It is difficult to imagine what else Gov. Sarah Palin could have done tonight to improve her performance. The key is that she has the same gift Reagan had – the ability to speak the ideas that unite and motivate the base in the everyday language of Middle America in a manner that reassures, inspires and entertains.
She and McCain still could lose in November, but what we witnessed tonight is so very reminiscent of the evening in 1964 when Reagan stepped up to the podium and delivered The Speech that launched his national political career. Palin’s was not as philosophical or issue oriented, but she clearly established her claim as the emerging spokesman of a revitalized, insurgent, populist conservatism.
