@ frankliii & Dave Mullenix

I agree. Her takeover of the Wasilla city hall sounds like a fascist coup. I’d say she’s a lot like W – clueless and damn proud of it, not about to let mere laws and good sense get in the way of whatever she happens to want.

Thanks for reminding me. Biden's son Beau is being deployed to Iraq in JAG; he will serve as an attorney there.

I guess because Beau isn't doing it on 9/11/08 like Mooselips or whatever Palin's older son's name it, I guess it's not as noteworthy.

And to anybody who wants to chip away at his JAG assignment, please step to the front of the line and do a hitch in Iraq first. Does anyone envision Mooselips being anywhere besides the Green Zone when he is deployed? Do you think for one moment that boy is going to engage in face-to-face grunt work now that momsy is the VP candidate. Maybe after 11/4 but no chance before.

I agree with other contributors who state that Palin is an arrogant bully. And don’t overlook the fact that if she becomes VP and needs help “convincing” the CIA that Iran is about to hit the US with WMDs she will have a full compliment of people from the neoconservative Project for the New American Century to assist. PNAC was of course the architect behind the Iraq war and a number of its luminaries are assisting the McCain/Palin team, including Randy Scheunemann, William Kristol, Robert Kagan and R. James Woolsey. A dangerous group of fanatics who have proved that no act of infamy is beyond them.

I wonder how long it would take for her to clear out libraries of literature she considers unsuitable.

http://www.gooznews.com/archives/001168.html#more

"I guess a small-town mayor is like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."

That's "a withering putdown," Mr. Shapiro?

You might mention that this "overhyped" community organizer didn't saddle a small-town with $22 million in debt.

Having responsibilities is really impressive. How about handling them?

"Wasilla" is the name of the Alaskan town. Is basic research really this difficult?

Rudy Giuliani got nowhere with his bid for the presidency: the republican mob was wildly cheering for people who present outstanding examples of ineptitude. They are already anticipating their own defeat.

I'll be delighted if I'm wrong, but Sarah Palin's speech was far better than I had expected and I think many Americans will be impressed. She was poised and sounded intelligent--no sign of the lightweight "yup, yup" personality I had expected.

Yes, she was attacking in a mean-spirited way, but she didn't gloat or look pleased with herself like Guiliani did. I'm afraid that an attractive woman who can trot out her 5 kids will be able to attack pretty effectively.

Of course, her looks and ability to deliver a speech says nothing about her competence, but that still doesn't matter in presidential politics, I'm afraid. Do Democrats really think the rightwing politics of fear and manipulation of images are no longer effective? Karl Rove even admitted it out loud: it's not about the issues.

So I think we're dealing with a formidable opponent. I really hope Biden can neutralize her appeal, but I don't understand why people are describing this as a cakewalk.

SARAH PALIN IS DICK CHENEY WITH LIPSTICK. She confuses being mean with being tough. She confuses making simplistic divisive comments with providing strong, dynamic, and effective leadership.

Of course Palin would throw rhetorical red meat to base; that's all the GOP's got in this election, the only constituency who is truly with them. Maybe they're hoping to fool just enough fence sitters with Bad Cop Palin and Good Cop McCain ("good" used very, very loosely here, only in comparison with Palin), but by and large, the narrative well has simply run dry for the GOP -- they've dominated American politics since ~1994, so it's hard for them to cast themselves as agents of change when their policies are precisely what the majority of Americans want changed. The complaint of their base is that the GOP hasn't gone far enough to the right, but that remains a minority opinion, a guaranteed election-loser, if they honestly ran with that.

I think we're seeing the swan song of the classic reactionary movement in these candidates. Maybe GW Bush will start a war with Iran and/or declare martial law to otherwise hijack the elections, but I just can't see McCain/Palin winning it in the fall, no matter what they say or do.

Even as an angry "hockey Mom," it is impossible to imagine her browbeating CIA analysts to concoct new rationales for invading Iraq.

Why not?

Palin repeatedly lied about her record when it wasn't really necessary. She could have presented herself, somewhat plausibly, as a community minded governor of a small state that will bring "common sense" to Washington and stopped there. Instead she amateurishly put herself out on a limb, which will be handily cut off by good reporters and the Obama Campaign. Yes, it's flop sweat.

Also, Mr. Shapiro, I disagree with your attempt to contrast her with Cheney. She demonstrated her cold zeal at strong-arm tactics and loyalty tests employees when she was both mayor and governor. Give her a powerful national office and a staff full of junior David Addingtons and she's off to Cheneyville, guaranteed.

I have been unable to find out exactly what books she wanted to remove from the Wasilla Public Library and whether she was successful.

Anyone know the answers?

Same speeches, four years later. Jingoism, saber-rattling, 'they're not like us' cynicism. Plus an added dose of schoolyard taunts designed to whip up a ban-'em, burn-'em, kill-'em-all audience. Obama has done well to position himself against these same-old tactics & applause lines.

Never underestimate the sheer stupidity of the American people and don't underestimate the appeal of a pitbull with lipstick.

If you missed it, her speech was 36 minutes in length, and about half that time was spent wrapping herself and John McCain in the American flag, flaunting their patriotism, their desire to win wars for the USA, that sort of thing.

In addition, the first 8 minutes or so was spent introducing herself and her family, which left no more than 10 minutes to address specific issues.

In that time, she ran through usual gamut of distortions we have been hearing all year from campaigning Republicans. Here are some specific lies:

1.) Drilling for oil will reduce our foreign dependence and lower the price of gas.

2.) Only the Republicans can be trusted to fight the "special interests" in Washington.

3.) The biased liberal media has been favorable to Obama and unfair to McCain.

4.) Obama will raise taxes on working and middle class people.

5.) The free market - if left untaxed and unregulated - will solve all of our economic problems. Trickle Down has worked in the past and will work again.

Obama and Biden should have a field day disproving these and offering something specific and positive in return. Heck, I could find you a dozen well-informed high school students that could convincingly out-debate her. It should be interesting to watch in these next two months.

Cheers.