Oh, and she’s a whole lot closer to Russia than Barack Obama ever has been.

Given his history, policy, and associates, Obama might as well be a resident of the former Soviet Union.

John McCain commanded the largest squadron in the Navy and Sarah Polin is the governor of our oil-richest state. Between them, Obama and Biden have never run so much as a lemonade stand, and now want to run the most powerful nation on Earth. Only on MSNBC are they qualified to do that.

Freudian slip by the Great One? I hadn’t realized that McCain had already won the election. I guess he’s conceding.

Actually it’s a brilliant pick and will likely attract even more Hillary Democrats.

I’ve got to give McCain credit, even though it won’t change my vote.

Question for you, Erick: Where does Pallin stand on illegal immigration? Is she pro-enforcement or pro-amnesty?

Hopefully (after McCain wins) she will provide a rational counter-balance to his pro-amnesty position.

Barack Obama said the stupidest thing he could possibly say.

When people measure up her experience and it comes out to be equivalent or greater than his, what exactly will his retort be?

I have professional contact with folks from “Inside the Beltway”, mostly on the appointed/civil service front. This contact leads me to a different point of view.

I like the fact that Palin is not a Washington insider, and probably has spent almost no time inside the beltway. It’s a virtue in my view of a politician to not be corrupted by being told you’re special and your fecal matter has no odor.

Governor Palin is someone who is not one of the annotated insiders, that’s a good thing.

I’ve got to give McCain credit. Palin is a good choice for a host of reasons, not the least being that she will attract more Hillary Democrats.

Sharp move, McCain camp. It won’t change my vote, but I’m still impressed.

Question for you, Erick - What is Palin’s position on illegal immigration?

Hopefully (after McCain wins) she will be a voice of pro-enforcement to counter McCain’s pro-amnesty stand.

I was convinced that Democrats would not bring up her alleged lack of experience for fear of hypocrisy. Of course, Liberalism is built on hypocrisy and I am wrong again.

So somehow having an inexperienced VP a heartbeat from the presidency is WORSE than having an even more inexperienced PRESIDENT no heartbeats from the presidency? I don’t get it.

Oh, and Sarah Palin is the Commander in Chief of Alaska, the only state that borders an enemy nation - Russia. What state does Obama’s state border? Say it with me, “Stripes” fans: Wisconsin. (”Hey I got my a$$ kicked in Wisconsin!”)

Obama, you’re about to get it kicked again. By a girl.

Chris Matthews no longer has a tingly feeling up his leg; he now has a warm stream dripping out.

Through all of the muddle the Dems are spewing, one thing’s clear. Their real reaction is this “OH CRAP!!!”

From CNN:

[CNN]

*Update: Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the 4th ranking House Democrat, said in a statement the choice of Palin “shows political panic.”

“Is this really who the Republican Party wants to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency? Given Sarah Palin’s lack of experience on every front and on nearly every issue, this Vice Presidential pick doesn’t show judgment: it shows political panic,” he said.*

– Are you kidding me!?!?! Barry has no experience, Biden is known to not even balancing his own check book, and 18 Million votes FOR experience and judgement in the Dem party was marginalized for “the one.”

Give me a break.

against him! Take Palin’s accomplishment in an ad and then compare them to Big Brobama’s:

Mayor of a town of 9,000 vs. Street Organizer for Unrepentant Terrorist

Governor of Alaska, largest state in the union with a great record in stopping corruption vs. Senator from Illinois with no legislation to his name and all kinds of absenteeism

Office for Republican AgitProp: get busy!

Oh, it’s a metaphor. Now I get it.

He picked a guy who has been in Washington longer than John McCain.

Yeah, but if you subtract time spent on the train to Delaware it’s pretty even.

Oh, and I know people from Pennsylvania that didn’t even know Biden was from there. What’s that angle all about?

I can’t wait to see “Sarah the Barracuda v. Mr. Mendacious”

…while Barry was voting “present” and polishing his Britney-ness. But what’s really making Barry sweat today is that Palin gave a remarkable “uh-free” speech . . . sans teleprompter.

