Politicians use speechwriters, its a fact. There are a lot of speeches given every day by McCain, Obama, Palin and Biden. The candidates would have time for precious little else if they chose to write every single word themselves. But the good politicians will exert more of THEMSELVES into a speech, and at the very least, when some underling speechwriter includes some rare and seldom heard quote, its up to that politician to accept the consequences. In other words, she didn't write the speech, she rehearsed it, she ad-libbed in a few spots, threw in some of her own personal accomplishments. She may not have known every reference in there, but as the speech giver, she is accountable in my mind. Its up to her to give her speechwriters and assistants a clear vision of what she wants to express. Now some will say that it was all so quick-the announcement, and then, boom, she's on stage at the convention. Maybe too quick for her to absorb all that. But to my mind, that's one of my beefs with her as a choice. There are some on here who will argue the experience issue, I was one of them. But that confidence that comes with knowing that while you may not be speaking your own words, copyright Sarah Palin, you are speaking words you know, not just reading words.


I believe this is the quote Little Hawk was referring too:

To quote an expert: "Of course the people don't want war....that is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." ------- Hermann Goering (Adolf Hitler's deputy) at the Nuremberg trials, 1946, quoted in "Nuremberg Diary" by G M Gilbert

I believe there is more to the quote, so apologies LH. But LH, I disagree somewhat with your assesment. When that quote became popular during the beginning of the Iraq War, I don't believe those of us who used it were agreeing with it in any sense. More like a frightening resemblance to what was going on amongst those of us who were protesting. Ok, I can "agree" in that sense, but thats not an approval of the quote. Words can be a lot of things LH, they can be equally beautiful and spiteful. For me this is not a partisan issue, so no offense, but simmer down. Goering wrote a lot of other things too I'm sure-but you would attribute it to him wouldn't you if you were giving a speech?