Palin Mania!

Please excuse the political nature of this post, but the excitement in our house over Gov. Sarah Palin as the VP nominee absolutely cannot be contained! Ever since it became clear in the primaries that McCain would be the Republican nominee and speculation ran rampant about a VP-pick, Palin was first on my list! A friend at work deserves the credit for bringing me on board with this idea (thanks, Andrew!), but I've been 100% there since June. Whenever I would suggest her in conversations, people literally laughed and said, "Yeah, whatever... he'll never pick her." That is, if they didn't say, "WHO?" Well imagine my delight last Friday when she was announced! She is an amazing poised, polished and experienced lady who is eminently qualified to be the Vice President. I simply cannot resist the urge to post some of my favorite lines from her incredible speech last night (bolding is mine):

"Children with special needs inspire a special love. To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. " (This brought tears to my eyes!)

"Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests. The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it. No one expects us to agree on everything. But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart."

I thought her digs at the Obama campaign were pitch-perfect... just the right mix of sarcasm and punch. This is an election after all, people! And after the way she's been treated by the media, she had license to be ALOT harsher, in my view. But these were the home-run lines:

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. 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. We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco."

"Listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -- not even in the state Senate."

"In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."

Rudy Giuliani also did a tremendous job last night making the case for the Republican ticket. He also had some great lines, my favorite of which is:

"Change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy."

All in all, the spirits are very high in the Pardue house! However, between these conventions and the Olympics, we've been staying up waaaay too late these days and will be glad to get some sleep again soon when all of this winds down. But for now, it's just too exciting to sleep!