It gave her audience instant confidence in her, and in her ability to attack the enemy. The purpose of the speech was to dispel doubts about her suitability: only a bigot could have had those at the end of her performance.
She does jokes too - her line about the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull ("lipstick") was unscripted, and suggests this outsider is going to be a Reaganesque presence in high politics if she becomes vice-president.
But it was all part of a rhetorical tour de force that, unlike other examples of the genre, was not about just creating an atmosphere or perpetrating a confidence trick: it was about showing the world the true Sarah Palin.
She is an astounding politician. In nearly 25 years of being paid to sit through political speeches, I struggle to think of one I have heard that was more immediately successful and that will prove to have been such a moment in history.
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