CONTROVERSIAL US vice- presidential candidate Sarah Palin has wowed the Republican convention in Minnesota, hitting back at media critics and launching an outspoken attack on Barack Obama.
The 44-year-old governor of Alaska and mother-of-five portrayed herself as a "pit bull in lipstick" as she set out to show she was the right choice as John McCain's running mate.
Since Mr McCain announced his choice last week, much has been made o
f Mrs Palin's lack of experience – serving as mayor of a town with a population under 9000 and two years as governor.
It has emerged Ms Palin – who made her name battling against corruption in Alaska – is being investigated over the dismissal of a police commissioner who refused to fire her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, following a messy divorce from her sister.
It has also been revealed she has links with the Alaskan Independence Party, which wants to break away from the United States. And her unmarried 17-year-old daughter Bristol is five months pregnant.
But Mrs Palin was greeted with thunderous applause and used her address to the convention to round on her attackers. She said: "Here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators – I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion, I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country."
She also stressed her family values. "No family ever seems typical, she said. "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."
She laid into Barack Obama, comparing the Democrat candidate's theme of "change" and Mr McCain's record.
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."
She contrasted her own experience and Mr Obama's previous role as a community organiser in Chicago. "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organiser', except that you have actual responsibilities."
And she mocked Mr Obama for holding his convention speech on an elaborate columned-stage last week.
"When the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot – what exactly is our opponent's plan?
"What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?
"The answer is to make government bigger, take more of your money, give you more orders from Washington, and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.
"This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word 'victory' except when he's talking about his own campaign."
Mr McCain emerged from backstage to congratulate Mrs Palin. "Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?" he said.
The convention later formally adopted Mr McCain as Republican candidate to become the 44th president of the US.
The full article contains 537 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
