I'm laughing my butt off.....all you guys did was rip on Obama for being the no experience man...then comes Palin and it's just peachy.   I knew she was governor of Alaska, but who ever heard about heard??

The litmus test for either VP candidate is that if they were the Presidential nominee for your party would you vote for them? If Biden was the Nominee Dems would vote for him .

If Palin was in the pool for presidential candidates campaigning, how many primaries would she have won and what kind of reception would she have gotten for the party?

This is so CLEARLY a reactionary pick and attempt to garner some excitement in a very lackluster campaign and voting base. This screams of desperation and shows such lack of judgment on McCain's part that it is really disappointing. I expected more from him.

This are pretty funny statements.  If they were going to pick a VP candidate that the party would vote for President, Barack "Don't say my middle name you racist Obama's" pick would then be Clinton.  Biden only made it thru one caucuses, Iowa.  And he only got 1% of the vote!

Both campaigns are pretty lackluster.  "The One" that is supposely the most exciting thing in politics in decades, can't even get to 50% approval rating.  Neither of them can.  So cut out the slant and admit that both campaigns are in trouble because neither of them are too popular.

Far right social conservatives are excited about this pick. I am not sure about Moderate and progressive republicans. Her stance on global warming is actually turned off quite a few people, as has her lack of experience on the national level turned off many independents and Dems that were leaning toward McCain. The question remains will the voters he gains offset those he loses because of the pick?

And as far Dems holding the lock on Women and minorities in government, actually thinks that it shows how far this country has come when gender and race no longer define political views. Republicans have done a good job having a several minorities and women working with the media in this election.  I see al the time on CNN.

I actually have no problem with McCain choosing a woman. The question I would have is that had Obama chose Clinton as his running mate, would he still have chosen Palin. I believe the answer to that is no, but there is no way to prove it. But if that is case, then it clearly was a reactionary move. Palin was chosen because she was a woman first and everything else second. Regardless of how you feel about the selection that is pandering,  not to say that Dems don't do that as well, it is typical politics.

No I was saying if the nominees were Biden or Palin for president in this election, who would win the election.

I agree about both campaigns. For a lot people the question is do I want to vote for 72 year old man from the incumbent party, or an inexperienced man. Sadly, for some people the question is whether they can bring themselves to vote for a black man. It is an unfortunate truth. I would hope that people would look at the issues first, but I am not sure that will be the case in this election.

I am just as guilty, a major issue for me is McCain’s age. Choosing a social conservative as a running mate pushed further away. For the first time in 22 years of being very cynical of politics and politicians I am actually supporting a candidate and contributed to a campaign, something I never thought I would do.

Yet on the other side of the coin you have Republicans like George Bush that want a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and you have Obama being criticized as not being "black enough".

 Hey I never said it was perfect.

If executive experience was high on McCain's list he could have selected Romney, Jindal, or Pawlenty, or Lindle from HI as a female running mate if that was necessary. Or even gone off the chart and selected someone from the private sector

Ok, so if we took the number of years of experience off the table for EVERYONE then lets just look at what their intentions/goals were for being in public office. Then, how many of those goals they actually met, or how many of their good intentions produced good, tangible results. I think Palin looks good in that light...

A politician's job is to actually serve the people. Not just talk about it. Judge their proven accomplishments not their lofty preacher-like promises.