I don’t know how many of you watched Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention, but if you didn’t see it, I strongly recommend watching it on YouTube.

What she said that night resonated within me like very few political speeches I have ever seen in my lifetime.

It reminded me of Ronald Reagan’s speech at the 1980 RNC convention in the sense that it connected with me on both an intellectual and emotional level.

The words she said were expressions of the same thoughts and feelings many of us share. They made sense. The more she talked the more I began to understand that she is truly "one of us" – an ordinary hardworking American who struggles to raise a family and still find time to fight for causes that she believes in.

And it was plain to me that she loves America and she believes in America and she wants to make America an even better place.

When John McCain announced her as his running mate, I could not believe the kinds of criticism she had to endure. Her personal life was brought to center stage in this very important campaign and she was subjected to an unprecedented number of attacks in the media.

They said that as a mother, and especially as a mother of a child with special needs, she should stay home instead of going to work in the vice-president’s office.

That kind of criticism, coming from that particular political party, has got to be one of the most stunning examples of hypocrisy I have ever seen. Isn’t the Democratic Party supposed to be the champion of equal rights for women? None of these Democrats said that Barack Obama should spend time with his daughters instead of spending time in the oval office.

And then they criticized her for the fact that her unwed teenage daughter became pregnant.

It seemed these pundits were going for an "all time low" in the course of what is supposed to be a political dialogue of issues and ideas. To bring her daughter’s life into this arena, was simply beyond the pale, and I think it will lose voters for the Democrats in the long run.

What impressed me the most was the courage on display that night.

After what she had endured the preceding few days, I think many of us expected a shy, reserved, timid and cautious Sarah Palin.

But that’s not at all what she showed us.

Sarah Palin was confident, bold, sharp as a tack and she spoke about herself and her family and this country and what all these things mean to her in a way that echoed in the hearts and minds of many Americans.

What the camera showed went even beyond her powerful words.

Senator McCain’s wife greeted the whole Palin family with warm hugs and smiles and she held Sarah Palin’s baby in her arms while his mom was busy making a very important speech.

Members of Sarah Palin’s family were all there to support her, despite the criticism they have been subjected to after being thrust into the national, and indeed, worldwide spotlight. Their presence, their unwavering support and the looks on their faces really said it all.

When I saw Sarah Palin’s daughter holding her baby brother and licking her hand to smooth back his hair, I saw a little girl who loved her baby brother and she wanted him to look nice on national TV.

To me, that said a whole lot about what kind of family this is.

It was a remarkable speech, and a remarkable night, and now, despite what all the pundits predicted, the McCain-Palin ticket is pulling ahead in the polls and gaining steam as we head toward November.

Considering this, I don’t think I was the only one who was affected by that speech, on that night, in that way.