Yeah. She's clearly been a GOP up-and-comer, but I think most people who thought about her assumed that she'd be a national-level politician in a decade or so. With a couple full terms as Governor under her belt, and (if the GOP managed a Presidential administration during that time) perhaps a post as Ambassador to something important but not top-tier (like Ukraine or South Korea, maybe), she'd have been a reasonable GOP candidate for VP or President. But now? A weird pick at best.

I hope you're right, but remember that's only true if someone actually asks those questions. And the campaign is eighteen months old, and I don't think any of the two-dozen candidates got asked a lot of those questions all that often.

Also, she can always Not Answer. Or tell them McCain was a POW. Or something.

It is, as I've said, the greatest insult to Americans' intelligence ever. But it could work.

I'm thinking they are counting on a fear of "sexism!" to insulate her.

POW!!

I'll give the McCain camp one thing: I never expected today to be so interesting.

i think there's a 10% chance she withdraws (and the official reason will be something like she hadn't realized how the demands of campaigning on a national scale precluded her close relationship with the child with down's syndrome).

now, that may be overstating it, but in one stroke, mccain has undercut his own argument against inexperience and advanced the argument against his impetuous hot-headedness. if she doesn't play well this weekend....

As a vice presidential candidate, I think she'd make a terrific Secretary of the Interior.

I have two words: Dan Quayle. Just sayin'.

Jack Cafferty is blasting Palin on CNN, and has been for the last hour. "It's a joke," he said. "Alaska has as many people as Austin, Texas. What does she know about inner city poverty? The war on drugs? The Middle East? You want to put her against Putin?"

Couldn't you have said the same things of Sebelius and Kaine? Who Obama didn't pick, of course, but I don't recall people saying that either was horribly underqualified.

I wonder if they're counting on this conservative/establishment backlash-- to reinforce McCain as a maverick and to have a 'woman under attack' for other women to defend a la Hillary in January.

Howard, I do wonder how you balance the strain of campaigning with a child with Down syndrome, which can be challenging to any family.

I can't WAIT for the VP debates.

Sebelius was elected back in 2002, was re-elected, has won liberal victories in a notoriously conservative state, and has various other political and business experience under her belt. Palin isn't in her league, at least not yet. I don't know about Kaine.

You did hear people saying that about Kaine, although they were mostly Republicans.

I note, however, that though Kaine and Palin have been Governor for about the same length of time, their prior careers differ wildly. Kaine was Lt. Gov for six years, and was a city councillor, then Mayor of Richmond, VA for a half-dozen years before that. For comparison, Richmond is 200K people with 1.1M people in the metropolitan area; Alaska is less than 700K people in the whole state. He also has a much more distinguished education and career outside of government.

And mind you, I'm not a Kaine fan and I think he was vulnerable to an experience argument. But his resume blows Palin's out of the water.

She is McCain's Harriet Miers. I think there's a non-trivial chance that we still don't know who will be on the ballot on November 4.

She's not going to get any questions. The McCain campaign is going to keep her away from the press and limit her to friendly venues (Like Bush's bubble). For the one debate, she memorize the talking points and throw out a few cute stories and the media will give her a pass.

…the struggle in Kadima between Tzipi Livni against Shaul Mofaz…

Oh, come on, now you're just making up words.

Back to the kids and the kitchen, Mommy, will the big boys handle the real world of politics.

They keep saying that she is qualified because she's the only one of the four candidates with 'executive experience'. So they are essentially saying that McCain has no 'executive experience'. Don't they see that as a problem?

persia, i wonder that too, but doug flutie has a child with down's syndrome and he played pro football for 20 years and i didn't question him, so i'm not about to question how palin chooses to handle that kind of stress.

i'm just saying if they fold the tent on this in a few days, it's a helluva good way of backing out....

But she is the commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard!

(People are actually on television making this argument, by the way.)

Setting aside the religious GOP base (which McCain has now probably satisfied, but hadn't prior to this choice), the Repub party is way more than the the religious leg of their tripod.

The corp-cons have yet to be heard from, and I can see them excited about Palin taking McCain's place and facing a democratic Congress and a series of major challenges abroad.

What is left of the traditional GOP in the small towns, small busineses and suburbs are an unknown. My guess that their concern about good government that protects them and doesn't interfere in their lives can't be very excited about a Palin presidency either.

