As to any leadership experience she served two terms on the Wasilla City Council, two terms as the mayor of Wasilla, chair of the Alaska Conservation Commission, president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors, chair of the National Governors Association, and co chair and chair of Natural Resources Committee and 11th Governor of Alaska to start with and more. She doesn't have International experience, but please tell me what Obama, running for president with 8 years in IL state senate and nearly the same age as her has in the way of international experience? A trip to Iraq and brief Middle East tour a few months ago?

Is it the job of the Secretary of State to work as main representative of foreign affairs or the VP's?

He's got to be kidding. This is the great Republican answer to disaffected Hillary supporters? Wow. The similarities between Clinton and what's her name are remarkable: they're both carbon based life forms, and they both have girl parts. Whoa!

Earth to Senator McCain: pick someone that a sentient being in the United States has even heard of for your running mate. I'm sure she's real popular in Alaska, but frankly, you know, now that you're party has made a big point out of making Obama's Hawaii sound like an exotic foreign country on par with Berzerkistan, geez, is Alaska REALLY still a part of the US? In comparison, isn't Alaska just as foreign, say a break away Soviet republic?

This is great. A geriatric president that can't even remember how many homes he owns, and a two-year neophyte vice president with less experience in government than Obama.

But she has GIRL PARTS!!!! That's the big thing.

First, you cede any credibility in my eyes when you list the RNC as one of "the most important issues". I have listened to Howard Dean tell me that no Republican has ever held an honest job and Terry McAuliffe tell me to ignore the clips of Biden and Hillary extolling the virtues of McCain and trashing Obama mere months ago as merely "internal Democratic Party politics". If anyone is playing the politics of fear it is the Dems who keep referring to McCain, the most independent member of the Senate, as four more years of Bush. In my opinion, Obama is a new and improved, repackaging of the same old tax the rich, poverty is an illness we can cure, class warfare approach of Democrats since FDR. McCain doesn't have to address issues anywhere near as much as Obama. No one has a clue what Obama stands for or what he believes. His constant reworking of his responses to any McCain position is a clue that he is developing positions based on polls and not on firmly held principles. We all know who McCain is. Like Obama he is trying to win and says things to appeal to his base for political reasons but he also has a record. We know deep down what he believes in and who he is and that he will serve that way. We have no idea what Obama stands for or believes in or how he will serve. Palin with her "meager experience", short time in public service and sudden appearance as if out of nowhere, is equally firm and stead fast in her statements. That is in striking contrast to the Obama campaign's original mean spirited nasty response to her being named followed by a kinder gentler replacement. Again, we know McCain. Obama still is trying to convince us that he is our kind of guy, no matter how many tries it takes to get the polls to show it is working

From a strategic perspective, perhaps she was decent pick (though Kay Baley Hutchinson or even Carla Fiorna could have been wiser decisions). But in terms of the issues that appear or should be the criteria: no way.

Look at this Charlie Rose interview from a year ago. The interview with Arizona Governor Napolitano (who obviously overshadows Palin in terms of experience and knowledge) concerned the rising trend of female governors assuming office across the nation. In the interview, you see that Palin is unprepared, evasive, and is not specific.

After a long build up about the importance of education, Palin does not answer the question of what her state is doing to tackle the issue. Instead she talks about energy. (Her husband is an "oil man.")

On the issue of health care, Palin states that it is a concern, but makes no stance on the issues. Instead, she says that think tanks need to accumulate their knowledge and be part of a task force. Do we really need a task force? We already know what plans are available and the candidates have already offered their own. She is not knowledgeable to even support McCain's plan.

Imagine the debate between Biden and Palin. A deer in the headlights.

haha...Absoulutely...Let's see, we could call it "Who Wants to be a President?" Now the real question is, who would host? Seacrest? Regis? Palin? You just never know! Hey, I bet Sarah would be thrilled if we threw in a talent portion!!!!

