Wired and Inspired

Wired and Inspired is a good description of the last two days. I was in the hall and on the floor during Sarah Palin's speech last night. It was electrifying; it produced laughter, tears, and cheers. She touched the women on the floor, especially when she mentioned "the good old boys." Every woman I know have had bad experiences with the good boys and we knew exactly what she meant. The tension in the hall was huge while waiting for her. She started out a little slow but got much stronger and better. She is not going to be a push over. It was interesting before the speech to spend some time in the National Federation of Republican Women/Women for McCain box and talk with women from all across the country. All of them were furious at the unfair attacks on Sarah Palin by the leftist blogs and the MSM. It appears that her speech last night helped to tone down some of the nastier attacks. I left the Xcel Center last night totally exhausted, both mentally and physically. It was am amazing night.

Today I went to a Tribute Lunch for Cindy McCain. My seat was at a table about three rows from the back but I got moved up to the first row. My friend and I sat behind Judy and Charlie Black from the McCain headquarters and right next to Carly Firoina. We were two tables away from Cindy McCain and Todd Palin. The master of ceremonies was Elizabeth Hasselback from the View. John Voigt introduced Cindy after we heard from Todd Palin. He is a funny guy. I had an opportunity to talk with him afterwards and asked how he was holding up and he said fine. I said that I hoped when he came to North Carolina sometime in the next two months he still felt the same. After the lunch went down stairs where we ran into Richard and Brooke Burr and sat with them for a few moments and got caught up on things. It is always good to see Richard but he has been so busy traveling around the nation as a surrogate for John McCain.

The hall was full for John McCain's speech. Before his speech we spent some time in the women's box and the Republican Club lounge where we ate. I thought Senator McCain's speech was rather somber. But then again we are in somber times and perhaps it was fitting. He built up steam as he went and by the end he had the crown on their feet. Memorable speech, no. Did it do the job? Yes. But there is no doubt that Sarah Palin is the star on that ticket.

There were several Code Pink demonstrators in the galleries but they were swiftly removed. There were also a number of Ron Paul folks that just sat on their hands the entire evening.

Now we enter the final phase of this election season, the general election campaign. It is going to be a wild ride for the next 60+ days.

This was a full week full of some good speeches, some great ones, and some that were so forgettable that I don't even remember who they were. But those speeches were full of personal stories about the John the speakers know; full of personal testaments to him and Cindy; and full of speakers saying (to paraphrase Lloyd Bensen in the 1988 Vice Presidential debate with Dan Quayle) I know John and he is a friend of mine. These speeches were in stark contrast to the ones last week in Denver where there were no such speeches.

One final note, Republicans know how to do balloon drops much better than the Democrats. They came down on time, there were a lot of them, and the glitter included small round circles with McCain's picture on one side and the logo for the convention on the other.

I will add pictures in the next few days.

Day 3

Am starting this early today as I find myself with free time and awake!!! Being an alternate delegate is wonderful but we move in a bubble and have no understanding of what is happening outside that bubble. For example I never did know about the demonstrations Monday night until I got back to the hotel and turned on the news. The same is true of the nasty stuff being said about Sarah Palin. I find it appailing and uncalled for. I know the far right and the far left do it but it also this time seems to be coming from the Obama campaign. The feeling in the convention hall is that they had better watch it as it may backfire on them. There were rumors that she might step down; that would be the worse possible thing she could do. However, for the sake of the argument what would the results be? I would argue that it would hurt the Democrats. A good case could be made that the women would blame the Obama campaign. First of all they kept Hilliary off the ticket and then the other woman in the race was forced out. Questions about her standing on issues and what she has done in her various elected positions and her life is fair game. But questions about her children should be off the record as well as the children of Obama, Biden, and McCain. They are not running.

Fred Thompson was wonderful last night. He tossed off the red meat to the crowd and he was loved. The question I heard the most afterward was where was this Fred during the primaries. I was a Fred support early on but became very disenchanted because he did not show up.

This morning at The Washington Center the first speaker did not show and the second one was Bob Barr. He is running for president on the Libertarian Party ticket. He has very strong policy ideas. He talked for about 20 minutes and then took questions from the students for another 40 minutes or so.

Just heard that Obama will be on Bill O'Reilly during McCain's acceptance speech. Shows you what little class the guy has. On the night of Obama's speech, McCain went on the air with the following classy ad: McCain Convention Ad Obama should do the same not try to steal the thunder.

More later after this evenings events.

Day 2 of the Convention

It was an interesting day today. We went into St. Paul for a party sponsored by Bob Crumley and it was wonderful; food and company was great. We then returned to the hotel and I went up to the room to take a lunch, but it did not work out. I had an e-mail from a reporter from the News & Record and he wanted to interview me. When we finished I had to run to get the bus back to St. Paul for the delagation picture. Then back to the Xcel center for the opening of tonight's session. I did get on the floor. The speeches were good. Fred Thompson gave the crowd the red meat they wanted and the crowd responded. Joe Lieberman was also good. Laura Bush introduced her husband. I wish he had come out for the night so that we could once again show him how thankful we are for him. President Bush 41 along with Baraba were there this evening. Cindy McCain and John's 90+ year old mother were also there. Saw a lot of friends from the NFRW.

Day Two

Sound quote of the day from Sarah Palin-- do you know the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? lipstick. She can handle herself!! More later.