Incredibly cynical pick in two big ways: first the MSM will fawn over her moose-hunting, maverick hockey mom persona while overlooking the facts of her extreme positions, especially on the anti-choice front, and inexperience; second the self-absorbed PUMAs will be in total denial about this ticket's complete dedication to reversing Roe v. Wade and the fact that if elected it WILL be overturned, no if ands or buts. McCain's election WILL end a woman's constitutional right to choose and anyone who says it won't is deceiving themselves. Wouldn't it be ironic if women who call themselves feminists are responsible for that, helping to elect a ticket - with a woman - that reverses one of the greatest victories for women's rights in history.

...instead of "war hero and a soccer mom," you mean warmonger and antichoice antiscience creationist?

And just as qualified to be president.

Just sayin'.

The cynicism this choice reflects defies belief. I wonder how many women are insulted that this was the most formidable female politician McCain felt comfortable picking. Obama picked someone with gravitas that is capable of overshadowing him. No worries for McCain here.

This is only an attempt to pick off the more deranged Hillary democrats and to try to trump Biden in the debates. Because the only thing she'll have is reminding everyone about Anita Hill. Which is a point, but the only one, and an ancient one.

I had a good laugh at the Republicans talking about "making history" when they are 24 years behind the Democrats in nominating a woman for VP. I guess it makes sense when their candidate for President has never used email....they are so behind the times.....

Yep, had my good laugh then hit the "donate" button for Obama's campaign.

Rarely have I seen a more dangerously smug response to an opponents move than I have seen on Democratic websites today. And this letters column is perhaps the worst. Some of the posters here think that it is seriously a good idea to:

1. Attack a woman as a "bad mother" for running for Vice President;

2. Attack someone for choosing to have a child with Downs syndrome;

3. Attack someone for having a child after 44.

Are you all nuts! Do you really think the Dems should play these cards. Assume the worst, that Palin can perhaps debate a little, that she can sweat up a enough talking points to survive the inanely lightweight questions that are asked in the debates, that she is reasonably presentable and not wholly stupid. So what if she thinks Ivana Trump represents high culture -- guess what, a lot of ordinary women in the US seem to also think so too. So intelligent feminists are appalled by the obvious pander of her selection -- did the PUMA's interviewed in Denver strike you as intelligent? Hell, do you think anyone of the voters who voted for George Bush in 2004 and an IQ over 95 -- there were a lot of those voters remember (fraud notwithstanding.)

Does anyone think it will be easy for a bruiser like Biden to beat up on the "little woman" and not look bad -- hell remember how Gore's sighs at Dubya's inanities lost him the debate (because it lost him the dumbass vote, that 1/2 the population who say stupid shit that make you sigh.)

This woman has had nothing, zero to do with national politics -- she has no national dirty laundry, no national tricky associations and she is so out of - left uhhh sorry - right field that no Dems will have done any realistic opposition research on her.

She was a TV presenter, abeit in a small town, she presumably is not tongue tied, she is hardly illiterate, if not very literate (but how many voters are?)

Assume she is a very dangerous choice by McCain or the Dems will get their ass kicked.

Get real, this cocky overconfidence is dangerous.

Give me a freaking break.

This woman is a joke. She is certainly the far-right poster girl for Conservative values, but she has no business being an aging-heartbeat away from the presidency.

And I love that McCain thinks women are so incredibly stupid and shallow that they will switch from supporting Hillary Clinton to McCain simply because there's a lady on the ticket. Really?? Is that why women supported HRC?? Sarah Palin believes in NOTHING that was important to HRCs supporters! Only an idiot would switch allegiances from HRC to McCain because of this asinine appointment.

Bstock, you are so, so right. Democrats, do not dismiss Sarah Barracuda.

I'm an Alaska Democrat myself, and believe you me, those who underestimate Sarah Palin do so at their own peril. There's a long list of powerful people who have done so, and they were quckly dispatched. The latest is going to be Don Young, btw.

I didn't vote for Sarah, I disagree with her on lots of issues (shooting wolves from airplanes?!?! trying to gin up discredited fake science, over objections of your own Dept. of Fish and Game, to claim that polar bears are doing just fine?!?!) but even I like her. I know her, I know her family and people just fall in love with her. She is a phenomenon.

She is also no pushover for the oil industry. Her record shows that.

Alaska: where it takes hard work and effort just to survive vs. Hawaii: where the biggest concern is which SPF factor to use at the beach that day.

Although I know that there are some PUMAs that will fall for this transparent ploy when they should be seeing this as an insult. The only thing that Palin has in common with Hillary is that she is the same gender. She's actually the antithesis of nearly everything that Hillary stands for.

What a renegade... just lob insults when you can't refute on any substantial grounds. Typical of your ilk. When you lose, you can commiserate at another pot-addled love-in with your Britney Spears-staged American Idol candidate in Berlin. And blame the "Rove operatives" who dare not be blinded by the sermon on the Barakopolis. The conspiracy theorists have the paranoiac reaction that any disagreement must be planted in their midst... and yet call the link to Ayers dubious. Why did Obama resort to old-school Chicago machine politics to intimidate and block Stanley Kurtz from researching the Chicago Annenberg Challenge? Because Ayers is just a guy in the neighborhood Barak knew? An innocent english prof? Go ahead and "call me out" if you wish, because once it comes out this his greatest experience is at misappropriating funds, not even Biden's 36 years will prop him up. Want to write-off Palin and call it pandering? She's been fighting corruption within her own party in her time as governer, even lowering her own salary and ending "bridge to nowhere" spending. She has all the credentials to shore-up the Republican base. What's Barak done in the Senate aside from run for president? Does talking to Tony Blair give him foreign policy experience? He compares Russia's invasion of Georgia to our intervention in Iraq, and doesn't even know that Russia has a veto preventing the UN from acting. He has no credentials. Hers are stronger, as a VP. And once Slo-Joe puts his foot in his mouth at a debate and "exaggerates when he gets mad," you see if she doesn't appeal to women, and everyone else. Are the pick-and-choose Catholics, Biden and Pelosi, going to lecture her on a woman's choice? "Ardent" Catholics who misrepresent the Chruch's teachings? You have two of the three most radical members of Congress, and the best they can do is try and tell people that, from that vantage point, McCain's stance looks more like Bush's.