Rudolph Giuliani gave the Republican conventioneers red meat as he used his keynote to hammer Democratic Standard Bearer Obama.

First, Giuliani mocked Obama for having “community organizer” on his resume. Next, the former Mayor of New York noted that 130 times as Illinois state legislature Obama voted present. Neither yes or no. Such a decision to voter other than present was to tough for Obama noted Giuliani with tongue firmly in cheek. Giuliani pressed the point of Obama’s inexperience quoting Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden approvingly on this point.

Giuliani also subtly emphasized what looks to be the theme of the McCain campaign by emphasizing that McCain is about good change while Obama is about bad change adding, in a jab at Obama, that hope is not a strategy. This Republican change is being offered in contrast to the Democratic campaign attempt to tie George W. Bush around the neck of John McCain.

Giuliani noted McCain’s neo-con credentials by saying that McCain would press the war against terrorist. Giuliani sought to hang around the neck of the Democrats their perpetual weakness on war issues by noting the reluctance of Democrats to talk about “Islamic terrorists” during their convention. Giuliani banged Obama and the Democrats on Iraq and their willingness to turn tail and run. This strategy is boilerplate Republican campaign rhetoric.

Giuliani also emphasized Obama’s flip flops on several issues as well as his tendencies to make moral equivalencies between US actions and the actions of rogue nations.

Giuliani also subtly tagged Obama with the charges of elitism by mocking him for denigrating Palin for being a mayor of a small city. Giuliani suggested that Obama faulted Palin’s mayoral service because her small city wasn’t cosmopolitan enough.

Enter Palin.

Palin, in studied contrast to Hillary Clinton showed up for her speech in a skirt adorned with very feminine pearls, striking earrings and lady like high heels. It is obvious that they want her appearance to stand in contrast to the angular feminism that one finds among Democrat women. Whereas Hillary went for a gaudy orange pantsuit, Sarah Palin went for a muted two toned jacket skirt outfit.

Within her first paragraph it was abundantly clear that Palin can speak. Her comfort was immediately evident before the camera and the convention. The earnestness, passion, and even folksiness, in her speaking was convincing. Palin came across in her demeanor and speaking as absolutely genuine. There were even times when she flirted with the camera and with the Republican delegates.

As she introduced her family you couldn’t but help and tear up as Willow waved to the cameras and as First Dude Todd Palin waved baby Trig’s hand to the camera upon Trig’s introduction as a beautiful baby boy. The Democrats have to hate this obviously pro family slant.

Palin compared herself to Harry Truman as someone who grew up in small town America. She praised small town America virtues and implied that she is the recipient of those small town virtues. She traced her track from PTA to Governor.

Palin absolutely slammed Obama by saying that being a mayor is kind of like being a community organizer except that you have actual responsibilities. She slammed him over his comments about bitter people clinging to their guns and bible and jabbed him for his hypocrisy for speaking one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco in reference to Obama’s bitter comments. Later in the speech she slammed Obama again as a man who has written two major memoirs but who has never sponsored a piece of major legislation. In reference to Iraq Palin suggested that the only time that Obama is concerned about victory is in regard to his presidential campaign. Palin revealed in her speech that she will be more than capable in taking on the traditional attack dog role of the Vice President while campaigning. Palin’s attacks on Obama were wry and humor streaked but they were devastating. It will be interesting to see how Obama Biden respond to this female pit bull. Will they decide they have to hit the girl?

Palin even took on the media telling them that she isn’t going to Washington to gain their good opinion but rather she is going to Washington to serve this country. She made this comment after noting that the some of the media seems not to like her because she is not a Washington insider. I pray for Palin. Putting a thumb in the major media’s eye is a dangerous proposition especially when they desire your scalp to begin with. The major media has a long memory. Just ask Richard Nixon.

Palin painted herself as a reformer who fights against the good old boy system and spoke about her success as a conservative Governor in Alaska. Palin showed her familiarity on energy issues, extending that expertise to how that subject effects foreign relations. This display of expertise on this subject was clearly a way to indicate that Palin is more then a pretty face with a nice set of legs but is a policy wonk when necessary.

