Here she is, a woman raised far from the Eastern enclaves of sauve verbiage and prestigism. She raises five kids and manages to maintain what looks like a healthy relationship. AND, on top of that she manages to become governor of a state and achieve a high approval rating.

EVERYTHING I have ever seen on this site suggests that you and your colleagues would be fawning all over Palin, ignoring her lack of knowledge and sophistication on issues, ignoring her lack of experience, etc.

The double standard is staggering.

Palin was called to this task at the last minute. She's been running a state and raising five kids, hardly leaving time to study up on the nuances of cocktail party jargon. Obama, also sorely lacking in experience, has had 19 months to bone up on these issues in his spare time and achieve a breezy verbal familarity with the jargon. He has done an excellent job. This is what passes for knowlege and sophistication in this realm.

If we ever hope to encourage quality people to participate in politics, we have to become more inclusive and stop the politics of personal destruction. According to your standards, Biden thinks TV was invented in 1929, and doesn't know who was president then. But he gets a pass.

Another thought experiment: imagine that Palin were a white male with a prestigious degree (like Obama) or many years experience in national politics (like Biden). It seems to me her inarticulate and incomplete statements would be judged a lot less harshly. Note how the mainstream media--correctly, in my view-- is not hooting at Biden for sounding confused about what's in Article I of the Constitution or when FDR took office as President. And Obama's sometime failures to string together a coherent paragraph when he speaks extemporaneously are-- again I think rightly-- not shown over and over again.

You are right. The media is biased and have double-standard. Look at the way they mocked Hillary Clinton. CNN, MSNBC, NBC, etc. are nothing more than Obama mouthpieces. Obama is Messiah and can do no wrong. They always have a good explanation for anything Obama says or does. The media is also doing a good job of keeping Michelle Obama out of sight lest people are turned off by her elitism. In 2000 the same media promoted Bush and Laura Bush.

Another thought experiment: What if we lived in a world where people didn't manufacture imaginary scenarios, use those scenarios to put words into other people's mouths, and then get outraged at what those other people "say?"

I am black and I can't imagine Palin as anything but white. How dare you compare her to OBAMA.

If anything as a white person she should have had better educational opportunities than Barack. He has been in this race for 19 months, but he has been intelligent, humble and socially conscious it appears since graduating from his IVY League school. He has maintained an upstanding relationship with his family and if this were not true we do know that the Republicans would have brought it out by now.

I can't imagine Sarah black, because if she was black first of all she wouldn't have been selected by the Republican party. If she had been black and her daughter was found to be pregnant she would have been castrated and the conversation would still be going on and she would have been dropped from the ticket.

A black woman would never use the term hockey mom or that other red neck talk . She would have enough class and intellignece not to wink in a debate. The only position I see Palin good at is PTSA president for her children's school.

I know, Biden is such an idiot. We all know that Philo Farnsworth invented modern TV in 1928.

Is she were black, chinese, Inuit, etc., with exactly the same experience, accomplishments, etc., she still wouldn't be a qualified candidate for the vice presidency.

If she were black the real question on everyone's mind would probably be "What makes Palin a better qualified VP candidate than Condoleeza Rice?"

Hey common-sense

Guess what? you can't castrate a woman. I thought that was common sense?

Actually you can castrate a woman. it's been in the news a lot for the past decade or so.

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Which says a lot about your common sense, I guess.

If Sarah Palin was black we would NOT be talking about a hockey mom turned reformer who took on the old boy's network, even though she had thrown fundraisers for "Uncle Ted". We would be wondering how an irresponsible mother as able to become governor of the weirdest state in the country. If Palin was black we would be talking a lot more about her pregnant teenage daughter, rather than dismissing it as a personal challenge, we would be calling it a reflection of the irresponsibility of black people. If Palin was black, conservatives would be using her as an example of why affirmative action should be banned, 5 colleges in 6 years. Yet, we still question Obama's expertise of political issues despite teaching Constitutional Law at one of the best law schools in the country. People would be laughing at a "black Palin" for saying she was prepared for the presidency after being a mayor of a town that has less people than my zip code and a state with about half the population of Philadelphia. While Barrack Obama's affiliation with Rev. Wright goes under the national spotlight, Palin's affiliation with Alaskan independence is overlooked or her affiliation with witch doctors. If Sarah Palin was black, she would not be able to get away with the things that she is a able to get away with.

Only a white woman can give such a BS speech at the convention. She provided no ideas, plans, or analysis. All she did was bash Obama on the flimsiist of grounds, and provide a lot of meaningless cliches. And yet every media pundit calls her speech affective in getting the vote. Yet, Obama gives an incredibly articulate speech that outlines his vision for the county, people are still scratching their butts wondering if he has any substance.

She is no less qualified for VP than BO is for the presidency.

What an unimaginative response - full of personal attack and bias, yes, bias, with no substance to back it up. Obviously your support of Obama is an emotional one, which nobody could sway you from anyway, so why even respond?

Let's actually consider their qualifications, ideology aside:

Obama served as an Illinois state legislator from 1997 to 2004 and a US senator from 2005 to the present. Has held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works, Veterans' Affairs, through December 2006. Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; served as Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs. Has been a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee. Graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and has taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago law school 12 years (the last 8 as a senior lecturer).

Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council, as Mayor of Wasilla City for 6 years. Served as President of the Alaska Conference of Mayors, served as the appointed Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004 (before resigning, citing the inability to fulfill her function). Became governor of Alaska in 2006. After attending five colleges in six years she finally earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho.

I'd say Obama is clearly more qualified to be president than Palin is to assume the office of President in teh event of McCain becoming incapacitated.

Tripe -- and nothing but. It's not a gender thing. It's not a race thing. It is the necessary ability to engage in thoughtful policy debate (and not just during the weeks leading up to the election having memorized stats and talking points) because it's the right thing to do for our country -- whether that has to do with international or domestic markets, national security, nuclear proliferation, healthcare, etc.

Palin's seemingly well-meaning nature and "plucked from the masses" backstory not withstanding, what I am (along with others who actually listen to her) terrified of is her lack of critical thinking skills. Where is the analysis? Where is the reflective thought or depth? The problem is that there is no "there" there.

"She's been running a state and raising five kids, hardly leaving time to study up on the nuances of cocktail party jargon.'

Cocktail party jargon? If it's too much for her to learn to master the English language, then maybe she doesn't have the time to be the Vice President of the United States of America. And let's be honest folks, this woman was in television journalism! Either she was bad at it, or she is faking ignorance to pander to the public.

Not only do I find it insulting that you imply only East Coasters can speak intelligently and eloquently - I think there are a lot of people in the middle of the country and on the West Coast who might find it a downright ignorant assumption - but it's ridiculous to think someone who will be traveling all over the world, representing our country shouldn't be informed, well-read, and well-spoken (regardless of what region they come from). Bill Clinton was one of the most eloquent speakers of our time...and he did it with the biggest redneck accent I've ever heard.

And whether or not Joe Biden has the presidents memorized or made a stupid comment about the invention of television is hardly apropos. We're talking about a Vice Presidential debate regarding foreign and domestic policy. It shouldn't be too much to ask that the candidate, plain spoken or not, actually have a basic understand of what he or she is talking about. It's absurd. And as a woman, I hope to be held to the same level of expectations regarding my intelligence and capabilities as any man.