Convention blog

Category: Republican National Convention

Palin's Michigan shout-out

Michigan's economic woes just made their debut on the Republican convention stage.

In a passage attacking Barack Obama as advocating a massive increase in the U.S. tax burden, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin asked how small business owners could prosper under Obama's plan: "How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio, or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia, or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota. How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy?"

Aside from what independent fact-checkers have assessed as a pattern of distortions when it comes to the McCain campaign's description of Obama's proposals, it's striking that Palin is the first speaker -- at least as far as I have heard, perhaps I've missed something -- to mention the significant economic troubles of a state so crucial to McCain's hopes.