Palin went on to recite the faults of Obama. This portion of the speech was obviously written in order to contrast Palin’s knowledge and experience with Obama’s lack of knowledge and experience. Palin noted Obama’s big government tendencies and his support to tax everything that doesn’t move. Palin spoke to America’s heartland by asking how families are going to get by if all Obama’s tax plans pass.

Palin ended by puffing McCain, which again, is one of the traditional roles of a Vice Presidential nominee.

I know it is early but I would have to say at this point Sarah Palin, given her policy trail, her public convictions and her ability to speak is probably the best thing to happen to the Republican party since Ronald Reagan. People consistently underestimate the ability to speak and to communicate in general. Palin revealed an ability to be bulldog tough without coming across as being bitter or angry, which is stands in stark contrast to Democrat women like Hillary Clinton, Barbara Milkuski, Nancy Pelosi, or Patti Murray. This woman can flat out communicate. Now the only question is whether or not Palin can avoid being corrupted.

Personally, I think that the Democrats are not going to know how to handle Palin and I believe that this speech does nothing but rally the Republican base. Nothing I’ve said convinces me though that Christians should be voting for female magistrates.

Keep in mind though… the left has to destroy Palin. The Palin story isn’t over yet.

I continue to stand in slack jawed amazement at how putatively Reformed Christians are acting like two year olds who have just discovered chocolate in their rediscovered passion for the McCain – Palin ticket. The reasons that have been put forth in order to put aside what had been their principles against voting for John McCain and the Republican party have evaporated faster than the buzz picked up by attending a Rock concert of your choice.

In this article I just want to review some things that haven’t changed since the choice of Palin and then perhaps spend some time examining the arguments that are being put forth to now vote for McCain.

First, we should remember that the Republican party, like the Democratic party, is dedicated to the pursuit of Statism. At the top of the ticket remains the guy who in the McCain – Feingold legislation eviscerated first amendment rights thus strengthening State freedom over against individual freedoms. The Republican party is still the party that, completely in the face of vigorous protestations of an energized majority that was its natural constituency, recently sought to ram down the throat of Americans an immigration bill that would have effectively erased borders while refusing to offer any kind of solution to the presence of 12 million illegal immigrants in this county. John McCain was one of the Republican Senators that was vigorously pushing for that legislation which would have strengthened the State by making it the only agency that could bring peace to the strife of the balkanization it was trying to create by the immigration bill. The Republican party, along with their allies in the major media, is that institution that did everything in its power to marginalize the Ron Paul campaign. It did so because the Party realized what a threat to its Statist designs Ron Paul was. The Republican Party under the leadership of George W. Bush has grown the Federal Government in ways that Lyndon Baines Johnson could have only dreamed. The Republican party during the Bush administration grew the State in a massive fashion with its legislation on prescription drugs for senior citizens. In the Patriot Act the Republican party grew the power of the State in its ability to spy on its citizenry. At every turn the Republican party has shown itself, by its actions, to be a Statist party. In this regard there is little difference between it and the party they are supposed to be opposing. If there is any difference between the two parties on their advocacy of Statist government it is that Republicans, for some odd reason, feel compelled to brazenly lie about their intentions with claptrap speeches about limited government. As I’ve said countless times the difference between the two parties does not lie in their mutual agreement on the aggrandizement of the State but rather their difference lies in the differences that divided the national socialists vs. the international socialists in 1930’s Europe.

None of this has changed in the Republican party. What was true of the party before it nominated Sarah Palin remains true on the eve of Sarah Palin’s Republican National convention speech. The Republican party is an old wineskin and the idea that by voting for it we can get new wine into that old wineskin is preposterous beyond imagination.

