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AMERICAN conservatives have reacted with near ecstasy to the Republican convention speech by Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, comparing Senator John McCain's running mate to Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
"A star is born. She stuck the knife in with a big smile, a kind of 'Make my day' look," said Michael Barone, the conservative columnist and editor of The Almanac of American Politics.
Richard Starr wrote in the conservative Weekly Standard: "Forty-four years ago, an actor named Ronald Reagan gave a speech supporting Barry Goldwater - and launching his own political career - that was known ever after, by his ever increasing group of followers, simply as 'The Speech'.
"If the McCain-Palin team pulls off an upset in two months, the performance we saw by Governor Sarah Palin will be talked about in the same hushed and reverential tones."
In a column entitled "Welcome Back, Dad", Michael Reagan, the adopted son of the late president, wrote: "I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he's...