The speechwriter made good use of gaffes and/or spins of Obama and his wife in order to attempt to drive a wedge between Obama and 'small town America.' Use of the Michelle flap was conveyed through a well written 'dog whistle' writing manoeuvre.

As Palin read the teleprompter when she went into her 'knowing small town America' she got it in: "They love their country, in good times and bad, and they’re always proud of America." The last part was stressed especially the 'always,' and the delegates cheered tremendously on cue. It would be taken poorly if she mentioned her by name but it proved to be an effective talking point earlier, so it gots tucked in there like that to make the sales pitch to the target audience (small town America) with flatteries whilst reminding them of the flap over Michelle's 'proud' comment to remind and convey to them that Michelle isn't 'proud like them' according to that talking point along with Obama's church and gun remark that she also made mention to the same effect.

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