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September 05, 2008
Palin's hometown crowd: "She thumped 'em"
Palin's hometown crowd: "She thumped 'em"
Scott Myers led the cheering section Wednesday as Sarah Palin, the hometown girl, accepted the Republican vice presidential nomination at the GOP convention.
Myers, holding two small American flags, shouted, "Go, Sarah! Yes, Sarah! Go Sarah! Yes, Sarah!" as more than 100 people crowded the Tailgaters sports bar and grill to watch the late afternoon speech.
Myers, 70, said Palin is family, and she takes care of the people of Wasilla like her own.
He said she's hardworking, just like his mother, she's juggling two jobs, and she can take whatever is dished out.
"She's a true blue, dyed-in-the-wool honest person and everyone is scared to death of her," said the resident of nearby Palmer who described himself as a conservative Republican. "Now I've got someone to root for again."
Myers wasn't alone in his unabashed enthusiasm for Palin during her speech.
Minor Smith, 57, a North Slope worker from Wasilla, who was baptized in the same church as Palin and knows her husband, Todd, said he wasn't worried that Sarah Palin would crumble under the pressure. In fact, he said, it's just the type of fight she likes.
"She is perfectly able to defend herself. She's a little tiger," he said of the woman he got to know at church picnics. "She loves this stuff. This is what she lives for."
Palin was born in Idaho, but moved to Wasilla as an infant with her parents, Chuck and Sally Heath.
The giddy crowd flashed their McCain-Palin shirts - what they call "Sarah wear" - and swapped stories about the Palin and Heath families they all had heard a thousand times before.
When Palin took the stage, they leapt to their feet like the hometown team was taking the field for the Super Bowl.
Carol Bearman, 42, said she was visting from the Prince William Sound community of Valdez to go moose hunting. Bearman said Palin was tough, like every Alaska woman.
Bearman noted that many pundits predict that Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden will have no trouble dismantling the green Palin during debates.
"They all say Biden is going to eat her up and spit her out. I think the opposite is going to happen," Bearman said after Palin's speech.
The crowd cheered at just about every sentence during Palin's speech, and frequently jumped to their feet, singing a chorus of "Go girl! and "Yes, Sarah!"
Some of the biggest responses came when Palin introduced her family and when the camera stayed on her parents.
She also drew wild applause when making jabs at presidential candidate Barack Obama and other Democrats and when she defended the people that come from small-town America.
"They love their country in good times and bad," Palin said, prompting Myers to jump to his feet, clapping and yelling, "Yay!" while others cheered wildly.
She also got a loud laugh when making the joke about the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull - lipstick.
Smith - who showed up at the bar to watch a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game - said he wasn't surprised that Palin was the picture of confidence during her first national speech.
"She believes this stuff. It's Sarah being Sarah," he said.
Mike Swanson, 53, and J.P., his 51-year-old wife, both donned "Go Sarah" T-shirts to show their support. J.P. said she remembers teaching 18-year-old Sarah Palin how to do telephone repair work and said she was impressive even then.
However, she said she can't help worrying about her just a little bit, like a mother, she said.
"She'll be all right. We're damn proud of her," she said.
Her husband added it won't be long before the rest of the country gets to know the real Sarah Palin, too.
"I'm sure the rest of the country will be proud of her, too, real quick," he said.
At the end of Palin's speech, the bar crowd jumped to their feet and gave her standing ovation.
"She thumped 'em," Myers said.
Wild Thing's comment...........
What a great write up, so many good things they say about Sarah Palin. I love it. It is wonderful when a good person gets a high five.
It is just so great to be able to post about all these people that love America too , and appreciate Palin and what she has meant and will continue to mean to our country.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at September 5, 2008 05:48 AM
Comments
Sarah has made a huge buzz here in this Union town I live in- this is a typical southern democratic area- the whole place is!! You 'd be hard pressed to find more than a couple hundred Republicans-- But Miss Sarah has got these guys and women thinking-- that there is something better than the ASS Obama out there-- !!! Obama is in deep crap and he knows it-- Go Sarah Barracuda-!! She will be the one eating Biden for breakfast and spitting him out !! SHE IS NO BABY TIGER-- SHE IS A FULL GROWN TIGERESS!! LMAO!!!!
Posted by: Cheryl Zee at September 5, 2008 07:28 AM
Small town America is pro-America. Obama is not, so he will not get much support there. His anti American statements about "typical White people" and religion and guns will haunt him.
I am anti-union, but the fact that Todd Palin is a union member should also help water down the union support for Obama. A lot of those union folks are in small towns and like their bibles and guns. Hopefully they will also consider what Obama's higher taxes will do to their paychecks and coss.
Posted by: TomR at September 5, 2008 10:47 AM
I'm getting mail from my friends in Wasilla, they are elated, many of my former co-workers live there and you can bet they're more conservative than I am. Red blooded Americans not diluted by the lefties from the big city nearby, these are entrepreneur's, retired workers, loggers, miners, commercial fishermen and oil patch workers all self reliant and independent. Very few work for government in Wasilla, not so in Juneau. On the flip side there are are lot of subsistance Alaskans, some are truly independent most are state 'subsidized'. Having Palin running is like stepping back in time before the LBJ great society where a hand up is not the same as a hand out.
Posted by: Jack at September 5, 2008 12:12 PM
I just got home spent 8 hours in ER, but what I heard was startling.
I live in Pennsylvania, and of course Penn State is huge here. Obama has been in Scranton and made a trip to State College and referred to the Football team as the Nittlys. To any Penn State die hard this is a huge insult. They are the 'Nittany Lions' and to have this community agitator mispronounce the college mascot is akin to raising the Bucheye flag at the stadium or burning Joe Paterno in effigy.
Although I am a die hard Buckeye fan, this nitwit HO Chi Obama couldn't even get the nittany lions right. What does he even know about this country.
He doesn't even know about the Big 10 rivalry ? That is American when it comes to us God fearin, gun totin, clinging Xenophobics.
Posted by: Mark at September 5, 2008 06:19 PM
Cheryl, wow that gave me goosebmps. Thanks for sharing about that. At least all this with Sarah has made them stop in their tracks and think. That alone is huge.
Posted by: Wild Thing at September 5, 2008 08:28 PM
Tom, same here, when she said that about Unions I thought the same thing as what you just said.
I went like yuk I don't care for Unions but what the heck the Union people are going to love Sarah I think and listen to her.
Posted by: Wild Thing at September 5, 2008 08:31 PM
Jack, that is so neat, thank you so much for sharing about your friends there. Really interesting!
Posted by: Wild Thing at September 5, 2008 08:34 PM
Mark oh wow 8 hours in ER, I am so sorry.
Yes Obama really messed up yet again. He just keep screwing up and he could care less which makes the screw up worse. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Posted by: Wild Thing at September 5, 2008 08:38 PM
