Country first, ha(!), this was pure red meat GOP partisanship at its best as hitwoman Governor Sarah Palin gave a speech thin on specifics but loaded in every sense of the word with snarky attacks on Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

In the diversity challenged (read lily-white) Excel Centre, the red meat thrown up by Huckabee, Rudy (a noun, a verb and 9-11) Giuliani, and Mitt (the Northeastern elitist hating former Massachusetts governor and NY financial elitist) Romney spread attack dog manna from heaven for the Republican faithful.

They won over the hall’s rabid faithful but the electoral count predictor shows Obama gaining to 298 (270 needed to win) and McCain losing another 20 electoral votes last night. Oddly, there was not one mention of the word Republican anywhere. George Bush is banished and pouting back in Washington. Dick Cheney is in the witness protection program in Georgia (not sure whether it was the country or the state).

The right wing may be energised by a gun-toting, moose hunting, hockey Mom, a focus group of Hillary Clinton supporting women held in Nevada watched the speech and were not as impressed.

The Editors of The Huffington Post reported:

“In two different focus groups of Clinton-supporting Nevada women — married and unmarried — conducted immediately after Gov. Sarah Palin’s Wednesday night speech to the Republican National Convention, a few common reactions quickly took shape.

First, women in both groups were impressed with Palin’s speaking ability and poise. But they were hardly convinced that she was qualified to be vice president, or that she truly represented the “change” they were looking for, especially in light of what was deemed an overly harsh “sarcasm” pervading her address.

The (mostly) anonymous proceedings were webcast live to reporters, who were told in a press release that the Nevada focus groups would include “some former Hillary Clinton supporters who are now undecided or are weak supporters of Barack Obama or John McCain.” No party identification was made available, though the approximately two dozen women were reportedly between 30 and 60 years old.

In the “married” group, when one attendee kicked off the discussion by saying “she’s a good speaker, and a crowd pleaser,” the rest of the room articulated their agreement. “I didn’t expect to be as impressed as I was,” said another respondent. But then another woman added: “Once she started mudslinging, I thought, it’s the same old crap as other politicians. McCain used her to get the women’s vote. And she’s using McCain.”

“Thank you,” another woman responded. “That really upset me; there was no need for that. It was snippy.”

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the warm-up act. His speech ran over his time that the video was not shown and indeed the speech ran five minutes over so the major networks cut the last five minutes of the Pain speech and the video was scrapped.

The Republicans seem to have lost the plot. According to CNN:

“The biggest voter concern and the theme of the evening was the economy. But did it top the agenda Wednesday night? No. The policy prescriptions were minimal; the party-issued signs proclaiming “prosperity” made for a jarring sight.

The language and terror focus were left over from 2004. The evening’s tone was vintage 1992, with just a hint of culture war.

Surveys suggest Democrats hold the advantage on the dominant issue this year, so Republicans looked to redirect the anger with base-pleasing swipes at the media and liberal elites.”

So 62-days from tomorrow, a 9-week sprint to the finish. It should be bloody thrilling. I hope we, the voters, survive.