Rove wants to add a leg to the tripod - disaffected females (mild to wild feminists/gender-equality voters). Palin will get some of these, but probably less than those GOP or GOP-leaning men and women who are totally turned off by the cynical short-term Rovian political tactics of this choice. I'd bet many women will be insulted by this crass manipulation and disregard for the common good.

McCain just proved his slogan (Country First) is a lie.

Incensed One, nice strawman sexism allegation, but this isn't about her gender. I can think of at least a half-dozen better qualified Republican women off the top of my head. I'm sure you can, too. It's not even just that Palin has a thin resume, although she certainly does; it's also that she hasn't been speaking out about any of the national issues, either.

i wonder that too, but doug flutie has a child with down's syndrome

Doug Flutie has an autistic son, not a son with Down's.

You're assuming the republican troll was making a good faith argument Warren. There is no evidence of that.

Here's what I'm worried about:

Bush Syndrome. In 2000, Bush was widely viewed as inexperienced, but answered that question by saying that he would surround himself by experienced people. As a result, when it came to questions of foreign and domestic policy, the bar was set so low that all he had to do was be able to name the capital of Russia and the chattering class would give him a gold star.

During the VP debate, Biden will be walking into a trap. Either he slaughters her, and looks like an arrogant know-it-all(see Gore v. Bush debates and the "sighing"), or he puts on the kid gloves, and gets blasted for not being as good as he's supposed to be. It's a no-win situation.

I'm thinking she was picked precisely to invite a backlash like this, and to keep the bar set as low as possible.

terri, thanks for the correction although the same principle still holds.

I have seen some sexist condescension directed at Palin from some "left-wing" commenters who should know better: he picked her because she's attractive, etc. That doesn't change the fact that Palin has had zero engagement with foreign policy issues and almost none with domestic issues, and was clearly chosen as a token.

please oh please use the sexism argument. that should work well amongst independents

During the VP debate, Biden will be walking into a trap.

As someone else mentioned on another thread all Biden has to do is what the running mate should do in the VP debate anyway: ignore the person sitting across from them.

Biden's job is to go after McCain, not Palin.

Nice thing about Biden, is he SEEMS like a nice guy. I imagine he can take pallin apart and still come out of the debate with a positive vibe.

..and sexism. Please. Im sure he DID choose her partially because she is good looking. Sex sells, and he aint it. Lack of sexism isnt to pretend that sex doesnt exist in the world.

Geez. I was worried about Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Christie Todd Whitman, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Condi Rice, Bay fucking Buchanan ...

Biden has the upperhand in foreign policy, but the message of reform resides with Palin. For example, Biden, the Senator from MBNA, voted for the Bank bill that squeezed many middle class families while Palin has some successes in taking on her own party even though it wasn't in her best interest. Obama was a quiet cog in the Chicago political machine. He pretty much kept his mouth shut and head down when it came to Windy City corruption.

As for the executive vs legislative experience. Although executive experience is preferred, it's not a litmus test. That said, there's merit to the argument that while Obama has more constituents, the nature of the power he yields is much more muted than hers. He is only one hundreth of one half of the US legislative body while her vote is 100% of the government branch she resides over.

You don't have to like her policies, but there is truth in saying she is a modern day Mrs Smith Goes to Washington.

Geez. I was worried about Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Christine Todd Whitman, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Condi Rice, Bay fucking Buchanan ...

Yeah...Cafferty, he's really the voice of America all right.

I thought Olympia Snowe was permanently on the outs with the main party ... and Dole is running in NC, isn't she?

Haven't heard of the other two.

But, gawd, this reeks of exploitation. I feel bad for them. Feinstein, Boxer, et al had to give way to HRC despite their seniority in the party, but HRC was seen as being able to hold her own. This must feel like a slap in the face for the high-ranking women of the GOP.

Plus, Fiorina's been on the road w/ McCain for weeks ... wtf.

On the other hand, I would have hated for Biden to debate Condi Rice --

Also, I wouldn't stress the national v. state/local politics too hard. Of course, I live in CA, world's fifth largest economy, so I don't view state and local politics as beanbag.

Don't know about AK. And yes, the nature of Palin's work as governor will he held over Obama's state senator experience no matter how large his constituency in Chicago was ...

- Paula

"This isn't because Palin lacks intelligence."

