Palin impalin'

Almost forgot about Sarah Palin's big Wednesday night speech. There was a lot of pressure on her, and she pretty convincingly destroyed the notion that she'd be some kind of terrified deer in headlights. Turns out she's more like the driver who sees the deer, floors the gas pedal and joyfully licks the blood off the windshield after the collision. Only Rudy Giuliani's speech rivaled hers in terms of grinning, mean-spirited bile.

When she wasn't ripping out liberal throats, Palin was lovingly speaking of her family and introducing them one by one. That, to me, should solve once and for all the conundrum of whether it's fair to criticize her handling of her teen daughter's pregnancy. You simply cannot exploit your family for political gain and then cry foul on anyone who brings up your family in an unfavourable light. 

Women - and men - ought to be proud of Palin's groundbreaking nomination. But she provides yet another reason to avoid the Republican ticket. She may seem like a female heroine, but she'd set women back decades if she's in power. Best that she be known as the unlikely answer to a trivia question.