It is good to see some balance returning to coverage of the Republican Presidential ticket in the New Zealand media today. The Herald has been particularly disappointing, having been suckered in by the Democrat supporting media into writing Palin off straight away. Well they have made up for it a bit today.
Sarah Palin delivered. 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 Republican convention with a star turn.
Wielding a stiletto and a smile, Palin belittled Democrat Senator Barack Obama and praised her new boss, Senator John McCain, jolting the crowd of partisans.
"Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice-president of the United States!" McCain said, hinting at the controversy surrounding his pick. "And what a beautiful family."
Indeed, the family was on display for the 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 Republican President, Palin warmed the crowd in St Paul, Minnesota, with quips and jokes.