Actually, yes it is. She's a biblical creationist; match, set, game.

"I have seen some sexist condescension directed at Palin from some "left-wing" commenters who should know better: he picked her because she's attractive, etc."

Um, that's not an example of "sexist condescention directed at Palin." It's an inference about McCain's motives for picking her.

If you can't tell the difference, kindly back away from the keyboard, with your hands where we can see them...

She's a biblical creationist

Holy shit, for real?

Jesus, Republicans, what's up with your party?

She's a biblical creationist

And not even the subtle kind like Mike Huckabee. She's one of those "teach the debate" loons.

I think McCain just won the news cycle and lost the election. This is just not a choice that can be taken seriously. Even discounting all the things that Ezra wrote, it draws attention to McCain's age in the most unfavorable way from his point of view. Plus, can he really make the case with a straight face that she is "the most qualified", as he promised his choice would be? As most everybody pointed it out, the pick speaks of desperation rather than anything else, and it will show.

think McCain just won the news cycle and lost the election.

I think that's a little premature. And, seriously, how has he lost it? Can you find me one serious, non-troll former McCain voter who was ready to vote McCain but then decided not to because this chick from Alaska is now his VP? One?

I think, at best, those people are about as common as disaffected Hillary voters jumping over to McCain because he now has a chick on his ticket.

I think this red meat for the base. They are all gonna love it, nobody is going anywhere, and folks on the left who were never going to vote for a McCain, or any Republican, in a million years are going to complain about what a terrible choice it was and how it has probably cost McCain the election.

Because, you know, they're all so concerned about how McCain might lose the election.

I'm not concerned that he just blew the election, I'm ecstatic!! I did a happy dance in my office when I read the news. McCain just lost any credibility he had and also shot himself in the foot on the only arguments against Obama that were actually working, i.e. his experience and his tokenism.

Palin isn't well vetted.

This is what will come back to bite McCain in the ass. The campaign likely has no game plan for how to deal with the attacks that would come out against Palin that one normally prepares for during the vetting process. Also, McCain doesn't have any feel for Palin's campaign style, and they may end up working at cross purposes.

McCain could get lucky, of course, and things that could have gone wrong might not go wrong, but the odds are not in his favor with this pick. But that's why they liken it to a Hail Mary play.

"Can you find me one serious, non-troll former McCain voter who was ready to vote McCain but then decided not to because this chick from Alaska is now his VP? One?"

At the same time, I doubt she can really pull in independents, especially independent men. The GOP base has shrunk while the Democratic base has grown since 2006. Kerry just barely lost in 2004 with a solidified base and a narrow win among independents. Obama's base has further solidified since the convention (if McCain wanted to disrupt this solidification, he should have made his choice a week ago) and he is winning among independents. This pick does nothing to assuage the fears of independents concerned about McCain's age.

She's at least going to find out you cant campaign while at th esame time take care of 5 kids under 19.

"Actually, yes it is. She's a biblical creationist; match, set, game."

That doesn't necessarily mean she's lacking in intelligence. It's far more probable, I think, that she's "merely" incredibly ignorant and blinkered by her religious views.

The net effect - that she'd be a complete disaster as a president, and hardly any better as a VP - is more or less the same, though.

The game is too early for any player to really develop any guide that can contain that valuable of information that another can offer considering the game has yet to even be released. Why pay for information when many sites even provide that information for free. Majority of the information these paid for guides are scraped off other sites, blogs and forums and combined, compacted and reworded to become their own guide.

You don't have to like her policies, but there is truth in saying she is a modern day Mrs Smith Goes to Washington.

I think, at best, those people are about as common as disaffected Hillary voters jumping over to McCain because he now has a chick on his ticket.

I think this red meat for the base.

This pick does nothing to assuage the fears of independents concerned about McCain's age.

tell them McCain was a POW. Or something.

I'm thinking they are counting on a fear of "sexism!" to insulate her.

As a vice presidential candidate, I think she'd make a terrific Secretary of the Interior.Nice thing about

National politics is simply different than Alaskan politics.

I'll give the McCain camp one thing: I never expected today to be so interesting.

Christmas Gift If you happen to have some extra money,

Nothing is able to fulfill, as long as confidence. Everything is difficult at the beginning, is now at the beginning of the show that you have succeeded in half.