Striking Back at Critics, One by One

Video

Tough Palin Takes Aim at Critics, Opponents

Sarah Palin electrified the crowd at the Xcel Center on Wednesday night by describing herself as a "hockey mom" and delivering sharp comments to her critics and opponents.

» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER

Derided by her critics as someone who comes from a town of fewer than 10,000 people, she went after Obama for his famous "bitter" comment about small-town residents, made at a San Francisco fundraiser.

"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," she said. "We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco."

Nor did she spare Obama's wife, Michelle. Invoking those same small-town roots, she said of her friends and neighbors and all those like them around the country: "They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America." That was a reference to Michelle Obama's comment earlier this year that, "for the first time" in her adult life, she was proud of her country.

Palin was equally tough in responding to her critics in the media and the political establishment who have greeted her selection with everything from skepticism to scorn to derision.

"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."

Palin had plenty of help Wednesday. Three of McCain's rivals for the nomination -- former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee -- as well as Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle roused the convention audience with a series of attacks on Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.).

"Zero! Zero! Zero!" the crowd chanted at any reference to what the speakers said was the Democratic ticket's combined years of executive experience. "Sarah, Sarah," they cheered when Palin's name was mentioned.

And it was her night and her show. After the battering of the past few days, Palin and the Republicans reveled together in her arrival on the national stage. But tougher days lie ahead, and those tests will tell whether McCain was wise in his choice.

As one McCain loyalist put it shortly before Palin took the stage: "[He] had to reburnish the reform credentials, and she does it. Frankly, it's all or nothing. She'll either float the boat or sink it. It's classic McCain."