Republican speakers took the low road

Phil Ventura, Las Vegas

Friday, Sept. 5, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.

Now that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has thrilled the Republican convention delegates with her “snarky” speech, I get the feeling this is going to be the turning point in the electoral process where things get nasty.

I’m hoping Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden continue to act like gentlemen statesmen and not second-rate stand-up comedians like Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and, yes, Sarah Palin. For all the praise heaped on her Wednesday, I was hoping to see her present herself as a bona fide candidate for vice president and not just another political hack.

Now that all the convention hoopla is over, let’s see how the candidates continue to define themselves and what they are actually going to do to reverse George Bush’s eight years of failure.

Something else notable about Wednesday’s lead-up speakers to Palin: With the possible exception of Mike Huckabee, all of them are now extremely wealthy former politicians. The Republicans even threw in a few millionaire chief executives for good measure.

Is it any wonder that every speaker denounced Obama’s plan to increase taxes? Is it any wonder they failed to mention that any tax increases would affect only the wealthiest Americans? There wasn’t much talk about providing health care for 47 million uninsured Americans either.