The Republican National Party’s convention ended on a much different note than last night. Last night was for the base with the introduction of Gov. Palin, a conservative by most peoples definition. She also answered her critics, primarily Obama himself, with a smile and in a humorous way. Tonight, John McCain gave us his life’s story, putting into context his theme of America first. He pointed out some differences between what Obama wants and what he wants which were issues characteristic to the parties, not attacks of a personal nature.

McCain spoke of his record of reaching out in order to serve Americans of all parties. He asked for the support of democrats, independents, and undecideds, promising to fight for them all. I thought it was unusual to go there at a party convention, but then, that’s John McCain. And, I think he was somewhat successful in his attempt to enlarge the political tent.

McCain also hit on specifics that most Americans want and need to know about like education, the economy, security and the war, freedom, jobs, trade, and the size and role of government. Voters now have a clear choice.

As for the Obama Campaign, they seem to have been taken off message because the only thing I’ve heard Obama talk about for the past week is John McCain. His war room is sending out campaign contribution emails making up stories about the McCain campaign. Obama is touting his role as a community organizer as one of his qualifications to run the country. And about Sarah Palin, Obama is claiming that being a mayor is no qualification to be vice president. So last night, in explaining the difference between a community organizer and a mayor, Gov. Palin was responding to Obama’s claim when she pointed out the obvious, the difference is responsibility.

So the Obama campaign immediately sends out emails saying that by her explanation, Gov. Palin does not care about the jobless, the homeless, and the hopeless. It is as though they were looking at a different show last night than I did. By responding in this way, and buttressed by the media-wing of his campaign, Obama is beginning to look like a whiner by making up stories about his opponent. All the while he is not getting a positive message out to the voters. And to that, I say to the Obama campaign, keep it up.

UPDATE 9/10/08: One week later, the addition of ‘Sarah Palin’ makes this post still current. As for the Obama Campaign, they seem to have been taken off message because the only thing I’ve heard Obama talk about for the past week is John McCain and Sarah Palin.

This post was originally posted on Sept 4. The day after Gov. Palin’s introductory speech at the RNC.

Not sure exactly which sense of the word ‘conviction’ applies. But it is amusing nonetheless. Without a teleprompter, a political cartoon will do. It brings out the ’empty suit’ in the candidate.

related links: Obama borrows line from Tom Toles cartoon | Editor & Publisher: Obama Uses the Anti-McCain Words of a Tom Toles Cartoon

It’s no secret that playing on Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) age has become a talking point, albeit ‘winning’ strategy on the Left. Obviously, those that do this have not met McCain’s ninety-six year old mother. This is how it goes, ‘yea, he has military experience, but because he is so old, if he dies in office and Palin takes over, then where will we be? She has no experience.’

This strategy works well with the unsuspecting masses because it takes no thought whatsoever. First of all, it presumes their new nemesis, Sarah Palin, has no experience. Actually, she has more executive experience than both men on the Democratic ticket combined. And as an added bonus, she is not part of the Washington crowd. She is the one who is ‘in touch’ with Americans and their ‘values’ that the Left would like you to believe they have. And the Left will exploit those at the bottom of the barrel to ‘prove’ it.

Secondly, this ‘what if’ strategy acknowledges that there is a war going on and that the world is a dangerous place that requires the United States to be and to stay strong militarily. This flies in the face of the mantra of McCain’s opponents, who have been saying for years that our military should come home and just get out of the zones of conflict where we are currently engaged, then our enemies will not bother us. In other words, quit.

If you’re going to be using the mortality of a candidate to make a judgment, then you can’t ignore this one. The real kicker in this ‘what if’ strategy is, it totally ignores what will happen to our country if Obama becomes President and lives. To me, that would be worse for our country than if McCain becomes President and dies.

I tuned to CNN last night to watch the speeches of Thompson, Huckabee, Guiliani, and Palin since FOX, for whatever reason, only carried Palin’s speech live. Watching CNN turned out to be an added bonus for me.

The three men that preceded Gov. Palin all gave good speeches. And the enthusiasm seemed to build on the previous speaker as the program continued, and Gov. Palin’s performance topped them all. Prior to last night, no body knew who Sarah Palin was, where she came from, and what she believes government’s role should be. Answering those questions was her mission last night, and as they say, she hit it out of the park.

The bonus? Immediately after her speech, the camera returned to Wolf Blitzer and his panel, and every one of them looked stunned at what they had just witnessed. They were in fact, speechless. For me, it was one of those ‘priceless’ moments.

Then I checked in on MSNBC, or as Rush affectionately calls the network, pMSNBC. Chris Matthews had a similar panel at his side and were assessing Palin’s speech. Much to my surprise, well, not really, Matthews leads the discussion with this, ‘how are we going to get her?’ Meaning of course, how are we going to take her out? Will the McCain campaign protect her from a reporter asking a question that can, in their mind, end her campaign?

Reporting news, reporting on a campaign, is not the objective of the Media of 2008. It is clear by this MSNBC panel, and the front pages of the New York Times, that the McCain-Palin ticket is not just running against Obama and Biden. The McCain-Palin ticket is running against the mainstream media as well. Which is why I especially liked Palin’s comment about the media.

‘Here’s a little news flash for 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 great country.’