Now, let us turn to just a few arguments that are being offered by those who at one time were not going to vote for McCain because of principle but now who are reconsidering. Doug Wilson, a influential figure in certain quarters of Evangelicalism is getting all wobbly in the knees over this Palin pick. Here is voice,

Before I would consider voting for him (McCain), I want to see some money down. Sarah Palin could well be that money down.

What Doug doesn’t realize is that with Palin McCain hasn’t put money down. With the Palin pick McCain has put the bait out for the sucker evangelicals who swallow it along with the hook every time. Why Doug thinks that Palin is money down is incomprehensible. Does Doug really think that a President McCain is going to consult with Vice President Palin on social domestic policy? Does Doug believe that Palin is going to give advice to President McCain on Supreme Court justices? Where exactly is the money that McCain is putting down with Palin?

Maybe Doug thinks that it is money down because Palin will be set up to become President when McCain is finished? The problem with that scenario is that before George H. W. Bush, who had the good fortune to run on the coattails of the most popular president in the 20th century, the last time that a VP immediately followed their President into office upon an election from their office as VP was Martin Van Buren in 1837. Gore didn’t do it. Mondale didn’t do it. Nixon didn’t do it. In point of fact nobody did it in the 20th century except for George H. W. Bush. To presume that Palin will follow McCain into the White House simply because she is his VP is a a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge stretch of what looks to be a fervid imagination. Then to go beyond that and to advocate voting for McCain because of the possible likely hood that a Vice President Palin will follow a President McCain is the same kind of twisted reasoning that sees the rapture coming because Russia invades Georgia. So again I ask, how is Palin the “money down” that requires evangelicals to give up their principles and vote Republican?

Who knows … maybe Doug thinks Palin is money down because he plans on praying an imprecatory Psalm against President McCain thus making room for a President Palin?

Another argument for compromising and voting McCain is the idea that Palin could serve as a positive role model for American women oppressed by mean wicked patriarchal fathers who treat them like something on the bottom of their shoes. Doug Wilson also floated this idea but I will quote from someone who reinforced his thinking with thoughts of her own,

What intelligent, articulate, influential women do girls typically see? The women they hear & read about in the news are Pelosi, Boxer, Clinton, etc.. Leftists are the women most girls grow up learning about in our time. They are the role model of strong womanhood American girls are exposed to.

I would love to see generations of American girls grow up inspired to be intelligent, articulate, influential conservative women.

According to this reasoning we should change our minds on McCain because Palin could rescue America’s daughters from being inspired in the direction of feminism by liberal women. The solution, naturally, according to this view, is for America’s daughters to be influenced in the direction of feminism by conservative women. Now we want to be sensitive to the idea that there are daughters out there who are treated like fodder for men but I am highly doubtful that giving them conservative feminist role models is going to help what ails them since feminism, regardless of whether it is of the liberal or conservative stripe, would only deliver them from their oppressive upbringing to a differently oppressive adulthood. Giving women a conservative feminist role model is no reason to vote for McCain – Palin.

Others offer reason to vote Republican due to the evil nature of Barack Obama. Now, this is the most weighty of all the arguments to vote for McCain. I personally believe Obama to be a wicked wicked man. But this argument for voting McCain must be balanced by the awareness that if Obama were elected the Republicans would fight his agenda, whereas if McCain were elected he would, given his past history cross the aisle and govern with the acquiescence of both Democrats and Republicans. There is every bit of a chance that a McCain administration in co-operation with the legislative bodies inflict more damage on America than a Obama administration will.

Some argue that we must vote Republican due to the Supreme Court and judicial nominations. This is always a scare tactic effectively used every four years. Before these fears cause a stampede to pull Republican levers we must keep in mind that we have had Republican Presidents for 28 out of the last 40 years and in that time those Republican Presidents have nominated more judges who voted to create and uphold abortion then judges who voted to end abortion. That is hardly a track record that makes me convinced that Republicans are going to serve as bulwarks against abortion in their Supreme Court nominations. Now combine this with the fact that McCain voted for Clinton’s pro abortion Supreme Court nominees along with McCain’s work as a part of the “gang of 14” to thwart Bush’s conservative nominee justices while in the Senate convinces me that this “fear” argument has little substance behind it.

