A Great Night in Boca

I watched the debate last night with a wonderful group of active Palm Beach County Republicans -- all very much enamored with Governor Palin. A technical snafu (at the very beginning of the debate, no less, not good for my nerves!) prevented us from witnessing one of the favorite moments of the night,"May I call you Joe?" but when we saw her stride out on stage looking beautiful in a chic black suit, wearing a radiant smile and sporting a confident demeanor, we knew she would shatter expectations.

First, my only quibble(s), which may or may not be directly attributable to Sarah but the McCain campaign itself: Enough with the "Wall Street is greedy/predatory lenders" line! Perhaps this was included to sway Dems and Independents, but man oh man, I am soooo frustrated with this campaign's refusal to name Democrat names in this Fannie/Freddie mess! What about greedy politicians on the take from these government entities, i.e. Obama???? Wasn't he the #2 recipient of funds? Sheesh! Let's let people know that this "messiah" is nothing but a Chicago thug looking out for his own interests!

Sarah did redeem herself partially on this by acknowledging that borrowers do bear a burden of "personal responsibility" and should not be attempting to purchase a $300,000 home if their income only supports a $100,000 one. And I think she had one line wherein she included "Washington greed" with Wall Street's.

The other missed opportunity, although she crushed Biden on her alleged weakness -- foreign policy -- was taking him to task for his absurd plan to divide Iraq into three provinces, which would have spelled absolute disaster. This is a small point, however, because she hammered Obama on his Troop-funding vote, willful ignorance regarding the success of the surge, patently false and treacherous accusations of our best and bravest committing atrocities in Afghanistan and wanting to "wave the white flag of surrender."

Overall though, these were minor issues as far as last night's Boca crowd was concerned; all (myself included) were thrilled by her excellent performance. I even received the ultimate compliment from a retired pulminologist when I expressed my disppointment on the topics I enumerated here: "You're really smart! You should be on talk radio!" he exclaimed.

All in all, a fabulous night. I want to see this Sarah on the campaign trail from now through November 4! And if the pundits are right about JMac holding off on the Fannie/Freddie thing until after the legislation passes (Ugh! Hang tight, House Repubs), perhaps it will be a winning strategy. For now, I am re-energized and ready to do everything I can to put Florida in the red column.