True he doesn't bring much excitement but let's remember these people are running for leader of the free world, no American idol. Biden brings a lot of things that Obama lacks (experience, especially in foreign policy for example). The fact that Obama chose someone who would be good for the country, and not necessarily someone who would help them win gives me a lot hope for his decision making.

I think Huckabee would have hurt McCain more then he would have helped. Huckabee appeals to conservative voters more than independents, and John McCain would want to convince people that he could reach across the isle. In a lot of ways, he's an intelegent, experienced, male version of Sarah Palin. He would be better, but then again, who wouldn't have?

Governors are more successful presidents than senators? Really? Are you aware of who is currently president?

As for the Washington thing you might be right that it corrupts people, but what it also does is allow them to think about issues on a national and international scale. Being governor does not prepare you for this kind of responsiblitly.

I agree that maybe her experience "could be enough experience for someone with enough common sense and an awareness of the world around her." but in the few interviews she has done we can clearly see she absolutely DOES NOT have an awareness of the world outside of her state. If we were looking for a someone who could repeat talking points then she would probably be perfect for the job but certainly not VP.

Please enjoy this video that I believe goes right to the heart of Palin's inexperience

This from DebateMan and I agree! "She has no foreign policy experience, very little leadership experience (besides those years on the Alaska PTA), and is relatively unknown in the political arena. This election is shaping up very poorly for the Republicans."

She's perfect for a man like McCain who thinks he has the foreign policy experience & leadership experience needed and she needn't be well known in the political arena since he is so well known! On this side we have an older man and a much younger female. In McCain's eyes he's just played his trump suit since he picked a female running mate. Here come the Hillaryites en masse...touche!

The Republican side gets weaker by the day with decisions and reasoning such as this. With two months to go he may just as well plan his vacation beginning November 5th. Perhaps he can fly to Alaska and do some ice fishing or harpoon some seals while he ponders his loss. I do believe he's just sealed his fate.

Good point! It doesn't take much to top Mrs. Alaska...

At least he was thinking...

I love Joe Biden, but he was a boring choice for VP...

He didn't bring much to the Obama race (candidate race, not color of skin..you have to be careful in this election..lol)

You're pro-gun. So you want people like the Virginia Tech psycho path who killed so many innocents, to have an even easier access to guns? You pro-life. Personally I would want my wife to keep the baby rather then have an abortion, however I refuse to make the choice for a woman, and tell her what to do with her body. It is her choice and I won't impose my personal view onto anyone. As for off shore drilling, while it is a good thing, America has 3 % of the world's oil. We use 25% of the world's oil. We cannot just drill our way through this problem we must look to clean resources. And since when has common sense, been the primary factor in being a vice president?

No, I have no idea what McCain was thinking. She's got no experience, and she's dumb as a brick. She couldn't even think of a fricking supreme court decision she disagreed with! At debates, she talks about the same three subjects, no matter what the moderator's question was. All she can talk about is dealing with big issues on a more 'local' level. All I can say is...You betcha McCain coulda done better, Doggone it!

Listens maybe, learns probably not, makes informed decisions...I'm sorry I just pissed myself from laughing to hard. If you really think Palin has more experience than Biden, then I want to show you something:

Iraq

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (May 2004 - April 2005)

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari (April 2005 - May 2006)

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki (April 2006 - Present)

President Jalal Talabani (June 2005 - Present)

Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani (June 2005 - Present)

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani (March 2006 - Present)

Israel

Prime Minister Golda Meir (March 1969 - June 1974)

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (July 1992 - November 1995)

Prime Minister Shimon Peres (November 1995 - June 1996)

Prime Minister Menachem Begin (June 1977 - October 1983)

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir (October 1986 - July 1992)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (June 1996 - July 1999)

Prime Minister Ehud Barak (June 1996 - July 1999)

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (March 2001 - April 2006)

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (April 2006 - Present)

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (January 2006 - present)

Palestinian Territories

Chairman Yasser Arafat (September 1993 - November 2004)

Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (November 2004 - Present)

Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad (June 2007 - Present)

Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (October 2003 - March 2006)

Jordan

King Hussein (August 1952 - February 1999)

King Abdullah (August 2005-Present)

Egypt

President Hosni Mubarak (October 1981 - Present)

President Anwar Sadat (October1970 - October 1981)

Libya

Prime Minister Col. Muammar Qaddafi (March 1977 - March 1979)

Lebanon

Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri (October 1992 - December 1998)

Prime Minister Najib Mikati (April 2005 - July 2005)

Bahrain

Crown Prince Shaikh Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (March 1999 - Present)

Syria

President Bashar al-Assad (July 2000 - Present)

Turkey

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (March 2003 - Present)

President Ahmet Sezer (May 2000 - August 2007)

Prime Minister/President Abdullah Gul (November 2002 - March 2003, Current President)

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit (January 1999 - May 1999)

Prime Minister Demirel (November 1991 - June 1993)

Greece

President Kostis Stephanopoulos (March 1995 - March 2005)

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis (March 2004 - Present)

Prime Minister Kostantinos Mitsotakis (April 1990 - October 1993)

Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou (October 1981 - July 1989)

(October 1993 - January 1996)

Cyprus

President George Vassiliou (February 1988 - February 1993)

President Glafcos Clerides (February 1993 - February 2003)

Afghanistan

President Hamid Karzai (December 2001 - Present)

Pakistan

President Asif Ali Zardari (September 2008 - Present)

Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani (March 2008 - Present)

President Pervez Musharraf (June 2001 - August 2008)

Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (December 1988 - August 1990, October 1993 - November 1996)

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (November 1990 - July 1993, February 1997 - October 1999)

India

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (May 2004 - Present)

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (May 1996 - June 1996)

(March 1998 - May 2004)

Sri Lanka

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe (May 1993 - August 1994)

(December 2001 - April 2004)

Russia

President Vladimir Putin (May 2000 - May 2008; current Prime Minister)

President Boris Yeltsin (July 1991 - December 1999)

Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev (March 1990 - December 1991)

Soviet Union President Andrei Gromyko (July 1985 - October 1988)

Premier of the Soviet Union Alexey Kosygin (October 1964 - October 1980)

Premier of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev (May 1960 - July 1964)

France

President Jacques Chirac (May 1995 - May 2007)

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (May 2005 - May 2007)

President Francois Mitterrand (May 1981 - May 1995)

U.K.

Queen Elizabeth (February 1952 - Present)

Prime Minister Tony Blair (May 1997 - June 2007)

Prime Minister John Major (November 1990 - May 1997)

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (May 1979 - November 1990)

Ireland

Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (June 1997 - Present)

Prime Minister John Bruton (December 1994 - June 1997)

Prime Minister Albert Reynolds (February 1992 - December 1994)

Prime Minister Charles Haughey (December 1979 - June 1981)

(March 1982 - December 1982)

(March 1987 - February 1992)

Germany

Chancellor Angela Merkel (November 2005 - Present)

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (October 1998 - November 2005)

Chancellor Helmut Kohl (October 1982 - October 1998)

Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (May 1974 - October 1982)

Italy

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (June 2001 - May 2006)

(May 2008 - Present)

Prime Minister Romano Prodi (May 2006 - May 2008)

Prime Minister Cossiga (July 1989 - April 1992)

Serbia

President of Serbia Boris Tadic (July 2004 - Present)

Prime Minister of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica (March 2004 - Present)

Prime Minister of Serbia Zoran Djindjic (January 2001 - March 2003)

President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic (May 1989 - July 1997)

Yugoslavia

Premier of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito (January 1953 - May 1980)

Croatia

President of Croatia Franjo Tudjman (May 1990 - December 1999)

Slovenia

Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Drnovsek (December 2002 - Present)

President of Kosovo Ibrahim Rugova (March 2002 - January 2006)

President of Slovenia Milan Kucan (October 1991 - December 2002)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

President of Bosnia Haris Silajdzic (November 2006 - Present)

