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I think the Dems have the response about right, and the conservative commentators are sheepishly agreeing.  Begala wins zinger of the day:

Palin, a first-term governor of a state with more reindeer than people, will have to put on a few pounds just to be a lightweight. Her personal story is impressive: former fisherman, mother of five. But that hardly qualifies her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

For a man who is 72 years old and has had four bouts with cancer to have chosen someone so completely unqualified to become president is shockingly irresponsible. Suddenly, McCain's age and health become central issues in the campaign, as does his judgment.



Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Fri Aug 29th, 2008 at 03:29:44 PM EST
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Maybe not so much. The 'lack of experience' really means 'She's a fish-catching moose-eating hick and a Washington outsider' - which she is, but she's also not Romney or Pawlenty. And who can honestly say either of those would have been a better choice, even if they're more nominally 'experienced' Beltway-tawnging sleazeballs?

The 'experienced' line is one of the funniest running jokes of the campaign. McCain's only experience has involved being born rich and then marrying richer, crashing a few planes, being a POW (yay!) and hanging around Washington pretending to represent his state.

He's almost, but not quite, even more experienced than Dubya was.

Clinton's experience mostly involved being married to Bill. She spent some time in the White House and put together a health care plan which bombed, but apart from that, she's been a senator for a while. Does being a senator make you experienced?

Apparently not, because Obama is a senator, but he's not experienced enough either.

Biden is almost experienced enough after 35 years, but he wasn't experienced enough to put together a winning campaign. Therefore - not so experienced after all.  

What does it take to make everyone agree that you're experienced?

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Aug 29th, 2008 at 03:41:52 PM EST
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What does it take to make everyone agree that you're experienced?

An in with the Associated Press, apparently.

I think you're missing the real hits here.  Ragging on Palin for her lack of experience isn't the issue.  It's highly unlikely that Palin decides this election, because veeps can really only move things a little bit in one direction or another.

But what's being talked about among the Very Serious People is McCain's horrible judgment here -- judgment, of course, being the core Obama pitch for himself and against McCain on issues like Iraq.

It also raises the issue of McCain's age, which ties back in on the judgment hit.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Fri Aug 29th, 2008 at 03:56:16 PM EST
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McCain had very little choice.

Romney - too many houses.
Huckabee - mutual hatred.
Jeb Bush - more Bush.
Condi - yet more Bush.
Pawlenty - an unusually 'interesting' business history.

So picking an unknown isn't totally insane, even if political heads are exploding everywhere. Palin will bring in the evangelicals - what's left of them - and probably also swing a state or two.

The choice has also made everyone forget yesterday's triumph of Obama awesomeness.

What's keeping me entertained is how the wingers are being outraged and stunned when the self-styled maverick does something genuinely mavericky.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Aug 29th, 2008 at 04:22:34 PM EST
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Good points.  I think he probably gains with the wingnutosphere but loses with economic conservatives.  Probably a little euphoric gain with women, but it probably fades, and it could actually turn into a backlash, since this is such blatant tokenism.

We'll see.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Fri Aug 29th, 2008 at 04:44:04 PM EST
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I'm curious to know why Palin invoked executive privilege, though.

Also, there's another, different (at least I think it's different) firing story involving one of her longtime friends, then an employee in the governor's office, who was dating the -- let me see if I can type it right -- ex-wife of Todd Palin's friend.

I'll be curious to see if there's any merit to it, although I'm skeptical due to the source.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Fri Aug 29th, 2008 at 05:56:12 PM EST
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Oh, effing thank you!

Just got up from a nap.  Can't swear properly till I get 2 cups of coffee down.

In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.

by THE Twank (yatta blah blah @ blah.com) on Fri Aug 29th, 2008 at 05:24:00 PM EST
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