I am however enjoying the fact that somewhere right now Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are crying in a corner.

Tom Ridge is shaking his head, Pennsylvania and Michigan are aghast at the fact McCain just threw their states under the bus and has lost this election.

Obama was surging ahead in Gallup by 4 points as early as Wednesday. By Monday he'll be up to 6 easily.

The Republicans are even dumber than I thought they were.

After a long day at work I came home and turned on my tv and learned Senator McCain picked Governor Palin as his running mate I just burst out laughing. I have never seen a politician who craves attention like MCCAIN he makes so many quick decisions its scary. He just lost the election she is really going to be a hard sell.

and flawless convention speech and we are subjected to THIS??!!

get a grip. this is sad.

My god, Rebecca! Still more on the Hillary as VP argument? Can we move on to issues that actually matter to more people than a handful of angry voters behaving somewhat irrationally? How about the fact that McCain-- at 72--has sacrificed the good of the country (i.e.: acknowledging that his age is a concern and picking someone clearly ready to be President) for a move that can only be understood in the context of it potentially serving his own personal political gain, no matter how marginally?

I suppose from the point of view of some in the press, maintaining the potential for a close race at all costs is preferable to analyzing this reckless move by McCain in the true context in which it should be viewed. In short, in the aftermath of the Democratic Convention and Obama's universally acclaimed (excepting Fox et al) acceptance speech, it's much easier to see it as an act of desperation.

Look folks, if you are questioning Mrs. Palin and her commitment to her children and her family, you are quite frankly out of line, and I question your commitment to the party and our nation. That's really out of bounds to say she can't work and raise a kid too, and we're better than that. Yes, the kid will need special care, but I'm sure the VP position comes with good health care. As VP, she's entitled to it, because those are the laws our representatives enacted, and we elected them to do so.

Now, attacking her for using the nice health care from her gov't job, and not giving us anything but HSAs (aka, "pay your own health care with all the extra dollars you have"), is fair game.

But don't make it about her kid. That is pretty out of bounds. Just point out that she's getting health care without paying for it, but we're not good enough to merit that blessing.

Also, attacking her inexperience is just dumb. I don't buy the experience argument about Obama, or about Palin, either. People like Phil Graham and Strom Thurmond had a lot of experience, and would have made the worst presidents ever. Ronald Reagan didn't have a lot of experience, and look how cleverly his administration was able to screw things up! That takes talent; they didn't do it by accident or through inexperience, but by deliberate policy.

No, attack her ideas. They're old and stale, and easy to mock, and it's called taking the high ground. Are you an Obama supporter or not? I sure am! Would Obama behave this way?

Congrats to Gov. Palin. May the best men win.

[ducks]

That dropped the C-bomb about his own wife? Picking a beauty queen for VP? Is this the kind of executive decisionmaking we want from the next President? McCain couldn't have picked Whitman, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, or any number of more qualified female candidates?

If women in this country (and any men that have respect for women) are so stupid as to fall for this ploy SOLELY BECAUSE Hillary lost, or because of some lingering concern about Obama's lack of experience...then Bill Maher is right, we DESERVE the kind of government we get.

I'd like to just take a moment to make this a fan letter for Rebecca Traister. Ever since I read your piece on Michelle Obama, during which you limned her reading of a chihuahua book in a laugh-out-loud manner, I've been smitten. Your coverage of Hillary has always been smart, sane, and wise. And this article is just another informed, well-reasoned analysis. Keep doing what you do!

You are such a dishonest person, lolcait.

lolcait: "Ms. Palin visited wounded troops in Germany? Barack Dukakis had some trouble with that if I remember"

Obama DID visit the troops, you half-wit:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200808070006?f=s_search

http://mediamatters.org/items/200808050006?f=s_search

What Obama did NOT do was visit the troops with cameras running.

Got a problem with simple facts, lolcait? It would seem so. You get the facts wrong in message after message.

Don't thing this has impressed PUMAs and women?

Read and weep:

http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_08_24-2008_08_30.shtml#1220031014

I refuse to believe that women--any woman--who supports womens' rights will vote for Palin just because she's a woman. It is insulting and I, for one, am tired of being insulted--even by another woman. Stop it. Blacks don't vote for every black politician and women don't vote for any female politician.

WontGetFooled: "Read the letters. Fear of Bill Clinton is commonly cited as a reason not to select Hillary Clinton as VP candidate."

Can you point to a letter in this thread that said such a thing?

I rarely heard that argument even in other threads. It certainly wasn't posed as "fear of" Bill Clinton. More like "an uncomfortable return to the dramas of the Clinton days."

You set this up, based on nothing, and in a dishonest way, so you could make a weak argument about Obama. Just admit it. Nobody has ever argued that Obama is "afraid" of Bill Clinton. Yet you made this assumption, wrongly, so you could attempt to conclude that Obama is "wimpy."

But go ahead, keep backing down from my challenge for you to provide evidence. If the best you can do is say, "People made that argument before, sometime, in another comments section!" then you automatically lose.