The "Family values" party has a ticket of an adulterer who left his injured wife for an ultrarich woman half his age, and a woman who four months after giving birth to a downs syndrome baby is going to start a national campaign for the second highest office in the land. If the Democrats did this, the GOP would be having a field day. Can you imagine what the Michelle Malkins and Maggie Gallaghers of the right would call any woman democrat who did exactly what Palin is doing? She'd be accused of abandoning her special needs baby for her own selfish ego gratification and hunger for power. She'd be called a hell of a lot worse than a bad mother. But she's a pro-life conservative, so they just ignore the double standard to which they hold non right wing women.

McCain may only be looking to shore up his base with evangelicals and conservative women, thinking that he can shave off the independents and Dems who won't vote for a black guy, while revitalizing the christian base and skid to a win (that is, along with the usual polling place malfeasance).

Right on. You nailed it!

And I like the huge flag pin. I guess that is to prove that she is an American.

If the McCain camp is really trying to make a play for Hillary supporters, it'll be fun to see them try to explain away these comments by Palin at Newsweek's Women & Leadership event from March of this year:

Once onstage, together with Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Palin talked about what women expect from women leaders; how she took charge in Alaska during a political scandal that threatened to unseat the state's entire Republican power structure, and her feelings about Sen. Hillary Clinton. (She said she felt kind of bad she couldn't support a woman, but she didn't like Clinton's "whining.")

This column, about the problems of "identity politics," from the guy who wrote that he is voting for Obama because Obama is black.

You can't make stuff like this up, can you?

McCain spends half of Palin's speech staring at her ass.....PRICELESS !

You should be embarrassed but you probably don't blush much.

"My female friends, I think you are all mindless sheep who would follow anything wearing a skirt. So here you go. Sarah Palin. She's a woman. That's all you need to know. After you've finished painting your faces like trollops, vote for me, you cunts!

"Oh....one more thing. I was a POW. Had you heard that yet?"

Obama is NOT running on experience. He has repeatedly said that it's his judgement that counts, not his experience. His supporter's laud his successful campaign as "leadership" experience. She has a successful campaign under her belt - she actually beat an incumbent. His campaign tells us that a scant 2 years in a non-leadership role in the Senate and an additional 8 in a non-leadership role in the Illinois Senate qualifies him to be President. Palin has more actual leadership experience than Obama (1.5 years as governor of Illionis > 1 years as Editor of the Harvard Law Review), and she's pretty close to his age. And Obama is running for PRESIDENT, not VICE-President. McCain doesn't need to criticize Obama's lack of experience any more - every time anybody claims that Palin is too inexperienced to be VP, they're making McCain's case for him. American's can do simple math.

Anerican's now have a choice between electing a man who has almost no leadership experience with an experienced VP or electing a man with extensive experience and a VP with little. I am willing to bet that in a few days/weeks McCain will have a commerical out with quotes from progressives who are complaining that Palin is too inexperienced to be commander in chief and descriptions of Obama's experience laid next to those quotes.

Any PUMA who will vote for McCain with Palin would have voted for McCain with anyone. The chance of loosing supporters - whether they vote for Obama or just don't vote - is significantly greater. Palin is just an unbelievably unqualified candidate who will make McCain's age and health an even more significant issue. Of course, he could just be going for the same voters who embraced Bush BECAUSE he was so unsmart and more like one of them.

Stop babbling on about how this is McCain's attempt to get disaffected Hillary voters. That's been a ruse all along. No such thing. And those that do exist are Republicans anyway.

This is a hard tack to the Right to secure the ultra right religious base. He can then focus on independents without wasting time worrying about the christo-fascist crowd.

Pay attention people.

And McCain thinks his wife is a "cunt" for "painting (her) face like a trollop."

How's that femisting working out for you?

My background: liberal was not planning on voting for Obama after FISA but am back in his camp after the DNC.

This morning: in an afterglow from the convention and particularly last night. Seeking out people to talk about how great Obama was. Having feeling of healing, hope for future etc. (however naive that may be).

Fast forward to McCain's announcement. WTF? smiles, checkmate, we win.

Then, notice news not about Obama anymore, conversations not either. McCain's crazy announcement completely turned the attention away from Obama, the day after one of the most important political events in American history.

Notice Obama can fill a stadium, not just last night, but any time he feels like it? Has anything like this ever occurred? No. A populist candidate that can bring more people into the political arena than a rock star to a concert must be very challenging to the repubs, who have nothing to offer but fear, and now sideshows.

Palin, with a one year old child with special needs, will have the perfect excuse to exit.

This was a masterful move by Rove. He managed to take the attention off Obama when we would otherwise be talking about his speech and the convention for weeks. At the same time, he made whoever is the real VP seem suddenly much better than before. Finally, by including a woman that could theoretically be president, who has in no way earned it, took a swipe at the significance of what Hilliary accomplished.

We cannot underestimate Republican campaign tactics. Feel free to underestimate Palin. She will be gone in a week.

As an aside, can we not act like all special needs kids should be aborted or that women with ambition are bad moms-it is really distasteful. I do not doubt that trolls are writing this as it is completely out of line with both feminism and decency.

this is posted on one other thread as well. sorry- probably should have been here first.