

Sarah Palin Vice Presidential acceptance speech, Republican National Convention 2008 - September 3, 2008

“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities,” she deadpanned. “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.”

Palin, who would be the first woman elected to the vice presidency, said she will ignore the “Washington elite” who do not consider her qualified for the post, and she served notice that she will not wilt in the face of critical coverage that followed McCain’s announcement.

Sarah Palin Vice Presidential acceptance speech, Republican National Convention 2008 - September 3, 2008

“Here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators,” she told the convention delegates, who wagged their fingers toward the arena’s media boxes as she delivered the punch line. “I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion — I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country.”

The 44-year-old wife and mother of five was greeted with thunderous applause after a fiery and rousing introduction by former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who called her a woman “who has no fear” and added: “This is a woman who stands up for what’s right.”

Sarah Palin Vice Presidential acceptance speech, Republican National Convention 2008 - September 3, 2008

Palin focused on almost every tactical misstep Obama’s campaign has made, painting a caricature of the Democrat as an out-of-touch elitist and a lightweight celebrity with no sense of what matters to average Americans.

“We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco,” she said. Mocking the speech in which Obama accepted the Democratic nomination before a crowd of more than 84,000 at a Denver football stadium, she asked: “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?”

Sarah Palin with her family after her Vice Presidential acceptance speech, Republican National Convention 2008 - September 3, 2008

Track Palin, Bristol Palin, her boyfriend Levi Johnston, Willow Palin, Trig Palin, Piper Palin, Todd Palin, Sarah Palin

She leaned heavily on her own biography, introducing her husband, Todd, as a commercial fisherman, a union member, a world-champion snowmobile racer and an Eskimo. She described herself as a mom-turned-politician with the “same challenges and the same joys” as other families.

She also offered at least one apparent ad-lib: “The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?” she asked. “Lipstick.”

Palin pledged that she would join McCain in a crusade for change, promising to “govern with integrity, goodwill, clear convictions, and . . . a servant’s heart.” And she praised McCain’s character, making it clear that Obama has not served his country the way McCain has.

Sarah Palin with her husband, Todd Palin and John McCain after her Vice Presidential acceptance speech, Republican National Convention 2008 - September 3, 2008

Todd Palin with infant son Trig Palin; John McCain and Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin with John McCain after her Vice Presidential acceptance speech, Republican National Convention 2008 - September 3, 2008

Sarah Palin with John McCain

“It’s a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a 6-by-4 cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office,” she said of McCain’s time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. “But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made.”

Source: Palin Comes Out Fighting

The address by Ms. Palin, 44, who stunned the political world last week as Mr. McCain’s pick for a running mate, took place before a convention transformed from an orderly coronation into a messy, days-long drama since the McCain campaign’s disclosure on Monday that Ms. Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant.

Bristol Palin with her boyfriend Levi Johnston listening to Sarah Palin's Vice Presidential acceptance speech, Republican National Convention 2008 - September 3, 2008

Bristol Palin with her boyfriend Levi Johnston

Since then there have been a host of other distractions, including Hurricane Gustav, questions about how thoroughly Mr. McCain vetted what people close to his campaign have called the last-minute pick of Ms. Palin, and charges from Mr. McCain’s top aides that the news media has launched a sexist smear campaign against his running mate.

“I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment,” Ms. Palin said in her remarks. which took aim at the news media as the crowd began lustily booing the press. “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.”

Source: Palin Assails Critics and Electrifies Party

Photo credit: Getty Images North America