we’re talking about his selection for vice president, that most useless of jobs. the appendix of politics. the tonsils of the ticket. NObody gives a crap about the VP; nobody votes for a president on the basis of who the VP nominee is. their job is to go to second-tier funerals; nobody cares about their opinions. when they throw the veeps a bone and let them debate, infomercials and test patterns get better ratings.

until now.

with the palin selection, mccain has:
* bumped obama off the map during his own convention
* energized his base: “an actual conservative! and she’s a babe!”
* given hillary puma’s a tangible reason to vote for him
* goaded the MSM into full-blown, instantaneous ‘attack the bitch’ mode, thus undoubtedly infuriating lots of women, which means he’ll get some of their votes, when before, he wouldn’t
* goaded the MSM into openly displaying their hypocrisy towards women: “it’s *wrong* to attack the children of politicians, unless she’s a republican!”
* did i mention energizing his base? i know several folks who were going to sit the election out, but will now vote for “palin/dumbass.”
* aaaand, she’ll be a fundraising goddess.

can this be said of any other recent VP nominee?

Can’t say I really agree with that. She seems pretty run-of-the-mill on issues of taxation/regulation/economic liberty. Her rep as an anti-pork crusader seems to be overblown, if not in fact completely invented. On social issues, well, everyone seems to regard her as a bone to the religious right, so that ought to tell you something. On drug issues, maybe she’s better than the average republican–but do you foresee John McCain getting behind drug policy reform?

Anyway, as I mentioned before, her job is to backstop McCain. She’s not going to be setting policy. Hell, I’d be pretty surprised if she even influenced it to any meaningful degree. So really, you’re still getting John McCain and the GOP. If you think that’s better than Obama, great, but Palin really shouldn’t be the deciding factor.

As for the experience issue–I don’t know how relevant it really is. I mean, how good of a job is Bush doing right now w/ his 7+ years experience actually being the President?

As bobzbob pointed out above, there’s really no evidence that she represents anything resembling libertarian ideology.

“Voting for McCain because of Palin is like buying a ticket to see Hannah Montana because Jimmy Hendrix is on guitar. No matter how great Hendrix is, he’s still having to play crappy Hannah tunes.”

(i personally dont give a shit about the pregnant kid or the pre-marital thing, i just find it ironic when speaking of a party that promotes their superior moral values from a high horse)

I don’t know enough to figure out the politics, but if we pretend for a moment that McCain should be picking someone who could be president, she seems way underqualified. This does not bode well for McCain’s ability to choose his cabinet, national security advisor, etc.

She’s actually been a mayor and governor. McCain was a naval officer how many decades ago, and has not wielded executive power since. By any reasonable standard, Obama and McCain are both completely unqualified to be President if relevant work experience is required to be qualified for the Presidency.

Besides, Obama’s choice of Biden was a clear-cut indication that he would be an authoritarian, establishment President despite his rhetoric to the contrary.

This pick is disastrous for the McCain ticket. She helps with the base but that is all. Every poll and focus group since the announcement has shown her to dud with independents, undecideds and women at these where done before the whos the mommy rumors and yesterdays revelations and the press not even getting into gear about their vetting with Gustuv and the convention.

Why do people keep saying she is a libertarian?

I don’t know that anyone is saying that. I, for one, said that she’s about the best realistic hope a libertarian has for getting his ideology represented on a major party ticket. I don’t think anyone is under the delusion that this woman actually represents a culture of liberty or a “night watchman” state.

every republican I’ve talked to in the past few days about this, and explained to them the serious consequences of this pick made them realize they were getting caught up in the same hooplah of hope that they criticized obama for.

ultimately, the facts indicate that this pick was to win an election, not run a government. Worse, there have been several reports that explain McCain was still wanting to pick Lieberman up until this past week, only bowing to his advisors not to do so. Right, what a maverick he is. The most irresponsible pick since dan quayle.

Probably the best qualification would be a stint as a VP, which has not turned out very well in modern times.

Modern Presidents that were former VPs

Bush Sr
Nixon
LBJ
Truman
(I’m sure i’m missing one, but I can’t think of him)