Palin Takes Swipes at Obama; McCain Claims GOP Nomination

ST. PAUL, Minn -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took repeated swipes at Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and the news media Wednesday night after accepting the vice presidential nomination before an enraptured audience at the Republican National Convention.

Shortly after her speech, convention officials ordered a roll call of the states, and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) was officially handed the Republican presidential nomination.

Facing enormous pressure to deliver a credible performance under intense media scrutiny, McCain's vice presidential pick defined herself in a lively speech as a change-oriented political outsider committed to reform and uninterested in the finer trappings of higher office. To thunderous applause from assembled delegates, Palin trepeatedly mocked Obama's record and rhetoric.

"We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco," she said, referencing Obama's infamous quote about bitter small-town residents clinging to guns and religion.

"This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign," Palin said. "But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot, what exactly is our opponent's plan?"

She also delivered an ode to McCain, saying "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."

"I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment," Palin declared. "And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone. But here's a little news flash for all 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 country."

McCain joined Palin and her family on stage immediately after she completed her speech, shortly after 11 p.m. eastern time.

Palin defined herself as "just your average hockey mom" who got into local politics, and detailed her rise up the ladder to bolster her case for the vice presidency, "since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience." And Palin took a swipe at a line on Democratic nominee Barack Obama's resume by contrasting it with her service as mayor of Wasilla: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

Palin's speech was nearly marred by a pair of activists from the antiwar group CodePink, who got to the very edge of the stage and were a moment away from apparently running onto it, next to a host of McCain's most senior staff, until the Secret Service grabbed them at the last minute and dragged them out.

Palin's speech came as the McCain campaign sought to put an end to media scrutiny of the process by which the Arizonan picked his running mate, including a Washington Post report today that Palin was not subjected to a lengthy in-person background interview with the head of McCain's vice presidential vetting team until last Wednesday in Arizona, the day before McCain asked her to be his running mate, and that she did not disclose the fact that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant until that meeting.

Calling the media's storyline "nonsense," senior campaign adviser Steve Schmidt said in a statement: "The McCain campaign will have no further comment about our long and thorough process."