So, which does, which doesn’t?

Just to add to the theme of how bizarre a pick she in light of McCain’s message until now: it’s just recently come out that Palin hired a Washington lobbyist for her town of 7,000 (almost unheard of for a town that size), and obtained nearly 27 million in pork for her citizens.  That’s pretty startling, and at the very least is pretty much everything that McCain has claimed himself to be uniquely against in politics.

Republicans on the media, meanwhile, are busy talking about how Palin has such a great record on fighting pork, including continued grossly false representations of her role in the Bridge to Nowhere and connections to Ted Stevens.  You think they’re being sincere when they claim that she’s an anti-pork warrior?  

As I see it, there are a ton of very substantive messaging problems that the McCain has stepped in, not all of which they can simply continue to spin their way out of forever.  These include:

Palin supported the "tax oil companies" approach that Republicans have been calling irresponsible
She’s alleged to have abused her power (much like the partisan firing scandal at the Bush admin), lied about it, and has now lawyered up. Will be defending herself legally on this matter during the campaign. 

Was, until recently, part of a party seeking to remove Alaska from the US and abolish property taxes

Has 0 experience with international issues, which some here seem to say doesn’t matter, but most Republicans seem to agree does, which is why they’re making such utterly absurd defenses of her supposed CiC role of the Alaskan national guard (nope: it’s a federalized and the Gov isn’t even regularly consulted), or Alaska’s mere proximity to Russia (despite her never having any substantive relations with Russia during her term).  At the very least, McCain and his surrogates had previously stated in no uncertain terms that not only should Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience put him out of the running, but even prospective Dem VP picks like Tim Kaine didn’t have enough (and Kaine has a much longer resume than Palin).

And now its coming out that McCain’s campaign didn’t really vet Palin at all, scrambling to her at the last minute when his other choices basically got the big shoot-down from party muckety-mucks.  Which makes his campaign look sloppy.

Just watch her over the coming weeks and you will see the lady knock down some of the comments here.  She is a wife and mother of five.  Alaska likes her very much and that is a very good thing.  The lady had a heart wrenching decision to make when she found out about her son in her womb and chose life.  When the little fella arrived she said he was perfect.  I was raped and got pregnant and I too chose life.  I was just fourteen when it happened and just barely fifteen when my son was born.  My family and I chose adoption.

I loved it when the news showed her with the rifles!  Also ask about her security since she has been in office as a Govenor.  Now of course she will have secret service.

Give it time but just watch how many naysayers both men and women come out slinging sick insults.

Go Sarah, Go!!!

Do I agree with her opinions about abortion? Not hardly, because I’m pro-abortion. And note that I didn’t say pro-choice.

But I think the total package of Governor Sarah Palin is something that Americans will line up behind. Sort of like a young american Margaret Thatcher. I see spunk, determination, incorruptability, vision. Plus two years experience as chief executive officer of one of the United States. Which is something none of the other three candidates has any experience doing at all.

I also liked the bit about being a hockey mom. I can’t suppose they play too much soccer in Alaska.

McCain is full of surprises of which I fully approve. I thought I was the only remaining maverick in the USA. And I was surely wrong.

Well done.

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI 

McCain is slowly starting to prove that he’s just another politician with no spine and no conviction. He has gone back on everything he used to stand for. I used to really, really like the guy.

Some of the criticism strikes me as valid, some doesn’t. The Nation isn’t a particularly decent publication–it’s a sort of "WorldNet Daily of the Left." TNR is a lot more trustworthy in my estimation, always has been. In either case, it was inevitahle that she’d be criticized by the left immediately, and by feminists in particular.

By the way, any proof of the idea that she’s against equal pay? I mean, really, that’s hard to swallow.