I think this pick was about the chattering-class and the media narrative more than substance. The same would have been true of Lieberman. I think, more hope, that this will bite back on McCain when Gov. Palin gets questioned about feminist cred. Also, McCain's campaign seems to be trying to be Obama-lite, which is the same strategy that cost Kerry the 2004 election, trying to be Bush-lite.

I think I understand…McCain is going all in on the pity vote.

Q. Sen. McCain, how come you are so out of touch that you don’t know how many houses you own?

A. I was a POW.

Q. Gov. Palin, is it true that you want to overturn Roe v Wade and believe in Creationism?

A. I have a Down’s Syndrome Child.

The entire debate prep for these two will be how many ways can you deflect questions with these two answers.

It’s a no-brainer.

Literally.

If Republicans want to argue that McCain has broken a glass ceiling by picking Palin, I've got news for them. The Democrats were already there 24 years ago with Geraldine Ferraro.

John McCain has shown himself to be not at all serious about his campaign. First of all, he's taken his strongest attack against Obama, that of inexperience, off the table. In addition, the attacks on Palin write themselves: "after 8 years of an administration that abuses the power of office, here is a candidate that abused her power as governor to punish an officeholder for purely personal reasons; do we want more of this kind of corruption in the White House?"

and who is John McCain kidding...does he think that simply having a female on the ticket will erase all his bad policies towards women?

McCain is playing to his base: rightwing, god-bothered, antichoice 'publicans and the media gaggle. Perhaps it will work...who knows? But, as standard, they've insulted women by their obvious belief that us gals won't notice anything about Palin but her gender. I'm sure the cable babblers will be doing their damnedest to make sure the belief comes true.

The pick of Palin is dripping with transparent condescension, the notion that the enthusiasm behind Hillary was simply the result of her being a woman, that it had nothing to do with what she actually stood for, and in that sense it's equally sexist.

Presumably, McCain is not trying to attract you (I can only hope that's true) or hard-left Hillary liberals, but is trying to throw is base some red meat because they, I dunno, like conservatives.

You're exactly right. It doesn't matter that Palin is a woman. What matter's is she's a deeply conservative idealogue.

And McCain stands a much better chance of winning the presidency if he gets his base out and, for a change, a veep choice has a real possibility of doing so. From my current vantage point, Sarah Palin rocks. Experience aside, I like her a lot better than I like McCain.

Geraldine Ferraro likes the Palin Pick . . . doesn't that count for something? Heh.

And, sheesh, with all the talk about Barack being historic, this makes this campaign even more historic. We will either have our first black president or our first female vice-president (one who is likely to get the Republican nomination, should the Republican's win this time around), we have a campaign between two senators . . . I dunno. I think the whole thing is kind of cool.

Palin/McCain 2008!

To call this a reactionary move without even considering her credentials is sexist in it's own right. You have just exhibited the type of behavior you claim to be against.

She is the perfect counter to everything spoken about last night. Understanding unions: check. Personal understanding of the war: check. Living the American Dream: check and double check. Building a country from the bottom up or the PTA up in her case: check.
Your reaction is an understandable one as you are very afraid that this move may very well cost you the election. Wrap it however you like.

Don't be an idiot. There are many, many women in this country beyond Hillary Clinton supporters. This ticket is certainly designed to appeal to women, but that doesn't mean it's intended to appeal to those who share Hillary Clinton's ideology.

If it motivates Evangelical women, or brings out female voters with weak partisan attachments in greater numbers than usual, it can be beneficial to McCain without attracting one former Clinton voter.

But, I do think that Clinton's 18 million votes helped inspire this choice in this way -- it signaled to Republicans that women's growing political power is something they can't afford to continue to ignore. It's long past time for their party to recognize that the era of the "angry, white male" is over and that continuing to make appeals primarily to that diminishing constituency is a mug's game.

It is also time for Democrats to wake up to the fact that the issues traditionally defined as "women's issues;" abortion, social security and health care are, on the one hand, no longer confined so narrowly to that constituency, while, on the other hand, they are no longer such determining motivators for women's votes.

There is going to be a lot of instant attacks from the Democrats. I sense piling on coming. And I agree that this was a transparently cynical pick.