President of Bosnia Sulejman Tihić (October 2002 - November 2006)

President of Bosnia Alija Izetbegovic (March 1992 - October 2000)

Kosovo (as an independent nation)

President Fatmir Sejdiu (January 2008 - Present)

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci (January 2008 - Present)

Poland

President Lech Walesa (December 1990 - December 1995)

Prime Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz (October 1993 - March 1995)

Czech Republic

President Vaclav Havel (February 1993 - February 2003)

Hungary

Prime Minister Gyula Horn (July 1994 - July 1998)

President Arpad Goncz (August 1990 - August 2000)

Prime Minister Viktor Orban (July 1998 - May 2002)

Finland

Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen (April 1995 - April 2003)

Romania

President Ion Iliescu (December 1989 - November 1996)

Georgia

President Mikheil Saakashvili (January 2004 - Present)

President Eduard Shevardnadze (October 1995 - November 2003)

Kazakhstan

President Nursultan Nazarbayev (December 1991 - Present)

Ukraine

President Viktor Yushchenko (January 2005 - Present)

Canada

Prime Minister Paul Martin (December 2003 - February 2006)

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (September 1984 - June 1993)

NATO

Secretary General Lord George Robertson (October 1999 - January 2004)

Secretary General Javier Solana (December 1995 - October 1999)

Secretary General Manfred Woerner (July 1988 - August 1994)

Secretary General Lord Peter Carrington (June 1984 - July 1988)

China

President Jiang Zemin (March 1993 - March 2003)

Premier Zhu Rongji (March 1998 - March 2003)

Hong Kong

Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa (July 1997 - March 2005)

Taiwan

President Chen Shui-Bian (May 2000 - Present)

Korea

President Kim Dae Jung (February 1998 - February 2003)

Singapore

Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (June 1959 - November 1990)

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong (November 1990 - August 2004)

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (August 2004 - Present)

Indonesia

President Megawati Sukarnoputri (July 2001 - October 2004)

President Bambang Yudhoyono (October 2004 - Present)

Australia

Prime Minister John Howard (March 1996 - December 2007)

Prime Minister Paul Keating (December 1991 - March 1996)

Philippines

President Gloria Arroyo (January 2001 - Present)

President Fidel Ramos (June 1992 - June 1998)

Vietnam

Prime Minister Phan Van Kai (September 1997 - June 2006)

East Timor

President Ramos Horta (May 2007 - Present)

Tibet

The Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso (1950 - Present)

Colombia

President Alvaro Uribe (August 2002 - Present)

President Andres Pastrana (August 1998 - August 2002)

President Cesar Gaviria (August 1990 - August 1994)

Mexico

President Vincente Fox (December 2000 - December 2006)

President Ernesto Zedillo (December 1994 - November 2000)

Bolivia

President Jaime Paz Zamora (August 1989 - August 1993)

South Africa

President Thabo Mbeki (June 1999 - September 2008)

President Nelson Mandela (April 1994 - June 1999)

Liberia

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (January 2006 - Present)

Lesotho

Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan (July 1965 - January 1986)

United Nations

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (January 2007 - Present)

Secretary General Kofi Annan (January 1997 - January 2007)

Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali (January 1992 - January 1997)

Vatican City

Pope John Paul II (October 1978 - April 2005)

Slovakia

President Rudolf Schuster (June 1999 - June 2004)

Turkmenistan

President Saparmurat Niyazov (October 1990 - December 2006)

In case you didn't figure it out, this is a list of the foreign leaders that Senator Biden has met with, but hey, I can see how you think that doesn't prepare him to become VP, I mean who needs to meet with foreign leaders anyway?

As for your claim about "executive" experience being better than experience in the Senate: that's rediculous. In the Senate you are forced to deal with matters of national importance; you must already be aware of the issues facing the U.S. As governor? Nope, just your state.

And if you want an example of someone who had plenty of "executive experience" before becoming president, look no further than our current president. But hey he wasn't so bad, right?

