And Introducing Sarah Palin as a Pit Bull With Lipstick: In his debut performance, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) gave a good speech which excited the convention delegates and criticized the candidacy of Democratic Presidential candidate Barack H. Obama (D-IL). Peppered with a series of one-line sound bytes carefully tested to elicit positive responses from the conservative audience, Palin's introduction to the national audience should put to rest talk among political observers that her candidacy could be short-lived.

     Palin introduced her family and her hometown. But what Palin did not do was to describe her political philosophy or state any position on policy other than opposition to tax cuts and abortions. Worse, by working the speech for applause, Palin's speech over simplified and, in some cases outright lied, the facts about Obama, Vice Presidential nominee Joseph R. "Joe" Biden, Jr. (D-DE), and her own history. Inconsequential as these examples might be, they will likely be exploited in the coming weeks as more evidence that Palin is not ready for the main stage.

     The night also saw speeches from three of John S. McCain's (R-AZ) former opponents for the Republican Presidential nomination. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. "Rudy" Giuliani (R-NY), and former Governors Michael D. "Mike" Huckabee (R-AR) and W. Mitt Romney (R-MA) dropped red meat before the hungry lions, calling Obama the least experienced and most liberal Presidential nominee ever. But what was interesting about Huckabee's and Romney's speeches were the fact that they mentioned McCain very little. They could have been stumping for their own candidacies. In fact, I suspect that each has already been calculating what they would need to do to win the Republican nomination in 2012.

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