But...I, at least am still willing to say, no matter his reasons, this DOES show that women are making progress. Years ago, no politician would have done something like this because nobody would think it was worth it--nobody would think it could work. And the Democrats HAD run a woman for VP before (for somewhat cynical reasons as well)--it's about time that the Republicans catch up.

Maybe in the not so distant future, we'll see well qualified women running and winning presidential races on their own terms, or tapped to be VP based on legitimate governing considerations. Even cynically, just the image of a woman running at that level helps us get past some of that "it's never been done below, so I don't know what it looks like, so I don't believe it will ever happen" attitude that too many people have.

We linked to this in a post at the CA NOW blog: http://www.canow.org/canoworg/2008/08/mccains-vp-choi.html

How about McCain's pick of Palin as insulting to Palin herself? As an "experience, experience, experience" stalwart, he couldn't possibly see anything in her beyond gender and ideology. She's like a summer-home bedecked trophy wife from the twisted annals of feminism where power, no matter how attained, says something about a woman's progress.

she's inexperienced, young and beautiful: the perfect glorified secretary for a man who is using her as a token to lure her own kind (women) as though we are that stupid.

Honestly I hate to say this because you will all just see me as a gun toting redneck, but you're all wrong. Now before I go on let me tell you the following things, one I live in San Diego and I am 23 years old, Lastly I am no redneck. I hate to try and shatter your beloved image of Barrack Obama, but here is the simple truth that you can find online. The man has never won a single office without first smearing his opponent so viciously that half of them had to drop out of the race. How is Obama a politician of change when he smeared his republican opponent for US Senate by getting a judge to unseal his divorce records? He knew nothing of what was in those records, and went before a judge to unseal those records. He did this because he thought he could find something that would force his opponent to withdraw and give him a guaranteed senate seat. Luckily for him, he did.

You all claim that Republicans are out of touch, and are not willing to discuss the tough issues, but when is the last time Obama has actually proven anything. What bills has he brought before any of the congressional bodies he served? Just because he can speak very well doesn't mean we should just accept everything he says as gospel. The man has no plan, and those plans that he does have requires even more massive government spending. Where is this money going to come from? The war? How can the money come from there until every troop is withdrawn and we stop sending Iraq economic aid? Guess what that won't happen for at least two years into the next presidency. So once again where is all this money going to come from? From your pockets, from my pockets, from every American's pockets. Obama is going to tax major corporations, I guarantee you that will just get passed to consumers through higher prices.

I hate to say this but the youth of America is completely delusional. I'm not saying that we should just all blindly follow the Republican party. I'm not a zealot. Yet, when in America did it become impossible to have a real discussion of politics without resorting to party talking points? When did we become so desperate for change that we are willing to embrace someone who has no credible experience as the leader of anything besides a Chicago community? When did the opposing viewpoint become so unacceptable that we are no longer willing to listen? My friends we cannot just blame the other party for all the wrongs in this world. Government is not the answer to our problems. Yet, there you and I will always profoundly differ. I'm not asking you to change your vote, its far too late for that. What I am asking you to do, however, is to find out information about the man you want to elect. See if his past, matches his present. See if his message matches his past actions? Find out who you are really voting for, not the man who speaks so well on TV. Use your brains America, consciously decide to be an informed citizen, not someone who can only regurgitate the crap that they've been fed all their lives.

Yes, you are right about Palin being nothing like Clinton when it comes to substance- Palin has it and Clinton doesn't. Now if we can be luckey enough NOT to get the un-American Nobama for president, we will do alright.

"Yes, you are right about Palin being nothing like Clinton when it comes to substance- Palin has it and Clinton doesn't."

Besides popping out retarded babies, what is substantive about Palin? Oh that's right... nothing.

The more I read Adam's posts, the more I like the guy. He has smart, insightful comments to make. The point about Keyes and the "war room" comments in particular are the most informative and thought-provoking comments I have seen about the GOP VP pick so far. Someone give this guy a raise.

This is what is missing from our national media. Adam is four years younger than I, and I hope to see him rise in prominence as my own life progresses -- he has nothing but good to contribute to the national conversation.

THIS is what journalism should be.

دردشة

Like you have no reason,As to not doing the needful and not reading the writing on the wall, that will have catastrophic consequences. Already the press is full of stories about changes
in weather patterns. I do not know which part of the world you live in but here in India and all over the world there is a perceptible change in the weather patterns and the change is for the worse and not the better.