The Gov Palin pick certainly reflects more upon Sen McCain's judgment than on Gov Palin herself.

First, this selection puts the lie to Sen McCain's egotistical claim that he has always and will always put "country first." Who, in their most honest heart of hearts, thinks that a 72-year-old candidate should select someone who has only limited, at best, experience (and no national or foreign-policy experience) to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency? Is Senator McCain so full of hubris and arrogance that he believes himself to be immortal? While he has said he has "good genes" because his mother is in her nineties (--- but she wasn't subjected to physical torture early in life and cancer later in life), last time I checked his father is dead. (His father actually died at age 70 and his grandfather died at age 61, both of heart failure.) Someone should inform Sen McCain "good genes" come from both parents.

Second, his selection of Gov Palin is an insult to women voters across this nation. Does Sen McCain actually believe that any woman can be the VP nominee and women (whether Hillary supporters or independent/moderate women voters) will, without discrimination and investigation and appropriate evaluation, vote only on the basis of gender? As Sen Obama said in his acceptance speech on Thursday night, perhaps Sen McCain just "doesn't get it."

Third, can and will Gov Palin be any kind of a realistic sounding board for Sen McCain to challenge his ideas about the complex issues facing this country? From observing her speech on Friday, it appears Gov Palin will be only a cheerleader to support anything Sen McCain wants to do. This reminds me of the Bush/Cheney administration --- only "yes men and women" need apply to support any idea advanced, even bad ideas. (This selection reminds me of the Harriet Miers pick by Pres Bush to become a Supreme Court Justice.)

Fourth, what was Sen McCain thinking when he made this selection without a thorough and proper vetting process? Apparently, from all the reports surfacing over the past 72 hours, Sen McCain made this selection without significant (if any) involvement of his closest advisors and after only one in-person meeting of longer than 15 minutes. (From reports, only now has he dispatched a dozen or more lawyers and political operatives to Alaska to investigate who Palin really is.) Is this the kind of decision-making we can expect of Sen McCain should he actually become President --- shooting from the "maverick" hip instead of deciding on a course of action for this country from informed, rational thinking?

Finally, a question for Gov Palin --- what arrogance does she possess that she thinks she would be a better VP candidate for Sen McCain than any number of other Republican women (i.e., Sen Hutchinson of Texas or Sen Snowe of Maine or Gov Rell of Connecticut) or, for that matter, the likes of Romney, Pawlenty, Ridge, etc.?

Posted by: Robert (Who Thinks Women Are More Intelligent Than John McCain May Believe)

rgwilliams,

Am I reading you correctly when I assume you would be much happier with Palin if she had aborted her child born with Down's Syndrome, and had pushed her 17 year old to abort her child? Then she might have been acceptable to Democrats everywhere...

funny, there was nothing about abortion in the lengthy post but FBH pulls that out of the air. Doofus, nobody likes abortion (some just realize you can't let the government make the decision for a woman or her doctor) and you fools who push abstinence only education and want to outlaw birth control are the reason for many prganancies as Gov Palins daughter illustrates. Now the Governor has real experience with the issue instead of pushing an agenda onto young females that was , up to now, purely idealogical..

Hey maxpractical,

Let me aquaint you with reality. If you and I were standing face to face, the last thing you would dare to call me is "doofus." In fact, you would likely take the opposite approach. Disagreeing is on thing, disrespect is quite another.