Her complete lack of national experience matters a great deal. I can just see the next 3 am telephone call ad. America won't be laughing.

I bet you we see no 3AM Ads from anybody.

What's with that? Neither did Kaine. Did they ask that of him? I thought we normally elect governors as Presidents. This is a double standard.

Gov Palin is a fierce debater, a beloved figure in Alaskan politics, certainly savvy enough to take on and win the entrenched Republican machinery well enough to beat an incumbent Gov and is quickly becoming the new Media Darling (sorry, BTD).  That you so casually and thoughtlessly underestimate her is a (slight) cause of worry for me.

One journalist who's intimately familiar with Alaskan politics is quoted as saying something to the effect of "Alaska is littered with the bodies of those who got in Sarah Palin's way".

If the Obama campaign takes the attitude you've decided to take -- which seems like yet another premature, We've Got This In The Bag, It's Over Victory Lap --, we're sure to lose.

So she may not be the neophyte everyone is assuming her to be.

Look, McCain would have to DIE on day one for that to even matter.

I also just learned that McCain had only just met the woman!  

When HRC refused to quit everyone kept wondering why.  I read an article (long lost) that kept it simple.   She's competitive.   People on the national stage (and I consider individuals who run for governor) are very competitive personalities.  

Regardless of what weight you give her short tenure as governor and her prior work Palin strikes me as someone who will be a quick learner and someone who will play to win.

And the visuals are already contradicting the no foreign experience -- photos of her visiting her National Guard troops in Iraq.  

Plus while it's true McCain turned 72 most people don't expect him to keel over immediately upon taking office.  So everyone who already has him in the grave maybe overthinking this one.

I don't care what she did for Alaska. It doesn't qualify her to be vice president.

McCain has been studying Hillary's campaign long and hard and as with other issues are copying and optimizing her playbook in ways that are easier in a GE.  Hillary's cast-in-stone image as a "let's start working" candidate may serve as a model for Palin (and even JM).  Now that some of the celebrity bubble has been burst, the Repub team (particularly Palin) can be more effective, using lines like "Obama will bring you up to the heights, McCain will get down to business".  This rhetoric will be solidified by Palin's presence, who can draw on some comparatively substantial accomplishments.

For instance, she's credited, at least partly, with killing the "Bridge to Nowhere" project.  And she made an enemy of Ted the Hulk Stevens and the Murkowski crowd.

Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday the project was $329 million short of full funding.

"We will continue to look for options for Ketchikan to allow better access to the island," the Republican governor said. "The concentration is not going to be on a $400 million bridge."

Palin directed state transportation officials to find the most "fiscally responsible" alternative for access to the airport. She said the best option would be to upgrade the ferry system.
CNN link 9/22/07

Ted Stevens, the grand-daddy of Alaskan politics, has a wary relationship with the new Republican VP pick -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

When Palin was running for governor in 2006, she ousted long time Alaska fixture Frank Murkowski in a hard fought primary. Stevens and Murkowski are long time friends and Palin was able to defeat the sitting governor by running on ethics and clean government reformist platform.

Stevens ultimately came to endorse Palin, but it was late in the game. He endorsed her less than three weeks before the general election, although he did cut a television advertisement for her.

In July of last year, Palin shocked and angered Stevens by publicly criticizing him for his role in the VECO scandal and called for him to speak out about it.
MSNBC Link 8/29/08

This "heartbeat from the Presidency" talking-point is being repeated ad-nauseum, and it's a creation of the Obama campaign PR folks that even the biased CNNers are parroting.

Well, in the GOPs case, it's the more inexperienced, or "unqualified" person in second-position, as opposed to the Democratic ticket.

Besides, when Biden was picked, everyone was countering the attacks of that choice with, "Oh, but no one votes for the Veep, it's who's at the top of the ticket."

Palin, if indeed she is unqualified -- despite having had executive and business management experience, which neither of the two on the Democratic ticket have -- then she will learn the ropes quickly, as opposed to Obama, to whom she's being compared to but instead sits at the TOP of the Dems ticket.

