Here, in chronological order, is what Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin told us during her speech Wednesday night at the party’s national convention in St. Paul, Minn.:

* She’s proud to be John McCain’s running mate.
* She loves her kids.
* Her eldest son and her nephew are in the military, and she’s proud of them.
* She'll be an advocate for special-needs children. (Not mentioned: She cut funding for special-needs children in Alaska by more than 60 percent.)
* Her husband is a hard-working guy, and she loves him.
* She loves her parents.
* Women today have more opportunities than they did at any time in the past.
* Harry Truman was a good president.
* She’s from a small town, is a “hockey mom” and used to be a member of the PTA.
* She served as a councilwoman in Wasilla, Alaska, then became the city’s mayor, then became governor of Alaska.
* Barack Obama would be a bad president.
* Reporters are bad people because they pick on her.
* People must have certain principles to be in politics and government.
* She has helped eliminate wasteful spending in Alasaka. (Money for special-needs children is wasteful spending?)
* John McCain is a great guy.
* She opposed federal earmarks for Alaska’s infamous “bridge to nowhere" project. (An outright lie.)
* Alaska has an oil pipeline.
* The United States can start reducing its dependence on foreign energy sources by drilling for oil on Alaska’s Northern Slope (something McCain opposes).
* Barack Obama would be a bad president.
* Terrorists are plotting to kill us.
* Barack Obama’s tax plan would hurt hard-working Americans.
* Her sister and brother-in-law own a gas station – making them hard-working Americans who would be hurt by Barcak Obama’s tax plan.
* Congress sucks.
* John McCain is a great guy.
* John McCain is qualified to be president because he fought in the Vietnam War, was tortured as a war prisoner and lived to tell about it.
* “Evil” is lurking in the world.
* Some POW from Ohio is a great guy.
* We all should vote for John McCain.

She left out only one thing: an explanation of what qualifies her to be vice president (and perhaps president) of the United States of America.

Nice speech. But completely unpersuasive.