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Opinion: You betcha! The Sarah Palin speech(es) we never heard one year ago tonight

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This is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin one year ago right now during the concession speech of her Republican running mate, Sen. John McCain, outside the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.

Turns out Palin would have liked to give a little speech too, thanking some folks, graciously wishing the best to the Barack Obama winning ticket of Democrats and introducing with effusive praise the man who plucked her from the political obscurity of Anchorage and thrust her, unprepared but eager, onto the national stage.

Turns out now, we may be hearing more about her in coming years than the military hero who picked her.

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Anyway, in their new book, ‘Sarah from Alaska,’ two journalists - Shushannah Walshe and Scott Conroy -- publish among other interesting information the two speeches the first female on a Republican national ticket was prepared to give, one a victory speech and one a concession. The Beast has published a story about the book over here.

The Ticket has independently confirmed that the speeches from the book are, indeed, the....

...ones written for her in advance but never delivered because the McCain campaign staff decided the evening of surrender should belong to the old man and the old man alone.

We did not hear Palin say this in defeat:

My fellow Americans, tens of millions of you shared our convictions and gave us your votes. And I thank you for your confidence. For us, it was not our time… not our moment. But it is our country… the winner will be our president… and I wish Barack Obama well as the 44th president of the United States.If he governs America with the skill and grace we have often seen in him, and the greatness of which he is capable, we’re gonna be just fine. And when a black citizen prepares to fill the office of Washington and Lincoln, that is a shining moment in our history that can be lost on no one. Barack Obama has achieved a great thing, for himself and for our country, and I congratulate him. God bless you and your beautiful family, President-Elect Obama.

And here’s what we did not hear Palin say in victory:

It’s been just 68 days since that afternoon in Dayton, Ohio, when Senator McCain introduced me as his running mate. He is truly the maverick. My fellow Americans, tens of millions of you shared our convictions and gave us your votes. And I thank you for your confidence. We were facing tough odds and formidable opponents.It’s not always easy in politics to see the best in our opponents. But we have seen the grace and skill of Barack Obama, and the grit and determination of Joe Biden. By his nomination and extraordinary campaign, Barack Obama has achieved a great thing, for himself and for our country, and for that America will always honor him. I say God bless you, Senator Obama, and your beautiful family.

We’ll hear plenty from and about Palin in the very near future with the Nov. 17 publication of her advance bestselling book, ‘Going Rogue.’ The interviews with Greta and Barbara Walters and Oprah, et al. One also suspects though in the months and years after that we will be hearing some more Palin speeches.
--Andrew Malcolm

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