The McCain camp probably calculated that it'll be more of a comfort to voters on the fence, the Independents and the Reagan Democrats who are reconsidering Obama that it's the 2nd-in-line, and not the Presidential candidate, who'll be learning on the job.

Biden better watch out.:-)

Her views are abhorrent to, y'know, HUMAN BEINGS, but she feels strongly about them,  and I don't believe this is a woman who gets used.

"Sarah Palin, whose husband works for BP (formerly British Petroleum), has repeatedly put special interests first when it comes to the environment. In her scant two years as governor, she has lobbied aggressively to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off of Alaska's coasts, and put special interests above science. Ms. Palin has made it clear through her actions that she is unwilling to do even as much as the Bush administration to address the impacts of global warming. Her most recent effort has been to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, putting Big Oil before sound science. As unbelievable as this may sound, this actually puts her to the right of the Bush administration."

I first heard of her over a year ago. And, while I disagree with her on so many issues, I like her. And that is more than I can say for either of the gentlemen on the Democratic ticket.

McCain doesn't care about my vote (he knows I'm not giving to him) he cares about his base and -- those leaning toward a 3rd party candidate  or undecided enough to be persuadable.  Here's somebody who has outsider status but a frontier life story and she's got energy.  

1. McCain gets to reclaim his maverick status.
   
2. The candidate of change, Obama, picked a conventional, "safe" VP.  The more "traditional" candidate showed he could shake things up.
   
3. McCain's pick will probably not sway many traditional Democrats, but it seems Obama has to be much more careful about the attention he gives to women and women's issues.  Thanks Hillary for making this pick possible which may mean health care moves back up the list.
   
4. A win by either side will now be history making for one group or another.  This takes some oxygen from Obama.
   
5. Palin is insulated from attacks on her experience, but so is Obama.

And those are THEIR sites.

The PUMA sites are revelling in this for many reasons.  Between No Quarter and Riverdaughter, there were easily over a 1000 comments.  And most of them were in support of this decision.

I think people are WAYYYY underestimating the rifts from the Dem primary.  McCain, what ALL politicians do (see Barack and evangelicals for details) PANDER.

Wow!

I can't believe my ears and eyes. The comments I'm reading on "leftie" blogs are just mean. And I'm with BTD and others who see this as really hypocritical.

The "insult to women" comments are OT and remind me once again why I pause about Democrats, also. Comments like this ALSO treat women as a monolithic group.

The problem Jeralyn is that people on the left are setting expectations so low, that all she has to do is stand next to Biden and not cave in (which she won't) and she'll beat him in their debate.

So, let's be realistic here.  She clearly got elected to be a governor, so she's not someone to be taken lightly.

What some think is a liability could become the ace in the hole if people don't catch on.

The biggest thing Obama got out of this is that McCain doesn't have an attack dog VP (unless somehow Palin is going to do that), which can enable he and Biden to go and attack McCain hard.

However, this underscores that he needs to ask the Clintons more than ever to help him get the votes in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and out west in Colorado and Nevada.

   Alaska Business Monthly: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

    Palin: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy. I am very, very proud of the troops we have in Alaska, those fighting overseas for our freedoms, and the families here who are making so many sacrifices.

2. Denies Global Warming exists

3. Wnats to OUTLAW Abortion, including in situations of rape and/or incest.

4. Supported Pat Buchanan in 2000.

5. Agreed with Barack's Energy Policy as of... 24 days ago.

6. Said... 25 days ago.. that she didn't even know what the VP does and that she wasn't interested in the job until someone tells her what the VP actually does.

7. Under investigation by Special Prosecutor in Alaska for possible ethics violations.

8. Entire Alaska budget is only $2.9B, less than most medium sized cities in the USA.  For example, San Diego, CA, has a City Budget of 3.29B

9. She vetoed wind power and clean coal projects, including a 50-megawatt wind farm on Fire Island and a clean coal facility in Healy that had been mired in a dispute between local and state governments.

