to take the air out of a fantastic Democratic convention.  Obama rocked Mile High stadium and rocked the Country with that speech and in a mere 12 hours the McCain team managed to completely change the conversation.

She will be a big boost to the Republican convention - a lot more people are going to be watching now.  But if I were in McCain's shoes I'd be worried about her upstaging me.  Keep an eye out for this in the ratings.  Obama got huge numbers, well over the other speakers.  If McCain doesn't pull a massive increase, or even breaks even, there could be some real problems in Red land.

this keeps coming out.

How far down in the organization did they have to go to find this woman?  There have got to be a lot of qualified Republican women who have better credentials than this one, and I would like to know how they feel about being passed over.  I predict this woman will be a disaster, and will be replaced by a white male before the election.  She was selected merely to upstage the Democratic Convention.  Her replacement will be made when they need another headline to upstage Democrats.

From Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson to Sec. State Condi Rice to Connecticut governor Jodi Rell to...well, you get the idea. There were plenty of highly qualified Republican women to choose from, but instead John McCain picked someone who is COMPLETELY unqualified to be president, let alone commander in chief of the U.S armed forces.  Country first?  Looks like McCain just put winning the election first, his country's future last.

see here for Republican women with a gazillion times more experience and qualifications to be president than Sarah Palin.

Thanks, I couldn't find it myself....that really puts his choice in perspective.  Wasilla, AK, indeed.  Who is going to provide child care for her 4 month old Down's syndrome child?  I know that's ugly, but it's also a good question. Her "choice" to have the child is already being lauded by the Right to Lifers, after all.  

Actually, I wouldn't bring up the Down's Syndrome child.  I know several high profile women who have Down's Syndrome children who have provided excellent care for them while pursuing high demand careers, including lots of travel. The decision to have a child with a disability is highly personal.  Let's leave that alone.

However, the list of truly capable GOP women does add weight to the fact that this was a poor choice. I think many Republicans will point out that many, if not most, of the Republican women on that list are pro-choice and would have turned off the hard right Republican base.

The choice of Sarah Palin was aimed at shoring them up even more than it was at getting the woman's vote.  And it is certainly fair game to point out that McSame is pandering to the GOP's long time base.  Despite the visual of a young, attractive woman candidate, nothing about the two of them represent a change of direction from the last eight years of GOP failure on every front.

However, Eric, who made the comment early up (maybe it was the first comment) is right.  The McCain campaign was brilliant in it's strategy of stealing Obama's thunder.  He gave a brilliant speech at a glowingly successful convention and within less than 12 hours, nobody is even talking about it.  All the Republicans can do is play spoiler and rain on everybody's parade.  

But with this pick, they may have won the skirmish but lost the war.  It's why you don't let fighter pilots become military strategists.  They are trained to react without thinking, not to plan out a long term strategy for winning a sustained military campaign.  And it's why no matter how courageous a hero a fighter pilot might be, you don't want him in the White House.

McCain has proven that he reacts but doesn't think long term.  He's being true to his training, which is life saving in a battle, but deadly in a war.

Anyone supporting Obama that focuses on Palin's disabled child is not thinking and has no soul, and mocking McCain for his age is remarkably dumb as well.  Why not just paint elitist on their forehead and reinforce the image of a party out of touch? There are millions of voters that are elderly and millions more who have disabled children, just write them off to be clever?  That's a great tactic and will lead to certain defeat.  

The voters will ultimately determine whether Palin's credentials are lacking and that is fair game. Two big mistakes made by the presidential candidates thus far: Obama couldn't swallow his pride and name Hillary as his VP (if he had, this election would be over) and McCain is listening to the same folks that crucified him when he ran against Bush. Within a month Palin will either be seen as a disaster or a brilliant move, I suspect the latter.  One thing for sure, she will probably outshine Biden in the gaffe department and for that, Obama will owe her.

This race is a barn burner when it should not have been. Bottom line, no one can control what age they are or if a child will have disabilities.  Those issues should be off limits, but accurate, in context quotes, positions and misuse of power are always good issues and they seem to be plentiful.  

Obama couldn't swallow his pride and name Hillary as his VP In my opinion Obama's decision involved more than pride.  I admire Bill Clinton but, in this election, he looked to me like a loose cannon. I think that he could have caused Obama as much harm as good.

McCain's Age As an older American, I feel that McCain's age is a legitimate issue in one regard.  At some point in one's life, a person realizes that he is not immortal and starts planning for those left behind.  McCain's theme is Country First.  It is irresponsible at his age to pick someone with NO foreign policy experience and little legislative experience as his running mate.  What will Palin possibly do if she gets the call at 3AM that she is the new President?  

You really think a standing Senator like Hutchison is going to asked to step down out of the Senate at a time when the Demcorats could force outright control in the election. Thats craziness.
And Rice? Please. You guys love to have it both ways. He picks Rice and you guys hammer home the neo-con talking points and the continuation of Bush foriegn policy. Get real.

McCain selected her to get the vote of the evangelicals whose main purpose in life is to overturn Roe v. Wade.  Her name has been mentioned on the conservative blogs for months so she's not unknown to the far right R's.  I can't wait for the Palin's debate with Biden.  

The WashPost says that 38 million watched Obama's speech at the convention.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

By any measure, that's a very successful speech.

So the talk by the pundits that McCain has successfully "changed the subject" for media doesn't mean much.

right here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

In this poll, Palin was rated qualified by only 39% -- the worst showing by a VP pick since Dan "Potatoe" Quayle.

Biden, by contrast, was rated qualified by 57% of respondents.

noted 26% Independent respondents in the Virginia poll two weeks ago. 26%. A great poll would be to see if the VP selections have moved these folks in any way. At the time McCain got 12% of respondents declaring themselves "Democrat". It will be interesting if that number reduces now or stays the same. It was 47-45 Obama then. 8% were undecided in the poll as well.