Ooo...Barracuda!

Wow. I don't even know where to begin.

Want to know how effective Sarah was tonight? CNN's Campbell Brown actually responded to this speech as a mother. Yeah. You heard me. And she was visibly upset at Harry Reid's sexist use of "shrill" in response to Palin's speech.

Need further proof? Check out the impotent rage behind all those tight smiles and dead-end "rebuttals" by the Democrats on 'Larry King' immediately after.

Also, several sources (including my brother) say MSNBC reported later that Sarah's teleprompter was on the fritz for a portion of the speech, yanking the rug out from under one of the few remaining criticisms available to dazed talking heads during the post-event analysis.

And finally, unconfirmed reports are also reaching us that Keith Olbermann looked like a whipped puppy throughout the speech, piddled his booth halfway through, and could barely muster the strength to sniff Chris Matthews' hiney after. (Ok, I made some of that up, but evidently he looked full-case-of-chocolate-mini-donuts depressed.)

Me? I haven't been this engaged, enthralled, pumped up, filled with--um, hope--and excited about--uh, change we can believe in--since I don't know when. I'd say "since Reagan," which is about as far back as I go, but she's even smoother than the Gipper in his prime and looks waaay better than I imagine he would in a skirt, not that I have.

I'd have more insightful commentary, but luckily Dirty Harry did all the hard work for me.

Althouse commenter: “From now on, when a Democrat says ‘But what if McCain drops dead on his first day in office?!?!?!’ I’m going to say ‘dude — don’t tease me like that.’”

Indeed.

And finally, for you liberal busybodies interested in a few details on the surprise appearance of Bristol's young fiance, click here. (Best line in the article -- Todd Palin referring to himself as the "First Dude.")