“Pit Bull Palin” Tears into Cardboard Obama©
By Lauralyn Bellamy

“What's the difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom? Lipstick.”
- Gov. Sarah Palin, addressing the Republican Nat'l. Conv.
after accepting the GOP nomination to be their
vice presidential nominee, 9/3/08
Self-proclaimed pit bull for Sen. McCain's presidential campaign, Alaska’s Gov. Sarah Palin, gave a bravura performance tonight in her oratorical debut as a candidate for national office. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to former SNL regular, now star of CBS' '30 Rock,' Tina Fey, Palin hit the ground running with a strong voice, commanding timing and a clenched jaw demeanor telegraphing that she was holding back on releasing the full megaton arsenal of her fighting words.I half expected the end of her speech to be capped with a rafter's shaking broadcast of Elton John belting out, 'The Bitch is Back!'If I were in the hall at the time, I'd give her an A for electrifying her audience, bringing out the warrior spirit in every man and the Amazon sisterhood in the women.As television, I'd give her a B or, maybe, a B+. Her facial expression was nonstop defiance/confidence/smugness - shades of Hillary!!! There didn't seem to be any other emotional 'colors' in her palette. I watched the perfunctory way she strode down the line of family members bestowing identical air kisses on the right sides of their faces with the exact same gesture and the exact same timing, never breaking stride.She put her spin on her brief political career with force and wit.She does not seem to have a clue as to what the actual responsibilities of the vice president of the United States include nor did she make any effort to tell us what skills and talents qualify her to be successful in that job.Far from it; indirectly, she telegraphed to the US Senate that she was spoiling for a fight - which is laughable from their standpoint. She will not be entering the Senate chambers as the feared Governor who has the clout to see state reps get fired, fooled or exposed in the press. The Senators will shut her down so fast she won't know what hit her. Then she'll pick herself up and destroy a few bridges.She barked Sen. McCain's Maverick status over and over. That's fine; but, mavericks belong on the periphery of power, not at the center. Mavericks are not collaborative. Their power comes from being on the outside.By this weekend, members of the national press who are willing to actually do some journalistic research will discover the degree to which Palin's self-portrait is covering over a very different picture of how she has “served” the then-5,000+ citizens of Wasilla, and the people of Alaska.The press will have no trouble highlighting the discrepancies between the role of anti-political mavericks McCain & Palin have chosen and their actual (and all too human) record of accommodating the powerbrokers when the ends justified the means.But for those of us who truly appreciate rhetorical performances, tonight was a triple threat of Huckabee, Giuliani & Palin. I enjoyed every minute

Lauralyn Bellamy, MA, MDiv