Nothing has changed in the Republican party with the Palin nomination. The Republican party remains a Statist party. John McCain is a neo-con who remains pro illegal immigration, pro-stem cell research, anti-first amendment rights, member of the Keating five, member of the gang of 14, member of the Council of Foreign Relations, anti-second amendment rights, pro global warming, pro globalism and a believer in the American Empire. Christians who advocate voting for John McCain do a disservice to what Christian governance is all about.

The only difference Sarah Palin could make beyond being bait for the conservative base is if John McCain died in office on day one. I am sure that voting for McCain on the basis of that unlikely possibility is not wise in the least.

Fred Thompson brought out the reality that the Democratic message this campaign cycle is one of blackness and despair. Naturally, Thompson is correct on this point. In order for the party out of power to seize power it is necessary to make the case that the sky is falling. Thompson also sought to paint Democratic opposition to Palin as being proof that this is a sign of elitism as pointed towards small town values and outside the beltway politicians.

Thompson went on to tell John McCain’s story. The description of McCain’s suffering while a POW were astonishing. After listening to this account I found myself wishing that McCain had been as faithful to the Constitution as he was to his fellow prisoners. I wished that his code of honor was as well exercised over the law of the land today as it was over his country while a POW.

Thompson ended this portion of the speech with this peroration,

Now, being a POW certainly doesn’t qualify anyone to be president. But it does reveal character.

This is the kind of character that civilizations from the beginning of history have sought in their leaders. Strength. Courage. Humility. Wisdom. Duty. Honor.

It’s pretty clear there are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves, “Who is this man?” and “Can we trust this man with the presidency?”

The last sentence obviously was a swipe at the Marxist B. Hussein Obama.

Thompson went on to speak of McCain’s maverick reputation in Congress, retelling his willingness to oppose even the great Ronald Reagan. The point in this section of the speech is that McCain will oppose anybody in his drive for what is right.

In another swipe at B. Hussein Obama, Thompson delivered his best zinger of the speech while appealing to the highly heralded character of McCain that Thompson was speaking of,

The respect he (McCain) is given around the world is not because of a teleprompter speech designed to appeal to American critics abroad but because of decades of clearly demonstrated character and statesmanship.

Thompson’s speech winded down by emphasizing the big government, excessive taxing Democratic party. The rhetoric was an appeal to limited government. Unfortunately given McCain’s support for global warming type solutions it is clear that a McCain administration wouldn’t be one that would be anything but a big government, excessive taxing administration.

Thompson was correct when he recited the inexperience of B. Hussein Obama. Thompson was correct when he intimated that B. Hussein Obama was an empty suit gestalt candidate who merely reflects what people desire to see in him. Thompson was correct to say that the Federal Government needs to be grabbed by the scruff of the neck and given a good shaking. Unfortunately the Republican party doesn’t offer anything that passes as a real alternative and give no hope whatsoever that they will be the one to grab by the scruff of the neck.

On a slightly different note, the major Media’s reporting of the RNC included the attempt to make what is going on in St. Paul akin to what happened in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention. There are some protesters in St. Paul and the media gave us many pictures of cops firing tear gas and flash bangs to dispel the protesters.

Also, the major media continues to seek and destroy Palin by reporting on stories on her family they would have never got anywhere near for Democratic candidates. ABC treated us with a picture of the cover story of US magazine reporting on the scandal of the Palin family.

Finally, the media suggested that Kerry’s experience in Vietnam should have been received in the same way as McCain’s experience in Vietnam. They accused the swift-boaters of “smearing” Kerry and noted that no like organization had arisen to smear McCain. The Media didn’t bother telling us that the swift-boaters were telling the truth.

I carry no brief for the Republican party but I still groan over the obvious bias of the media against the party they find to be the greatest threat.