Palin mocks Obama and other Democrats in debut

The Alaska governor's mocking critique of Democrat Barack Obama and the Washington elite charged up Republicans looking for signs of hope that she and McCain can win the White House on Nov. 4.

Then it was McCain's turn. The Arizona senator, who was nominated for president after Palin spoke, was delivering a televised address later on Thursday night accepting that nomination. Palin, 44, McCain's vice presidential running mate, drew shouts of "Sarah, Sarah" on Wednesday in her national political debut, unleashing red-meat rhetoric against Obama that had been largely lacking from this four-day event. She cheerfully shot down criticism from Democrats that her experience as governor and ex-mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, did not match Obama's as leader of a large presidential campaign.

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities," she said in a swipe at Obama's own early career in Chicago. Democrats argue that McCain, by picking the relatively untested and unknown Palin, had ceded his argument that Obama was too inexperienced to be president.

But McCain said he was satisfied she had the right experience and over time people will compare her accomplishments with that of Senator Obama and his are very meager.

"She is experienced, she's talented and she knows how to lead," McCain told ABC's Good Morning America. "This is what Americans want. They don't want somebody who is, frankly, necessarily gone to Harvard or an Ivy League school."

Palin also found Obama's lofty style of rhetoric wanting and devoid of details of where he would take the country if elected although she offered few policy specifics of her own.

"Listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -- not even in the (Illinois) state senate ... What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?" she asked. She resurrected Obama's comment from his primary battle with Democrat Hillary Clinton that people in small towns are bitter and cling to guns and religion.

‘Palin power’

"I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening," she said.

The crowd loved it, roaring with approval and waving signs that said "Palin Power." They were most enthusiastic when Palin dismissed the "Washington elite" -- pundits and commentators she said had questioned whether she should be on the ticket.

Experts said Palin, only the second woman to be a vice presidential nominee of a major political party, was a plus for the Republican ticket, especially in attracting the conservative base that has sometimes been at odds with McCain.

They say she could be a huge advantage in helping Republicans hold Western states like Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico that are flirting with voting for Obama this year.

"She is immediately going to be a huge attraction," said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta. "She will draw huge crowds wherever she goes. She really has excited the base of the Republican Party in a way that probably nobody has done since Ronald Reagan." Her Democratic vice presidential counterpart, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, took what was likely to be his party's line -- praise her speaking but not her message.

"I was impressed by that," Biden said of the speech on ABC's Good Morning America. "I also was impressed with what I didn't hear. I didn't hear a word mentioned about the middle class or health care or how people are going to fill up their tanks. I didn't hear a single word about how you're going to get a kid through college. So I was impressed by the speech but also about what I didn't hear spoken."

Palin came into her big week having to make an uncomfortable disclosure, that her unmarried daughter Bristol, 17, was pregnant and planned to marry the high-school classmate who is the father, Levi Johnston, 18.

The Palins took the issue head on with no big fuss. Both Bristol and Johnston appeared on stage with the rest of the family after her speech. Johnston had the word "Bristol" tattooed on his ring finger.

"From the inside, no family ever seems typical. That's how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys," Palin said. Republican strategist Vin Weber said following her big introduction, Palin would have to submit to interviews and news conferences to demonstrate substantive knowledge of the issues.

"All the attention paid to her these last few days means the vice presidential selection means more than it normally does," Weber said.

Republican Sarah Palin: Iraq war ‘a task that is from God'

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God." In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."

Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there. "Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan." A video of the speech was posted at the Wasilla Assembly of God's Web site before finding its way on to other sites on the Internet. Palin told graduating students of the church's School of Ministry, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets. "God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said. "I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded," she added. "

But really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God." Palin attended the evangelical church from the time she was a teenager until 2002, the church said in a statement posted on its Web site. She has continued to attend special conferences and meetings there. Religious conservatives have welcomed her selection as John McCain's running mate. Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, lamented Palin's comments. Anchorage AP