None of this implies that she will doom his candidacy or is even a horrible pick, but it does suggest her selection was something of a reactionary, late decision.

Really, nothing that’s come out has been anything close to disqualifying, but I do think the cumulative effect clearly has set a negative narrative for her introduction to the electorate. As a result, voters may not take her seriously as a potential commander in chief, which seriously undermines the message McCain was beginning to have success with in recent weeks.

The problem with your attack on people who have actually done some research on Palin gives rise to doubts about your honesty on your political philosophy. The truth is that it takes little effort to discover that the people you criticize as assuming things are the ones who have actually done research about her. For instance:

Q: Your stand on abortion?

A: I’m pro-life. I’ll do all I can to see every baby is created with a future and potential. The legislature should do all it can to protect human life.

This comes from an interview she did with Newsmax. It wasn’t at all hard to find. I don’t assume anything about her stands. I did some research. It was easy. If there is a position held by the far right wing of the Republican party she supports it.

It’s just as hard to find her position on sex ed:

Palin herself said she opposes funding sexual-education programs in Alaska. She has supported abstinence programs in schools.

“The explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support,” she wrote in a 2006 questionnaire distributed among gubernatorial candidates.

Got news for ya. Alaskan public school sex ed is abstinence only. They take funding that by the standards of the Bush administration must be abstinence only. The blogger you linked to is a clueless goof. Any other lies you’d care to spread?

Well, let’s stipulate for sake of argument that your logic holds. There’s a glaring problem with the “if her daughter’s pregnant, abstinence education must have failed” meme. Can you guess what it is? Bristol went to public school. The sex education she got was not abstinence-only.

So, Ben: if the sex ed she got failed her, and the sex ed she got was what you might call the “explicit” kind rather than the “abstinence only” kind, what conclusion are you forced to by your own logic?

QuestionABLE? Yes, which means you can question them. Unanswerable? Nope.

Any knucklehead can “raise questions.” That’s a favorite line of argumentative partisan morons of both red and blue stripes…”this raises many questions blahblahblah.” Fine, there are questions. What are the answers? Do they make sense?

John, I’m not a McCain supporter. I’m undecided, and I usually vote democratic. So far, I like the Palin pick, subject to further scrutiny. She feels like a next-generation politician to me, for whatvere that may be worth. And while I don’t like her pro-life stance, I appreciate that she has won a governorship while opposing entrenched government cronyism and managed to raise 5 kids. I am unbothered that she seems capable of handling a gun in a matter-of-fact way like an equal of men. In fact, good for her.

For her to win my support, she’ll have to show her reluctance to pass laws enforcing a socially conservative mindset on ME and other more freedom-of-choice minded folks. I’m not gay, but the fact that she doesn’t seem interested in oppressing homosexuals seems like a sign that she gets it in a way the boomer generation of socons does not.

Abstinence? I don’t know Palin’s position, and I also don’t know what she in fact told her daughter (which might have been different from her political position, and if so would not bother me one bit).

You know what all the sensible non-partisan liberal-leaning folks ought to do on this count? Stop assuming that conservative family-values folks are so effing stupid that they don’t understand that adolescents are 100% capable of exercising poor judgement despite the best efforts of well-meaning parents. That would be a great start.

Then, let’s let Palin rise or fall on her merits. For all the talk of whether McCain vetted her, shouldn’t we do so too, instead of rushing to judgement on the basis of a few questions raised in a “let’s throw it all and see what sticks” effort.

That’s what I am going to do. The election is 2 months away. Palin has the chance to show me what she’s about based on her conduct while campaigning and what she says about where she wants our country led and how she thinks we can get there. I’m going to pay attention to that. I won’t factor her daughter’s pregnancy into it, nor will I factor in shadowy associations. I have faith in my ability to take a measure of a person from direct observation. That’s my preferred methodology. Folks are welcome to their own mileage, though.

I’m happy to see how she does.

I think the thing is that you and McCain’s people don’t want us to find out who she is. Hence the look into who she is. The talking points out of the Rep’s is Christian, Conservative, Pro-Gun, Anti-Abortion, Woman, Mother, Executive Experience, Spunky, Woman, Smart, Maverick, Anti-Corruption, Woman. Unfortunately, McCain didn’t look much further than that. I’m knowledgeable, capable and cognizant of the issues, I’m not being picked for the VP.

Here’s the thing, folks Sarah Palin is going to sink or swim based on who she really is, what she really stands for, what sort of competence and mettle she demonstrates. Seems to me lots of folks are awfully eager to make a judgement about this choice without actually taking the time to familiarize themselves with the person who is the choice.

She does sound a little but squeaky to me at first glance, but other than that she seems knowledgeable, capable, and cognizant of the issues. Looks to me like liberal folks who want to dismiss her out of hand as no more than an example of calculated gender tokenism are going to be sorely disappointed.

Simon said it for me. I knew who she was, had heard some reports she might be in the running. But my understanding was that they were actively vetting other candidates, with reports that McCain’s people were asking around. I hadn’t heard the same from Alaska.