Nancy Gibb on Palin's speech

She pens a piece that I think is one of the better ones out there on what happened last night when Sarah Palin spoke from a more "pro-Palin" take than some in the media have done. If you haven't read it, I recommend it. The two paragraphs I found of most interest:

It's an archetypal tale she told: Mrs. Smith goes to Washington, the story of small-town, common-sensible people who love their country and know how things actually work, and if we'd just send them to Washington instead of the phonies and philosophers, it wouldn't be long before things were fixed. She'd already done it as governor, she said, looking after taxpayers' interests, selling the state plane on eBay, firing the governor's personal chef — "although I've got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her."

The day's theme was "reform," which gave Palin a chance to sell the central premise of her presence on the ticket: that she's a fearless crusader willing to confront entrenched interests to serve the common interest. Liberals are bad because they grow government; mavericks are good because they weed-whack it. This is the story McCain wants to tell, and Palin is his wingwoman. "Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election," she said. "In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."

That was and still is why I think McCain picked Palin, not primarily because she was a woman but because she does have the ability to help him message his reform/maverick theme.