Palin Perseveres Through Speech Problems

Governor Sarah Palin's blockbuster speech to the Republican National Convention last night at the Xcel Center in St. Paul, Minnesota was not without its problems. The buzz on the ground in the Xcel Center this morning is that Palin's performance, remarkable and powerful as it was, was delivered without the aid of a teleprompter. The teleprompter operator scrolled through the applause lines in the speech, essentially stranding Palin on the stage in the middle of the biggest speech of her political career.

Palin was unfazed by the technical problems, and was not thrown off stride by another, potentially more serious problem. There was at least one and potentially two interruptions of her speech by protesters. One unidentified woman, seen being hustled off the floor by police; and judging by the commotion off-camera on the floor, perhaps a second protester tried to shout down Palin's address. Word from the arena this morning indicates that one of the protesters may have gotten close to the stage, only heightening the seriousness of the situation. But if it were not for one of the protesters being caught on camera, the audience would never have known that anything was wrong. Palin maintained her composure throughout.

The long and sustained applause Palin received when she appeared on stage had a quality of release to it. Republicans have been increasingly frustrated this week by what they characterize as the mainstream press' over-the-top and sexist attacks on Palin. Delegates and attendees clearly wanted to rebel against the treatment of their vice-presidential nominee by the sheer force of their cheers. Annette Kreitzer, the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration tells Political Machine that she knew the governor was capable of an outstanding speech, but wasn't sure the atmosphere would be right.

We were standing on our chairs and still could not get a good view of the platform and our Governor because there were so many arms and signs in the air! It was electrifying. I know the Governor is capable of this kind of speech...the vibe was incredible.

Kreitzer added that the delegates were so take with Palin, they were almost apologetic to the Alaska delegation. "Many delegates came up to us afterward consoling us on losing our Governor to the nation."