Sarah Palin - what you ought to know

I was totally surprised by McCain's VP pick over the weekend. I've been thinking about over the weekend, talking to friends, and gathering information. I will devote exactly one post to Sarah Palin, partly because I've already spent too much time worrying about it, and partly because I think that's all this political stunt of McCain deserves.

I think it's fairly obvious that had Sarah Palin been born with a Y chromosome, she would not be on McCain's ticket. I think McCain did it to 1) steal some of Obama's historical thunder last week, 2) try to appeal to disgruntled Hillary supporters, 3) shore up the evangelical base, 4) dominate the weekend news cycle and take attention away from Obama's fantastic and historic speech, 5) try to co-opt Obama's "change" theme and 5) shore up his "maverick" image.

I think it will be offensive to many women who see right through it. I think that many will be turned off by McCain's choice as soon as they learn about her. To that end, I have compiled a list of thing you ought to know about Sarah Palin.

1. She's OK with creationism being taught in science classes.

2. She thinks that the founding fathers wrote the Pledge of Alleigance (they didn't, and "under God wasn't added until 1951).

3. She is against abortion even in cases of rape and incest. She opposes it under any condition. I think this puts her squarely out mainstream opinion on abortion, and into the extreme camp.

4. She does not believe that global warming is due to human activity.

5. Less than two years ago, she was mayor of a town with less than 10,000 residents, and she has served as the governor of Alaska ever since.

6. She had no idea what the VP does and showed very little interest in it.

7. She has no foreign policy experience or even foreign policy opinion.

8. She's suing the federal government over the classification of the polar bear as an endangered species.

9. She came off as immature and unprofessional during a recent radio interview.

10. Finally, she's in the middle of an ethics probe by the Alaskan legislature.

Yet, there are some dangers. Obama and Biden need to be careful to go after McCain for this reckless and arrogant choice, by which he's essentially saying that he doesn't need a qualified and prepared VP to run with and to have as a "back-up" in case of illness or death should he be elected. They need to stick to Palin's policy views and experience. Don't make it personal. Biden will need to focus on McCain and not Palin when they debate.

Here's a really good reaction from an Alaskan blogger with some knowledge of Palin and how Alaskans are reacting.