Palin's Alaska hometown crowd: "She thumped 'em"
Published Wednesday, September 3, 2008
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Sarah Palin: Growing up Alaskan
Pictures of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's early days in Alaska politics and as a child growing up in the 49th State.
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Sarah Palin
Presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was his choice as vice presidential running mate on Friday, Aug. 29, 2008.
WASILLA -- Scott Myers led the cheering section Wednesday as Sarah Palin, the hometown girl, accepted the Republican vice presidential nomination at the GOP convention.
Myers, holding two small American flags, shouted, "Go, Sarah! Yes, Sarah! Go Sarah! Yes, Sarah!" as more than 100 people crowded the Tailgaters sports bar and grill to watch the late afternoon speech.
Myers, 70, said Palin is family, and she takes care of the people of Wasilla like her own.
He said she's hardworking, just like his mother, she's juggling two jobs, and she can take whatever is dished out.
"She's a true blue, dyed-in-the-wool honest person and everyone is scared to death of her," said the resident of nearby Palmer who described himself as a conservative Republican. "Now I've got someone to root for again."
Myers wasn't alone in his unabashed enthusiasm for Palin during her speech.
Minor Smith, 57, a North Slope worker from Wasilla, who was baptized in the same church as Palin and knows her husband, Todd, said he wasn't worried that Sarah Palin would crumble under the pressure. In fact, he said, it's just the type of fight she likes.
"She is perfectly able to defend herself. She's a little tiger," he said of the woman he got to know at church picnics. "She loves this stuff. This is what she lives for."
Palin was born in Idaho, but moved to Wasilla as an infant with her parents, Chuck and Sally Heath.
The giddy crowd flashed their McCain-Palin shirts — what they call "Sarah wear" — and swapped stories about the Palin and Heath families they all had heard a thousand times before.
When Palin took the stage, they leaped to their feet like the hometown team was taking the field for the Super Bowl.
Carol Bearman, 42, said she was visiting from the Prince William Sound community of Valdez to go moose hunting. Bearman said Palin was tough, like every Alaska woman.
Bearman noted that many pundits predict that Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden will have no trouble dismantling the green Palin during debates.
"They all say Biden is going to eat her up and spit her out. I think the opposite is going to happen," Bearman said after Palin's speech.
The crowd cheered at just about every sentence during Palin's speech, and frequently jumped to their feet, singing a chorus of "Go girl! and "Yes, Sarah!"
Some of the biggest responses came when Palin introduced her family and when the camera stayed on her parents.
She also drew wild applause when making jabs at presidential candidate Barack Obama and other Democrats and when she defended the people that come from small-town America.
"They love their country in good times and bad," Palin said, prompting Myers to jump to his feet, clapping and yelling, "Yay!" while others cheered wildly.
She also got a loud laugh when making the joke about the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull — lipstick.
Smith — who showed up at the bar to watch a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game — said he wasn't surprised that Palin was the picture of confidence during her first national speech.
"She believes this stuff. It's Sarah being Sarah," he said.
Mike Swanson, 53, and J.P., his 51-year-old wife, both donned "Go Sarah" T-shirts to show their support. J.P. said she remembers teaching 18-year-old Sarah Palin how to do telephone repair work and said she was impressive even then.
However, she said she can't help worrying about her just a little bit, like a mother, she said.
"She'll be all right. We're damn proud of her," she said.
Her husband added it won't be long before the rest of the country gets to know the real Sarah Palin, too.
"I'm sure the rest of the country will be proud of her, too, real quick," he said.
At the end of Palin's speech, the bar crowd jumped to their feet and gave her standing ovation.
"She thumped 'em," Myers said.
Community Discussion
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they won't quit attacking her. they have nothing else going for them. if mccain and sarah lose then sarah comes home and we continue our work here building a better alaska. if they win, all the liberals have is 4 more years of grinding and gnashing their teeth and publishing their hate filled blogs.
Joe Biden, will, indeed, disembowel Palen in their debates. Why? It's a no-brainer, folks! Biden's 35 years in the U.S. Senate, especially as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations will allow him to win handily. Yes, McCain's folks will attempt to give her a crash course and prep her for the debates, but it will be like peeing on a forest fire....it will have very little effect. Biden's expertise, by the way, is not only in foreign relations. He has also crafted legislation on crime and drugs, among others.
Will the American public care about the outcome of these upcoming lopsided debates? They had better do so as we continually need to remind ourselves that the Vice Presidency is not just a figurehead. Sarah Palin, with her very limited experience, is one heartbeat away from becoming the most powerful person in the free world!
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The old school folks who believe in the 1960's and 1970's flower power nonsense and the Marxist ideals of Barack Hussein Obama are pretty sad folks.
Sarah Louise Palin will clean Joseph Robinette Biden's clock (YUP that is the "guy's" name... I would never dream of making up such a wussy name. LOL)
Yeah, great speech...woohoo. Now when is she going to talk about the real issues like the economy? Or health care? Guess the republicans don't really see those issues as being a problems in our country now.
And she'll have no problem in the debate with Biden. That's if she can use a teleprompter.
Joe who? I haven't heard a word from that man even before Palin stepped out as VP. I think it's great she's gotten publicity, good and bad, and she's proven she can handle it. The time for discussing the real issues as VICE President...remember she's not running for President here...will come when it should, during the debates. Do VP's really have that much power in office anyway??? I would think it's more important to hear from the Presidential candidates and THEIR take on the issues, rather than the VP's. Aren't they just relaying what McCain/Obama want???
Puppet Master or puppet? McCain is relying on the "soccer mom" to bail him out in this campaign. It's all about her. I don't care about her personal life. It's all smoke screens to me. I hope all Americans will use their intelligence to vote for the person most qualified to get the job done...as President...not VP.
Sarah Palin will use Joe Biden's 35 years against him. It will be very simple to do. Since the Dem's have taken over both the house and the senate back in 2006, nothing positive has happened, in fact nothing has happened period! Except cost of living, and gas. The only reason why the price of fuel has gone down in the last month, is because of George Bush lifting the presidential ban on off shore drilling. That gave an instant reprieve from the speculators. However the Pelosi and Reid show is going to keep that from actually happening, because they believe that you and I need to be dependent on them. That they know what is good for our country, not what the actual majority of voters believe.
Is everyone in Alaska as hate-filled as your Governor? She sounded like Goebbels in 1930s Germany -- so much hate against the 95% of America that isn't old, rich and white. Interesting to note the 12 McCain operatives in Alaska posting here. How are they progressing trying to find out what the Enquirer's Edwards team says will 'bring down the Governor'? Why won't GOP let her onto the Sunday talk shows? Hmm, hmm...
"Cindy's Outfit? $300K. Elitism Charges? Priceless."
Breakinig news: Small town girl goes big time, gets lots of support from star struck small town friends!
Really? is this a surprise? She could have gone up there and gone completely against everything McCain stands for...as long as she had the hockey mom comments, the references to her home, to the local folks, and the references to Alaskans being tough, everyone at the bar would have supported her.
This is why I am looking forward to the debate...anyone can read off of a teleprompter. Anyone can sound good when you have speechwriters spending the amount of time they did with her. Look at ANY candidate on either side if you need proof of that.
The thing is; I like Palin...as the governor of our sparsely populated and fiscally well of state.
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