Ole "Snake-eyes" McCain just rolled a doozy. This makes no sense on so many levels. The fact that she is a woman is completely trumped by the fact she's anti-choice, an oil company handmaiden, and a creationist whack-job to boot.

McCain now needs psychiatric help for his serious gambling addiction.

In the words of Joe Scarborough: "that's not gonna work".

No kidding.

Being popular in Alaska isn't much of a recommendation; in fact it may be just the opposite - Alsakans love Young & Stevens, too, and that says alot about their judgment.

Mr. Koppelman's post brings out some of the relatively media-ready and "positive" attributes of Sarah Palin as does her Wikipedia page. While many will deride the website's reliability or (influence at all), I'm sure thousands of Americans will make Wikipedia their first (and for some, their final) stop to figure out who she is. The page is actually relatively harmless; on gay rights it mentions that though opposed to same-sex marriage, she seems to support some benefits for them. It mentions she opposed the bridge-to-nowhere and is a pork-barrel fighter and has taken on the oil companies. And it minimizes her abuse-of-power investigation/scandal. This may all be right or wrong, but nonetheless, it gives a relatively positive first impressions for many voters (at least for now, since editing of the entry is limited). And, most importantly, the Wikipedia article has the same endearing disposition toward Palin that I think most of the mainstream media will also take towards her in their coverage.

She's not good for much, but she's good for a pun!

Sarah Palin comparison to Biden.

She's a creationsist...a view that many Americans think is beyond the pale. Beyond the Palin? But perhaps she still believes in Palintology?

Ayone else?

Palin is truly cast in the Republican dye.

Re: "Palin admits that one of her staffers called the Commissioner and tried to convince him to fire the brother-in-law. She admits that the staffer implied that he was speaking on behalf of the Governor. But she herself couldn't be more surprised because she had no idea why a staffer would go off and call a state official to ask that the Governor's ex-brother-in-law be fired. No idea at all. (The staffer also got thrown under the bus - er, fired for his trouble.)"

What's with the McCain campaign announcing this pick on the Friday before a long weekend? Isn't that when you make announcements that you absolutely have to make but want the fewest people to notice?

I love the smell of rank political opportunism in the morning. Smells like....crap.

Perhaps the most important aspect to this pick is that it was a reactive, desperate ploy. Obama began by playing the change music and now, after what is probably the best organized, most disciplined convention in Democratic Party history, McCain has to throw the long ball way down the field. Perhaps, Obama's true genius lay in giving the Clintons' both their due and yet putting his stamp on it at the end. It was a WOW!!

The McCain choice that really would have put the game in play was Tom Ridge. Ohio and PA would have been really up for grabs. But the ideologues would not hear of it. Why not Pawlenty? He would have put Minnesota in play - maybe. Romney theoretically would have been a step-up in Michigan.

The only reason for this pick is an attempt by McCain to go for the disaffected Hillary vote. But I know Hillary Clinton, Palin is no Hillary Clinton. Palin is totally anti-thetical to the Clknton die-hards.

I am sure Hillary will campaign doubly hard for Obama now.

BUT, here's the big but, I think she takes Alaska out of play. Score three electoral votes for McCain. Now he only needs 267 more.

johnklotz.blogspot.com

Hey, I'm not awake yet. Late night last night, thrilling to Obama's speech - hey Palin - let's hear you deliver a speech like that!

If Gov Palin has taken on the oil companies, why does her husband work for BP?

"Pro-life." Meh. Palin, a 44-year-old woman who gave birth to her fifth child last April, was "confused" when she learned of its unfortunate Down syndrome condition -- a totally avoidable situation. See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25970882/ Duh -- any educated woman above 34 years old is at risk of carrying a Downs or other genetically imperfect baby and should have known to have genetic counseling and testing before proceeding with pregnancy. But her thinking was clouded by a bad combination of religion and hormones. Do we really need more dumb- and short-sighted thinkers at the highest levels of government? I think not. She's gotta face down corruption allegations too.

Palin would be the Vice President and Obama would be The President.

She is a former mayor of Wasilla who became governor of her state in December 2006.

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.

Two years ago, she ousted the state's Republican incumbent governor, Frank Murkowski in the primary, despite having little money and little establishment backing. (Unlike Obama)

She has also distanced herself from two senior Republican office-holders, sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don young. Both men are under federal corruption investigations.

She had earned stripes — and enmity — after Murkowski made her head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. From that post, she exposed ethical violations by the state GOP chairman, also a fellow commissioner.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080829/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_veepstakes

John McCain just chose Sarah Palin, the female governor of Alaska to be his vice presidential candidate. This seems like an obviously calculated move to try and attract disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters. Unfortunately, McCain seems to have been getting most of his news from Fox as they kept trying to show that there was a huge force of these women at the DNC. However, most other reports that I read and saw said that those hardcore nuts were actually a tiny fraction of the people showing up, and, as such, I doubt that it is going to attract a whole lot of Democrats to vote for him, solely because he chose a female. Additionally, any gains will probably be offset by the generally sexist Republicans who probably wouldn't vote for him now simply because he chose a woman. All in all, I don't see that this strategy to win new suporters will pan out to a net gain in votes.

Secondly, McCain's campaign has continually harped on Obama's inexperience. I think his choice makes that line of attack completely nonsensical, though no doubt he will continue to do so. This is because not only is she younger than Obama (44), but let's face it, the governor of Alaska is not exactly in a place to have vast foreign and world experience. What has she been doing, sending envoys to emperor of the penguins and king of the polar bears? The fact of the matter is that McCain could keel over at any time and I have a hard time thinking that a single term governor of a sparsely populated backwater wilderness is going to have the experience to be president of the United States.

Finally, she is governor of an important oil state. Hmm...could McCain have based his choice on what is going to get him the most money from energy companies and lobbyists. We'll go from one vice president who is basically a government employee for the oil companies to another one. You're a real maverick, sir, a real maverick.