Gov.
Sarah Palin (R-AK)
Republican
National Convention
Xcel
Energy Center
St.
Paul, Minnesota
September
3, 2008
[TRANSCRIPT]
Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I will be honored
to accept your nomination for Vice President of the United States.
I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend
America, and I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election
against confident opponents at a crucial hour for our country.
And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through
much harder missions and met far graver challenges and knows how tough
fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S.
McCain.
It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out
our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security
of the country he loves.
With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was
no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an
election than see his country lose a war.
But the pollsters and pundits - they overlooked just one thing when
they wrote him off.
They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination and
resolve, and the sheer guts of Senator John McCain.
The voters knew better. And maybe that's because they realize
there is a time for politics and a time for leadership, a time to
campaign and a time to put our country first.
Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like
that are hard to come by.
He's a man who wore the uniform of his country for 22 years, and
refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought
victory within sight.
And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of
man I want as commander in chief. I'm just one of many moms
who'll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going
into harm's way.
Our son Track is 19.
And one week from tomorrow - September 11th - he'll deploy to Iraq with
the Army infantry in the service of his country.
My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian
Gulf.
My family is so proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women
serving the country in uniform.
So Track is the eldest of our five children. In our family, it's
two boys and three girls in between - my strong and kind-hearted
daughters Bristol and Willow, and Piper.
And we were so blessed in April, Todd and I welcomed our littlest one
into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. You
know from the inside, no family ever seems typical. And that's
how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any
other, the same challenges and the same joys.
Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.
And children with special needs inspire a very, very special love.
To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I
have a message for you: For years, you sought to make America a more
welcoming place for your sons and daughters. And I pledge to you
that if we are elected, you will have a friend, an advocate in the
White House.
And Todd is a story all by himself. He's a lifelong commercial
fisherman, and a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's
North Slope, and a proud member of the United Steel Workers' Union, and
Todd is a world champion snow machine racer.
Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a
package.
And we met in high school, and two decades and five children later he's
still my guy.
My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small
town. And among the many things I owe them is a simple lesson
that I've learned: that this is America, and every woman can walk
through every door of opportunity. And my parents are here
tonight. I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally
Heath.
Long ago, a young farmer and habber-dasher from Missouri, he followed
an unlikely path to the vice presidency. And a writer observed:
"We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and
dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind
when he praised Harry Truman.
I grew up with those people.
They're the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who
grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.
They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always
proud of America.
I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I
was just your average hockey mom.
I love those hockey moms. You know they say the difference
between a hockey mom and a pit bull - lipstick.
So I signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public
education even better.
And when I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter
profiles because I knew those voters, and I knew their families, too.
Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of
my hometown.
And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down
on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.
I guess, 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're 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.
As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and
whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man.
Well I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment.
And I've learned quickly these last 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 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 great country.
Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reason, and not
just to mingle with the right people. 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 all to agree on everything. But we are expected
to govern with integrity and good will and clear convictions, and a
servant's heart.
I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as
vice president of the United States.
This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I
took on the old politics as usual in Juneau ... when I stood up to the
special interests, and the lobbyists, and the big oil companies, and
the good-ol' boys.
Suddenly, I realized that sudden and relentless reform never sits well
with entrenched interests and power brokers. That's why true
reform is so hard to achieve.
But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things
up. And in short order we put the government of our state back on
the side of the people.
I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of
self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.
While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office
that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for.
That luxury jet was over the top.
I put it on eBay.
I love to drive myself to work. And I thought we could muddle
through without the governor's personal chef - although I've got to
admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her.
I came to office promising to control spending - by request if
possible, but by veto if necessary.
Senator McCain also,
he promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest
- and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.
Our state budget is under control. We have a surplus. And I
have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half
a billion dollars in vetoes.
We suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the
abuses of earmark spending by Congress.
I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," on that Bridge to Nowhere.
If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it
ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and
filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back
where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska.
And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of
liked things the way that they were, we broke their monopoly on power
and resources. As governor, I insisted on competition and basic
fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.
I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure
project in North American history. And when that deal was struck,
we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help
lead America to energy independence.
That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened,
will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous
foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
The stakes for our nation could not be higher.
When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not
be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our
Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
And families cannot throw more and more of their paychecks on gas and
heating oil.
With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to
divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon,
we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.
To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth
of world's energy supplies or that terrorists might strike again at the
Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia or that Venezuela might shut off
its oil discoveries and its deliveries of that source we need to
produce more of our own oil and gas. And take it from a gal who
knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.
Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of
America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already.
But the fact that drilling though won't solve every problem is no
excuse to do nothing at all.
Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to
lay more pipelines and build more nuclear plants and create jobs with
clean coal and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other
alternative sources.
We need American sources of resources, we need American energy brought
to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers.
Now I've noticed a pattern with our opponent, and maybe you have, too.
We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.
And there is much to like and admire about our opponent. But
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 even a reform - not
even in the state senate.
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. 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 -
When that happens what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does
he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters
and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger and
take more of your money and give you more orders from Washington and to
reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.
America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.
Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... and he wants to forfeit.
Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay ... he
wants to meet them without preconditions.
Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America
... and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights.
Government is too big ... he wants to grow it.
Congress spends too much ... he promises more.
Taxes are too high ... and he wants to raise them.
His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me
be specific. The Democratic nominee for president supports plans
to raise income taxes and raise payroll taxes and raise investment
income taxes and raise the death tax and raise business taxes and
increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions
of dollars.
My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station
that's now opened for business - like millions of others who run small
businesses.
How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe
you are trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or in Ohio, or
you're trying to create jobs from clean coal from Pennsylvania or West
Virginia, or you're trying to keep a small farm in the family right
here in Minnesota.
How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax
burden to the American economy?
Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election.
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.
They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not
just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.
Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in
which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things. And
then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who
actually do great things.
They're the ones who are good for more than talk ... the ones that
we've always been able to count on to serve and defend America. Senator
McCain's record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so
many special interests and lobbyists, and comfortable committee
chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency -
from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.
Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd. He's a man
who's there to serve his country, and not just his party. A
leader who's not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either.
Harry Reid, the Majority [Leader] of the current do-nothing Senate, he
not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee. He said,
quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps
no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the
right man.
Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand
up to John McCain. And that is only one more reason to take the
maverick of the Senate [and] put him in the White House.
My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a
journey of "personal discovery."
This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it
doesn't just need an organizer.
And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on
lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us
face the matter squarely. There is only one man in this
election who has ever really fought for you.
There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for
you in places where winning means survival and defeat means death ...
and that man is John McCain.
You know in our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales
of adversity than the nightmare world, the nightmare world in which
this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered for their
country. And it's a long way from the fear and pain and squalor
of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.
But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will
have made. It's the journey of an upright and honorable man - the
kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns
across this country, only he was among those who came home.
To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion
that comes from having once been powerless, the wisdom that comes even
to the captives by the grace of God, the special confidence of those
who have seen evil, and have seen how evil is overcome. A fellow
prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio -
Tom Moe recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as
Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the
guards, day after day. And the story is told, "When McCain
shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's
door and flash a grin and thumbs up" - as if to say, "We're going to
pull through this." My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man
America needs to see us through the next four years.
For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. But
for a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.
If character is the measure in this election, and hope the theme, and
change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join
our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of
the United States.
Thank you all, and may God bless America.
Ed. This speech lasted about 36
minutes.
Sarah's Zingers
And since our opponents in
this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me
explain to them what the job involves.
I guess, 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're 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.
....
Now I've noticed a pattern
with our opponent, and maybe you have, too.
We've all heard his dramatic speeches
before devoted followers. And there is much to like and admire
about our opponent. But 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 even a reform - not even in the state senate.
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. 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 -
When that happens what exactly is our
opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after
he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is
to make government bigger and take more of your money and give you more
orders from Washington and to reduce the strength of America in a
dangerous world.
America needs more energy ... our
opponent is against producing it.
Victory in Iraq is finally in sight
... and he wants to forfeit.
Terrorist states are seeking
new-clear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without
preconditions.
Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to
inflict catastrophic harm on America ... and he's worried that someone
won't read them their rights.
Government is too big ... he wants to
grow it.
Congress spends too much ... he
promises more.
Taxes are too high ... and he wants
to raise them.
His tax increases are the fine print
in his economic plan, and let me be specific. The Democratic
nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes and raise
payroll taxes and raise investment income taxes and raise the death tax
and raise business taxes and increase the tax burden on the American
people by hundreds of billions of dollars.
....
Here's how I look at the
choice Americans face in this election. 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.
They're the ones whose names appear
on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on
self-designed presidential seals.
Among politicians, there is the
idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly
summoned to support great things. And then there is the idealism
of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things.
....
My fellow citizens, the
American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal
discovery."
This world of threats and dangers is
not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.
And though both Senator Obama and
Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always,
quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.
There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for
you.
....
For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. But
for a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.