Palin has a long history of run-ins with the Alaska GOP hierarchy, giving her genuine maverick status and reformer credentials that could complement McCain's image.

"Reformer credentials" that include directing a 527 founded by Ted Stevens?

Please, tell us all about Ted Steven's reform efforts. I mean, in addition to him getting oil lobbyists to pay for "reforming" his house.

You know, I actually have a certain amount of sympathy with the AIP's position, just as I have a certain amount of sympathy with the Vermonters who think Vermont should seriously consider seceding. If they can make their case with enough of their fellow Alaskans (or Vermonters), I say go for it. "Consent of the governed" and all that.

But the idea that one of these folks wants to be Vice President of a country when they seem to have mixed feelings about wanting to be a citizen of that country seems a bit ... odd. If not outright suspicious.

You mean he's tied with Dick Cheney? Wow! Are the timings of Biden's deferments as, um, coincidentally convenient as Cheney's were?

If Palin withdraws, it will of course be the "liberal media's fault". If they'd just behaved like they were supposed to and ignored how bad McCain's choice was, everything would've been okay.

Here's one thing I'm wondering: Is it really possible that the McCain campaign hasn't been able to figure out how to use the POW defense for this?

The McCain campaign is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. If Palin withdraws, they look stupid. If she stays in, they look ... well, they look stupid.

If she withdraws, the "It's the liberal media's fault" whine would probably play with the usual hardcore -- and at least some of MediaCorp, who would dutifully grovel -- but the eye-rolling among most of the rest of the electorate would be epic.

Repeat as necessary.

I guess I missed the Constitutional amendment that handed Gallup the job of running the Presidential election.

And if NC really isn't in play, feel free to encourage the McCain campaign to stop advertising there. Why waste any resources?

I know that one of the issues is about the kind of judgment each candidate has. Biden is yet another example of Obama's good judgment and Palin is yet another example of McCain's poor judgment.

The Republicans are just getting it thrown back in their faces now with people spinning nasty rumors about Sarah Palin and her family ...

Actually, most of the "nasty" stuff about Sarah Palin and her family isn't rumors ...

The only things scary about Palin is (1) the thought that with the help of demonic intervention and/or election fraud she might actually end up as our VP and, if so, (2) the slim chance that the Republican leadership might not already have her resignation letter on file in case President McCain [snort] keels over.

But neither of those things seem likely, so I'm not losing any sleep over it. In fact, my dreams have gotten much more pleasant in the past week or so.

Ailes assured the Democratic presidential nominee that quality journalism was Fox News' primary goal.

Obama being the classy guy he is, I'm guessing he tried very hard not to laugh in Ailes' face.

To whatever extent Mr. Johnston has a political affiliation, I'm guessing he's a Republican. Also, I haven't seen a photo, but given that his skin color hasn't been brought up, I'm guessing he's caucasian. Therefore, any negative reaction whatsoever is by definition a nasty liberal media overreaction.

(Oh, and if the situation were reversed, "discussing the issue" is an incredibly polite term for how wingers would be reacting.)

In all fairness, though, I'd like to note that the -- thankfully relatively rare -- nasty references to "typical red neck behavior", "white trash", and so on are obnoxious.

They've got [insert your favored reproductive organ reference here] the size of watermelons, I'll say that much for em.

Oh sure, but they're obviously seedless watermelons.

I think trying to ban books is probably a positive -- or at least a neutral -- for most of McCain's base.

It's a bad idea to piss a librarian, though. They are the secret masters of the world.

And they would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those darn kids!

Man, this is the political equivalent of an B-grade action flick. Part of me thinks I should feel guilty about enjoying the explosions and car-crashes so much, but I'm just having too damned much fun to care.

It's hard to imagine anyone who has done more lasting damage to the level of politics in America then Kos' pet blog.

It's not necessary to try to imagine it. All one has to do is turn on Fox News, anytime of the day or night, and chances are very good you'll be looking at someone who's done far more lasting damage to the level of politics in America. Or tune into a radio station carrying Rush, or any of the dozens of B-list AM Rush-wannabees. Or pick up any of Ann Coulter's books out of a remainder bin. Or leaf through one of MediaCorp's newspapers to the editorial section, where right-wing pundits are paid to write lies in the name of "balance". Etc, etc.

Any one of those people have done far, far more damage to politics -- not to mention the country itself -- than Kos ever could.

Then why did she issue a press release about it? How can her campaign possibly ask that when they issue a release, the press will not follow up on it?

Because this was a Republican press release. With those, reporters are supposed to simply rephrase the contents of the release for their reports. If they absolutely have to be thorough, they're allowed to include carefully-edited response quotes from certain Democrats.

Including any facts that contradict the Republican line is severely frowned-upon, though that may be forgiven if those facts are buried deeply enough.