10. McCain offered her the job after meeting her one.  I'll repeat that... ONCE.

1. McCain gets to reclaim his maverick status.
   
2. The candidate of change, Obama, picked a conventional, "safe" VP.  The more "traditional" candidate showed he could shake things up.
   
3. McCain's pick will probably not sway many traditional Democrats, but it seems Obama has to be much more careful about the attention he gives to women and women's issues.  Thanks Hillary for making this pick possible which may mean health care moves back up the list.
   
4. A win by either side will now be history making for one group or another.  This takes some oxygen from Obama.
   
5. Palin is insulated from attacks on her experience, but so is Obama.

Also: another thought that has come to the mind of this professional woman (me) relates to how angry makes qualified professional women when they see another woman's simply being a woman (token genderism) as grounds for advancement to positions of great responsibility.  Women, like men, must earn their positions.

Among women, just as among men, there are degrees of experience and qualifications for positions.  No one should be picked just for one's gender or sexual orientation or race or ethnicity or religion or whatever.  If one has the experience and qualifications and judgment to do the job, then one is "entitled" to be considered a candidate for it.  Otherwise, one should not be a "candidate" at all.  This woman should have been ruled out for not meeting the qualifications for the office.  That she is a woman has nothing to do with anything at all, just as Barack Obama's or Joe Biden's or Hillary Clinton's race, ethnicity, religion, or other irrelevancies should not be the factors in their candidacy.  What matter is whether or not the person can do the job and improve the country and the condition of its citizens and its image and actual value to the world in the course of doing that job.

Lack of experience can be overcome by perceptions of competence.  Obama lacks "experience."   So did Dan Quayle.    Yet Americans view their competence very differently.  We will soon know what they think of Sarah Palin.

The McCain/Palin ticket is weak, and the choice of Palin only illustrates McCain's lack of judgment (as Obama and Clinton have claimed all along).  If the Republicans are trying to appeal to their base, they need to remember that their base is outnumbered by the base of the Democrats.  What happened to the issues: the economy, the war, health care, self-sufficient green energy, global warming, poverty, overtaxation of the middle class, a woman's right to choose, women's right to equal pay for equal work, gay rights: the Democratic Platform?  A female lifetime right-to-life NRA member who loves to hunt and fish: Please!?

We don't need 4 more years of the last 8 years!

And, uh, your point would be? Of course it's an attempt to "get my vote." What's wrong with that? McCain invited me to support a woman as VP. And, I'm supposed to be insulted by that?  

John Kerry articulated publicly that "Barack Obama is uniquely qualified to be president because he's black." No one seems offended or insulted by that. Should black voters be insulted or offended that the Democratic Party hopes to tap into unregistered black voters in Florida because they expect that they'll support Obama? No?

Yet, women are not allowed to support a woman for VP just because she's a woman, because that is somehow insulting and offensive! We are denied the best candidate for the nominee in the Democratic Party, and then we are denied the right to be outraged by the actions taken to deny her the nomination. We're told we have "nowhere else to go." We're told to stay home in November if we don't like the DNC's actions. Now were even denied the right to be excited about Palin because it's "insulting" that McCain would pick a woman. Ha. Damed if we do; damned if we don't.

Well, as a great feminist said about her support for Hillary Clinton, "I'm not supporting her because she's a woman. I'm supporting her because I'm a woman."

Palin gave a great speech, and I'm impressed by this bold move by McCain. Moreover, the Democrats in Alaska are highly complementary of Palin, and the Republicans she has challenged on ethical violations in the state party in Alaska, not so much. That says a lot about her integrity and her determination to stand up for her convictions--no matter the party. She's clearly an independent minded politician, who knows her own values, and isn't afraid to stand up for them. I like that. So, I think I'll vote for McCain/Palin on Nov. 4.

As one former Democratic party delegate said in an ad for McCain, after she was thrown out of the party for not supporting Obama, said:

"It's alright. Really."