Now THAT is a creative way to spin things. And clearly the fact that its total population if it were a city would rank out of the top 250…that doesn’t come into play? Makes you sound like a cheesy spin doctor when you refer to her as governor of the largest state…

I’ve caught my breath (although the smile remains plastered on my face), I’m thinking what we need to do is relax. The choice has been made, and many of us are happy with it.

Let’s let the Dims have a couple days to agitate, vent and fume.

On camera. On tape. On the record.

Then, we will take all this material and lob it back at them, compared and contrasted with a butt-load of real facts and figures (unlike “KnownFacts”).

Let’s give them time to insert their feet and their tingly legs all the way down their throats.

We hates them, Precious.

Alaska is large if you are talking square miles, but not so big if you’re talking people, or voters.

The comments here in this thread are really ironic. Most RedStaters have beat the crap out of Obama for having so little relevant experience; and conservatives usually put a lot of stock in the idea of being tested and ready. McCain made a very intriguing pick with Palin, but she certainly doesn’t meet the normal minimum Republican requirements for VP nominee. Don’t measure her against Obama or Biden; we should be aiming a lot higher than that.

National experience? None. International experience? None.
Military experience? None.
Experience in Federal government? None.

I can’t figure this pick out. There are better Governors, Senators, Reps, Generals, and business experts available. Even if McCain only wanted a token woman there are several woman better prepared for this job.

Former Mayor???!!!

Should McCain have thusly responded to Obama’s nomination…“Today, the democratic party put a former community organizer with zero foreign policy experience in nomination for the presidency.”???

Obama’s hyperbolic, non-stop condescension to women will be his downfall. Can we apply this site’s creedo to him: “be respectful, or be banned?” I wish.

I applaud McCain’s respectful recognition of the historic significance of Obama’s nomination and his bold choice of Governor Palin as a running mate.

Executive Experience

Palin = 2 years
Obama = 0 years
Biden = 0 years

Why pick someone who is already under an active ethics investigation? Sometimes I think McCain doesn’t want to win in November!

The Palin selection is finally forcing the AP to start talking about Obama’s experience, as evidenced by this article title . I’d chalk it up as a PR win for the Republicans.

Oh, and Tina Fey — Lorne Michaels is on line one.

A media hit piece I mean impartial analysis of Palin as VP. The media is a total joke these days.

On a side note my last comment didn’t post. I tried to do the strike through tags… Erik?

Largest state? You mean geographically? What in the heck does that have to do with anything? I feel there is NO WAY Hillary supporters will support this woman, with so little experience, and who has been an outspoken creationist and is vehemently anti-abortion. Even if they didn’t agree with her views on social issues, she doesn’t have ANY of the experience and GRAVITAS that would make up for the things she lacks. Why didn’t he pick someone like Carly Fiorino if he didn’t want someone who was viewed as a political insider? At least she ran a major corporation. This woman brings NOTHING to the table, and the Hillaryites won’t support her just because of her gender. Kay Bailey Hutchison must be FURIOUS.

Well, yes. In acreage. It is 47th in population, with more people than only North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. You cannot seriously contend that having been Governor of Alaska for about 18 months, a state in which the government need make very few choices because oil royalties make taxing largely irrelevant and with most of its acreage owned by the federal government and/or Native Americans, qualifies her to be VP.

Look. She seems like a fine person. Her speech seemed authentic, she deserves admiration for making the choice to deliver a Down’s child, and she has shown willingness to fight corruption, but she has no business on a national ticket.

This is a ticket conservatives can support. . . .

Executive Experience. She Is a governor, she Was a mayor. She IS a commander in Chief already.
Let’s keep in mind that Alaska is the only state with its own and completely separate military: The Alaskan Territorial Army. Not National Guard (they have that, too), Territorial Army. She has the ability to decide to unilaterally invade or bomb someone already. I think we can trust her with our US Military.

Energy: She’s our most vocal and best spokesperson on drilling. She is aware of what drilling does and will do to the environment and how to mitigate the effects while still drilling.

