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SIOUX CITY — GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin kept the gloves on for some of her full-fisted challenges to Barack Obama’s patriotism Saturday morning in Sioux City, but she threw them nonetheless.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at a campaign stop in Sioux City.
Speaking to a crowd that a Republican National Committee staffer estimated at 5,000 people at Sioux City West High School, Palin cast the presidential race in Cold War-like anticommunist terms, saying the Democratic ticket’s plan would destroy individual initiative and jeopardize private property through a rapacious appetite for taxes and government control.
“They do this in other countries where the people are not free,” Palin said.
Peppering her speech with references to “Joe the plumber” — mentions that drew sustained applause from the partisan crowd — Palin trotted out a another political nickname, referring to Obama as “Barack the wealth-spreader.”
“Barack Obama has an ideological commitment to higher taxes,” Palin said.
Most independent analysts say Obama’s economic plan would only raise taxes on the relatively small percentage of American families earning more than $250,000 per year.
Sounding a populist note, Palin urged members of the audience to see themselves in Joe the plumber — and she invoked “Tito the builder” and “Joe the drywaller” in her criticism of the Obama economic plan, which the McCain campaign says was inspired by old-school liberal orthodoxy. Palin said the debate over the economy is simple: McCain will let you keep more of your money while Obama is interested in taxes.
“John and I will lower your income taxes,” Palin said.
With the nation facing desparate economic times, with markets in turmoil and bailout bills far from paid, Palin made a bold campaign promise: she said a President McCain would balance the federal budget by the end of his firm term.
If you are a struggling member of the middle class, “then you’re Joe the plumber, and we’re all in this together,” Palin said.
Earlier, Colonel Bud Day, a Sioux City native and McCain supporter — and the most decorated serviceman since Gen. Douglas MacArthur — said Obama is promoting socialism.
“Joe the plumber got it right when he said this sounds like a socialist program to me,” Day said.
At a few points during Palin’s speech, as she referenced Obama, audience members hollered “He’s a socialist!”
Palin meets voters after a speech in Sioux City.
Palin, who worked the rope line for well over 30 minutes after her speech, said she sees similarities between Alaskans and Iowans. Both have strong hunting cultures, she said, noting that today is the opening of pheasant season in the Hawkeye State.
“What a sacrifice for some of you to be here instead of out there shooting,” Palin said.
Palin warned up the crowd with a self-deprecating joke about her much-publicized expensive wardrode, saying that as she deplaned at the Sioux City Gateway Airport this morning, she felt the bracing air and reached for a coat. “It was my own jacket,” she said.
The mother of a baby with Down syndrome, Palin said one of her passions if elected would be to focus on the needs of disabled children, which the crowd clealry read as a pro-life section of the speech as it garned some of the more powerful reaction of the morning in an area of the state in which abortion remains a defining issue.
“John and I have a vision of American where every innocent life counts,” Palin said.
Barb Greiner of Orange City, who works in a jewelry store, said Palin’s appeal is sincerity.
“I loved every minute of it,” Greiner said. “I liked her message. The reassurance. I liked to hear it again.”
Ruth Katt of Alton said she’s impressed that Palin has come as far as she has so quickly.
“I like the Republican message,” Katt said. “I like they’re very sincere and I agree with them on keeping the government out of it, free enterprise.”
Katt said the GOP ticket should have placed more attention on the core economic message rather getting drawn into other distractions.
“I wish they would have,” she said.
For her part, Palin said pundits underesimating the Republican ticket may find themselves embarrassed.
“It’s going to come down to the wire,” Palin said. “It’s going to be such a close race.”
Later in the day, Palin campaigned in Des Moines.
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