Back in February

I liked Sarah Palin before I saw her pictures, thank you very much. The link explains why I was saying "four kids" in the spring. I also liked Bobby Jindal.

I had read about this young governor who had knocked out the corrupt politicians in her own party and squashed the Bridge to Nowhere and thought she looked good to run in 2012 or 2016. Then I heard about the moose hunting and the four kids and said - ah, VP candidate, not president. But even then I thought next time around would have
been better. What experience she has is very good - she has negotiated with
Canada, Russia, and Japan on behalf of her state - but it's still too new.

Then I heard the Down's baby story and saw her pictures and said "Bonus! Sign
her up NOW! It's about time we got us some of that identity politics action." I think McCain is hoping for it all. Reformer; as far from Washington as you can get; Tough Broad; Real Babe - hoping to pick up some votes from each of those categories. The risk is that she is less experienced than anyone who ran in either party - except Obama (ironic), and that it looks cynical because she's a woman. Yet Jindal would have looked cynical because he's Indian-American. And Romney would have looked cynical because he finished second. And Huckabee would have looked cynical because of the Religious Right.

Because the Democrats, and to a lesser extent the traditional media, don't believe that any of the Republicans were actually qualified, they see every possible VP nomination as cynical. It tells you a lot about them, actually. They think having been in Washington doing nothing, and then going out on the campaign trail where they can ask him questions is an actual set of qualifications for Obama. In their incredible blindness, they believe answering questions for the media is most of what a president does. People who actually do something, away from their cameras, puzzle them.