Global Warming/Climate Change/whatever:
Alaska’s government has had to fight environmentalists for everything they have ever done, everything they do every year, and everything they Want to do. To make it in Alaska’s politics, you either have to know how to handle those crazies or join them. She’s not on their side.

Abortion: Already been said. Hardcore Pro-Life. Good for the base.

Foreign Affairs:
No “foreign policy experience”? You’re kidding, right?
She fights with Canada, China, Russia and Japan over fishing. She fights with Canada and Russia over drilling. She fights with everyone over mining. She fights with Canada, China and Japan over freight traffic.
I think she has more foreign policy bona fides than anyone else on either ticket.

Economy:
As Achance has spelled out in several posts, Alaska’s economy depends on the state government doing the right thing. Too much action and they foul it up. Too little and they foul it up. It is a relatively small, though powerful, and highly dynamic economy. You learn REAL quick when you’ve messed up or done something right.
Tourism, oil drilling, mining, and fishing are the major sectors of Alaska’s economy. They respond very quickly to whatever the government does. If she can balance those, she can balance our economy.

Taxes:
Alaska has no income tax and has a profitable budget (even without federal dollars). I think she’ll be in favour of cutting taxes.

And finally, by choosing her, McCain has reminded Alaska that the Lower 48 remember that Alaska IS a part of the Union. Something Alaskans have been wondering about for awhile.

Note the implication of that quote:

“John McCain put [Sarah Palin] a heartbeat away from the presidency. [sic]”

Technically, no. McCain put her in position to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency if he is elected POTUS. She’s a heartbeat away from not much at the moment. But if Obama wants to concede the election and declare McCain the winner I’ll not stand in his way.

– the “[sic]” is for not capitalizing Presidency, which is always capitalized when referring to the President of the United States. –

….Erick. The Obama camp has to be in complete panic mode right now. What do they do? They can’t criticize her on experience for it would further expose The One’s complete lack thereof. You can’t criticize her for being female (that should be obvious anyway…) but they further piss off the PUMAs if anything remotely sexist comes out of their mouth. And with Palin being a mother of 5…can you just imagine the convention next week? It will completely neutralize last Monday night’s Michelle-O-family-rama.

Oh…and she’s a c-o-n-s-e-r-v-a-t-i-v-e.

Absolutely brilliant pick by McCain.

…the bottom of the Republican ticket has more experience than the top of the Democrat ticket.

Yes, this will play well. Hopefully the Democrats will continue along the inexperience line of attack.

Palin rocks as the VP candidate! In a more generic way to look at it, her likeabilities are off the charts.

This pick is just about equal in greatness to how horribly bad the Democrat pick was.

I’m now fully onboard with the McCain nomination.

Why argue about Alaska and it’s size, when it’s population is fine fodder for the argument. Compare these two from 2006 population numbers:

Alaska - 670,053
Delaware - 853,476

Palin a governor over a state, Biden a Senator over HALF a state. You want to talk about length of experience? Fine. But the “low-population state” argument doesn’t hold water.

Let them talk about her lack of experience, because you can make a decent case for her having more than Obama, not too mention much more in the way of accomplishments.

Don’t you remember? He spent, like, a day and a half in Iraq? Has Mrs. Palin done that? I didn’t THINK so.

Now somebody help wash the Kos off me.

I think she pulls in other voters. Her effect on the Mountain states and the Upper Midwest is being overshadowed. I think she’ll do great - not because she’s a woman - but because she is one of them.

She hunts, she fishes, she’s a hockey fan, she understands land rights and property rights. She’s a suburban mom. She has that outsiders accent. She is so much closer to that demographic than Obama or Biden - both of whom are essentially eastern and urban.

Obama was already beginning to shrink his playing field. I think send Palin to places like Montana and the Dakotas seals the deal for McCain and she should help in places where she can use her small town hockey and fishing fan image in places like Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin.

I think she’s a great choice.

I’m looking forward to Mrs. Smith going after waste and corruption in Washington the way she has in the Alaskan Energy biz and state government.