Sarah Palin attacks Obama and the media

In a much anticipated acceptance speech, Sarah Palin, John McCain's running mate on the Republican ticket, attacked the Democratic candidate Barack Obama, saying that while he talked of change, he had done nothing of substance. She said he was more interested in idealism and "high-flown speech-making" than acting for "real Americans".

"In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers," the Governor of Alaska told a cheering convention in St Paul, Minnesota. "And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."

The speech was carefully designed to rally core Republican voters. Palin spoke of her family, including her eldest son, Track, who is in the US Army and about to be deployed to Iraq. Cindy McCain, the presidential candidate's wife, held Palin's youngest son, Trig, who has Down's Syndrome while his mother delivered her speech.

Attacking the media, she said: "I am not a member of the permanent Washington establishment. 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. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people."

Alexander Cockburn, writing for The First Post today in his regular column from America, says: "As a political performer her [Palin's] best act so far on the national stage was her more impromptu speech in Ohio when McCain first announced his choice. At St Paul last night her Minnie Mouse-like nasal timbre soon became irksome and she blew the timing on many of the lines in the rambling speech she¹d been handed. Will she give the McCain campaign the lift it needs?

"If Palin can woo and win voters along the Ohio valley and north of Pittsburgh ­ exactly where Hillary Clinton did well ­ she may help McCain pull out a win on November 4. But someone in the McCain camp has to come up with an economic plan. 2008 is a hard year for the Republicans to recover from the second most unpopular president in living memory."

FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 4, 2008