The first thing that I heard that morning when I turned the television on was that Senator McCain had picked Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. I smiled at the memory of the “Get over it, where else ya gonna go?” taunts that the Obama supporters had been hurling at Hillary Clinton’s supporters all summer, and I burst out laughing as I said to myself, ”Well, I know where a lot of them are going to go now.”.

Sure enough, the media and the entire left blogosphere were stunned into silence for three days. My first hint of the strategy that would be used against Gov. Palin was a Sunday morning e-mail from the local Obama campaign operative. He sneeringly joked that Sen. McCain had gone “Quayle hunting” in Alaska, among other insulting remarks, and then asked forgiveness for ridiculing the Hillbilly because he was feeling a bit Wasilly. I saw red, and then I turned the air blue. But I guess I should thank him, because my support for Sarah Palin was written in stone from that moment on.

I had already decided that I would never vote for Barack Obama, under any circumstances. Not because of the color of his skin, but because of the content of his charachter. I saw the people that he had chosen to surround himself with, and I heard him lie through his teeth about those associations repeatedly. I watched with growing disgust and dismay as he and his supporters played the racist card against anybody and everybody who opposed or even questioned him. And I knew by both his words and his actions that he viewed average hard-working Americans with disdain and contempt. When I learned of his active opposition to the Born Alive Bill in Illinois, it was the final nail in the coffin.

Even then, I had only moved away from the Democrat Party far enough to decide to sit out the election. I had been a Democrat all of my life, born and bred. I had voted in every Presidential election for thirty years, and I had never once voted for a Republican at the national level.  But that was before Sarah’s acceptance speech at the RNC Convention.

As I watched her speak that night, and many more times in the days to come, I realized that she represented me better than anybody on a Presidential ticket ever had. I saw a woman who had worked her way up on her own merits, against incredible odds, and who had never had anything handed to her. I saw a woman who was willing to work hard, and get her hands dirty, and I saw someone who wouldn’t look down her nose at anybody else who did the same. I saw a woman of strength and courage, a fighter who would not back away from or deny her beliefs even when it might have been politically expedient to do so. And I realized that if I voted at all, it would be for Sarah Palin (and John McCain).

As much as I would like to give Sarah Palin all of the credit for my vote, I’m afraid I have to give the Devil his due. Sarah said it best in her acceptance speech, starting at the 16:05 mark: ” Well, I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment. And… I’ve learned quickly these last few days that if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone….”  Every attack that was leveled at her by the elites in the media and both parties because she isn’t one of them gave me added incentive to support her, and to vote for her.

A lifetime habit is hard to break, and I didn’t know whether I would be able to go through with it until I actually cast my vote. I was afraid that I might regret it, but I have never been prouder of a vote in my life. I knew in that moment that I had made the right decision, because I had voted my conscience, and I had voted my heart.

In the months since the election, my pride in that vote has been reinforced many times, by both Sarah Palin and the elites who continue to attack her. They loathe her because they know that she is not one of them, and has no interest in becoming one of them. She is proud of her family and her background, and she is proud of what she has in common with the rest of us.  And they fear her because they know that I am not the only Palin Democrat, and they know how many more will join me if they ever get a good look at the real Sarah Palin.

They will continue to attack her, even though they have tried to convince us that she is irrelevant and unelectable, because they simply cannot help themselves. They will attack her because she is a conservative, because she is a Christian, and because she is a woman. But most importantly, they will attack her because she has the ability to speak directly to the American people without talking down to them.  They will do everything in their power to silence her, because they know that she is the natural voice of the people vs. the powerful.

But Sarah will not be silenced, and neither will we. She will be ridiculed and demeaned, and so will her supporters. But for every gender based attack, there will be another woman Standing With Sarah. For every class based attack, there will be another Union member Standing With Sarah. Every time they tell her to shut up, someone else will stand up. And every time they laugh about her accent, or her lack of an Ivy League education, one more person will realize that what they are saying about her is what they are thinking about the rest of us.

The American people are waking up. They are figuring out that the country is being run by people who think they are our betters. They are coming to the conclusion that it is time to wrest the levers of power from the elites, and return them to the people. And as they realize that they already have a leader that is willing to speak truth to power, in ever increasing numbers, they too will be Standing With Sarah.