Palin invoked Tupelo's most famous son in word and feet, delighting about 6,500 fans by showing up in blue suede shoes.

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) — For­mer Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin invoked Tupelo’s most famous son in word and feet, delight­ing about 6,500 fans by show­ing up in blue suede shoes.

Elvis Presley’s story “is an all-American story that shows you any­thing is pos­si­ble and you never know where you’ll end up in this blessed land,” she told the crowd Sat­ur­day at the Extra­or­di­nary Women Conference.

The 2008 Repub­li­can vice pres­i­den­tial nom­i­nee was the keynote speaker at the con­fer­ence fea­tur­ing Chris­t­ian authors and speakers.

Women young and old hur­ried for­ward to snap pho­tographs as Palin stood awash in pink and blue light, The North­east Mis­sis­sippi Daily Jour­nal reported (http://bit.ly/qVPzPg).

Palin told of giv­ing her life to Christ at a Bible camp when she was a girl.

She said she was reminded of scrip­ture when she was 44 and learned that she was preg­nant with her son, Trig.

“I laughed. I remem­ber another Sarah who laughed, too,” Palin said, refer­ring Gen­e­sis 18:12, where Abraham’s 90-year-old wife laughed to her­self at the idea of hav­ing a child.

With clenched fists, Palin said abor­tion is a great evil and chil­dren, like Trig, who was born with Down syn­drome, remind soci­ety to be com­pas­sion­ate and loving.

Shanna Berry­hill drove over from Pope to enjoy the com­pany of other Chris­t­ian ladies.

“It’s a spir­i­tual rest,” said Berry­hill, whose hus­band and two kids gave her the after­noon off. “It really ignites my heart for God,” she said shortly before Palin took the stage.

Lori Zus­tiak of Nashville rocked her young son near the entrance as Palin finished.

“Gov­er­nor Palin is just very inspir­ing,” Zus­tiak said. “She reminds us of what Amer­ica used to be.”

Posted by AP News on Oct 23 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.