She's a book-banning, creationism-in-schools-wanting, moose-hunting, anti-choice troglodyte.

In a perfect world I agree with you but the old truism is that you have to win to govern. Isn't it interesting to wonder how many politicians made a deal with the devil just to get elected, with all the best intentions, only to get sucked into the sewer once they win? Maybe I shouldn't have watched "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" last night? lol For what it is worth, I think she was picked partly for her appeal to women who make up a lot of the independents but also to secure his party's conservative base. He needed to throw them a bone just to make it OK for them to vote for him. He allowed them to "save face" IMO.

Just wondering . . . Do you also hope that blacks won't vote for Obama just because he is black?

Maybe it's the grain alcohol,

But maybe you're really fucking witty.

This post made me laugh my ass off. Please, marry me.

Some things about Palin excite me, while others disgust me, and like most things, the latter overwhelms the former. Social conservatism and scientific illiteracy are effectively euphemisms for fascism and ignorance. These would be less frightening if McCain wasn't so old, putting Palin a heart beat, or a lack-there-of away, from the presidents seat. In short, her economic and personal qualities are poisoned by her sincere religiosity.

But this question doesn't care about my opinion of her. It's about if she was a good choice for the campaign. I say no, for the reasons of the polemical opportunities that the Obama campaign will undoubtedly cease; and the polemical and actual opportunities McCain has undoubtedly lost, namely "experience" and dejected Clinton fan-girls.

The choice of Sarah (let me check her name again) Palin is about as reactive as McCain could have gone. While his pick seems to have generated enthusiasm among the ultra-conservative evangelical "base" whose stranglehold on the Republican Party is apparently still around, it certainly won't move disenfranchised Hillary voters (if many still exist). Apart from gender, there isn't much that Palin and Clinton have in common (unless we learn that her hubby has a penchant for cigars, wink, wink). If anything, it will help push Hillary supporters closer to Obama/Biden because of her lack of experience and far right social stands. And it's doubtful undecided independent voters, who tend to be more moderate on social issues than Republicans and more conservative on economic policies than Democrats, will be attracted to this move to the right. With that said, McCain had to take a big gamble to try to counter the mounting enthusiasm for the Obama/Biden ticket...he had to react with a more exciting choice than Romney. Perhaps Palin will be impressive on the national scene (the expectation bar will be low for her in the VP debate) but with this roll of the dice , the odds of his running mate helping McCain toward victory seem slim to none.

I agree, I really can not believe that he chose Palin as his running mate. It really seems like McCain sold out here to get a few extra female votes, and was more concerned with picking a good candidate than someone who would actually make a good Vice President. She has no foreign policy experience, very little leadership experience (besides those years on the Alaska PTA), and is relatively unknown in the political arena. This election is shaping up very poorly for the Republicans.

McCain has been speaking of Obama's lack of experience all along, and here he brings us someone whose experience mostly consists of less than 2 years as governor of Alaska, a state of less than a million people. If McCain thinks Obama is not experienced enough for the presidential office, I don't see how Palin would fit as a vice-president.

This looks like a desperate attempt to grab some Hillary supporters and I think they'll mostly see through it. Their positions on important issues are, after all, totally different. Her pro-life, anti-gay marriage, pro-creationist record contrasts with Hillary's, for instance...

Most worrying is the fact that John McCain is 72 years old: The possibility of him passing away while in office and leaving the presidency, the economy and the foreign policy to this woman few people knew before today will certainly scare a few voters.

well, I think that the whole "Sarah Palin" thing is just a big idea to try and get more women to vote for McCain and as you can see, she doesn't know the first thing on the laws and such.

She may be a woman but she is a woman lacking ethics.

"pick someone that a sentient being in the United States has even heard of for your running mate."

There it is in black and pixels - if you're not already a celebrity, you have no business in politics. He should have picked Britney.

Personally I think Mrs. Palin is a great choice, she's dim enough to be a creationist and young enough to help McCain press the 'launch all nukes now' button (on the presidential desk next to the planet earth pin cushion).