I'll update this post as I try to educate myself on Sarah Palin rather than put up a ton of three-sentence posts.

It looks to me like a "hail Mary pass." A desperate ploy to grab the Hillary supporters and the undecideds. It might just work.

I don't know a thing about this woman. I just saw a picture of her for the first time a few minutes ago and I think she looks like Tina Fey, but a bit prettier. But I ain't gonna vote for "pretty." If "pretty" was enough, I'd vote for Obama.

My gut reaction is negative. I have a lot to learn about this woman. I wanted Romney for the VP pick. If this woman isn't every bit as conservative as Romney (and I mean to the RIGHT of McCain on most issues) then I just won't vote this November.

It's that simple. I won't vote. I won't choose between Gimmick A and Gimmick B.

UPDATE: 3:17 PM

Romney's statement:

“Governor Palin's story is one that all Americans will find inspiring. She's a Washington outsider with a commitment to the conservative principles that will make our nation stronger. I look forward to campaigning for Senator McCain, Governor Palin and Republicans all across the country.”

Sounds good. I'm still skeptical.

UPDATE: 3:24 PM

Holy crap. Half the websites I rely on for informed opinion and news won't load. I'd imagine some of these sites are getting slammed with traffic. Sarah Palin's official website as Governor of Alaska won't load. Other sites are loading for me, so I don't think the problem is on this end. Maybe I'll try to load the Daily Kos and see what the moonbats are saying.

UPDATE: 3:35 PM

At a blog called The Volokh Conspiracy I found some quotes from a Hillary forum to indicate that at least some of HC's supporters might get on board with this.

My question is this: Why, as a conservative, should I be excited that Hillary Clinton supporters might want to vote for the GOP ticket? Ya know? I mean, damn.

UPDATE: 3:49 PM

There's a decent profile on Palin at the Wall Street Journal. Apparently, this is the one and only bit of scandal that anyone can dig up on her:

Gov. Palin hasn't been completely free of controversy as governor. A flap blew up after she fired Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11.

He said afterwards that Gov. Palin and her husband had pressured him to remove a state trooper who was a former brother-in-law she and her family had feuded with. Gov. Palin denies that, saying she removed the commissioner she appointed 18 months ago because she wants "a new direction," and offered him a job as liquor board director which he turned down.

The case stemmed from a messy divorce between the trooper, Mike Wooten, and his wife, Molly, who is Gov. Palin's younger sister. In 2005, Gov. Palin alleged the trooper had threatened to harm her father and sister and that he had engaged in numerous instances of official misconduct, including using a Taser on his 10-year-old stepson and shooting a moose without a proper permit, according to state documents. In one instance, she told state investigators, she overheard him on the telephone threatening her sister: "I'm gonna f—shoot your dad. He's gonna get a lead bullet."

Mr. Wooten told investigators he tested a Taser on the boy at his request...

And if a ten year old asked you if he could jump off the roof, would you go for that, too? Idiot.

My reaction to this is a little emotional. Someone in my family used to be married to a real piece of shit cop (sorry, it's the only phrase that fits the guy) and I saw some parallels.

Objectively, I'd imagine this is a non-issue. The scumballs at the Daily Kos are referencing it as a Palin negative. If that's the best mud they can find on her they must feel pretty desperate.

UPDATE: 3:56 PM

Human Events says she's reliably, adamantly opposed to abortion on demand. That's good. I guess, then, that I'll have to vote for McCain/Palin because, if for no other reason, a McCain victory will keep the baby-hater out of the White House.

Palin is apparently also in favor of having creationism taught in the schools. That's bad. I don't know if I'd mentioned it before, but I oppose that idea. Simply put, my experience as a parent has been that most modern teachers are ill equipped to teach history or math, for Pete's sake. You think I want those same airheads influencing my kids with regard to religion? No thank you. I'll choose the religious education available to the kids. Let the teachers cover the basics of evolution (which I believe in) and hopefully they won't screw that up.

UPDATE: 4:02 PM

Here are two enthusiastic, Pro-Palin blogs: Beldar Blog and the bluntly named Draft Sarah Palin For Vice President. I'll see what I can glean from them. I hope they cite their sources.

UPDATE: 4:18 PM

The more I think about it, I think this might be a brilliant choice. The Obama team won't be able to hit her on her lack of experience because their own nominee has practically no experience. Practically speaking, Barack Obama only has half a Senate term's experience more than I do, after all. And professionally, before politics, he was a ... what's the phrase again? Civic Booster? Community Philosopher? Something like that. Academic Navel-Gazer is the best way to say it.

And the Obama campaign won't be able to hit the GOP with the "only picked her because she's a woman" card. Come on, you kiddin' me? After Geraldine Ferraro said what we all know to be true, I'm sure the Obama campaign doesn't want to revisit that flap.

UPDATE: 4:34 PM

Found some video:

I like that she's comfortable using a phrase like "It's cool." That's the kind of phrase real people use. Every time Obama approaches the "parlance of our times" he just sounds affected.

The NY Times is hitting her on the “What is it exactly that the vice president does every day?” quote. Of course they're taking it out of context. Watch the video, it's obvious she was being facetious. The entire quote in context:

"What is it exactly that the VP does every day? I'm used to being very productive and working real hard in administration. We want to be sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position; especially for Alaskans and and for the things that we're trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the US, before I can even start addressing that question."

In context it seems like she was implying that she'd not want to be the vice president unless she felt that holding the office would help advance the causes she believes in. I think she's saying she'd rather remain a productive governor than become a doorstop on the federal level.

In other words, I think what she said was a bit of a jab. Frankly, that clip made me like her a little bit.

UPDATE: 4:52 PM

OK, gotta run. Gotta go pick up my son. I feel, though, that the past couple of hours spent trying to learn about Sarah Palin has been productive. I like her. I'm still not convinced that she's a solid VP choice, but I like her.

Hey, if nothing else, she's much more ornamental than Joe Biden. Look at that picture at the top of this post, man! Looks like it came right out of Maxim magazine ... and in the next shot she'll be peering over her glasses with her top three buttons undone.

Labels: News, Politics