“One is a well turned-out, good-looking, and let’s be honest, pretty sexy piece of eye-candy.

“The other kills her own food.”

You’ve done a good job presenting your thoughts. I found this post helpful.

Thanks for accomodating my off-blog request.

-bm

Eric, I also respect your position, which you put respectfully. Nothing you said was a slam, or snarky, and I’m glad for that, we’ll let the party hacks and the pundits play that game. Your problem is an ideological one for the most part, and that’s fine. In terms of the experience thing, I agree with what Jeri said…and put yet another way, what first term President ever has experience being President? What succeeding Vice-President does? No one. Not one of the 4 main candidates, Obama, Biden, McCain or Palin, have a stitch of experience as President. Only one of them has experience as an executive branch leader. That would be the one in question here.

But if McCain is elected, she will be, as the cliche goes, a heartbeat from the Presidency. And it’s reasonable to think a 72 year-old man who has had recent brushes with cancer and is entering one of the most stressful jobs on the planet might not make it through his Presidency.

Which means I have to look at her not as a nice human being, but as someone who might be leading my country. And I don’t merely disagree with her: I vehemently think she’s wrong about the environment and reproductive issues. If she were a co-worker, I’m sure we could argue and laugh about it later over a beer. As someone who could be nominating Supreme Court Justices, vetoing health bills and education bills with controversial-but-necessary provisions concerning birth control, and who would be the Secretary Of The Interior’s boss, I find her a little terrifying.

It’s not a criticism to say someone shouldn’t be President Of The United States. It’s not a slam to say someone shouldn’t be Vice President. And I’ll freely confess that the odds were always against Senator McCain choosing a running mate who would share my values. Regardless, I’m not excited by the Senator’s choice and I’m not okay with it. I respect and value what you’ve said here and what Jim Wright has said, and I’ll admit that my first take on Governor Palin was full of snark that was not wholly informed or deserved. But she doesn’t need to be within 30′ of the Oval Office unless she’s attending a Governor’s Meeting with the President.

First, they share a passion for political reform, for a maverick approach to financial and ethical straight dealing. Do they get it perfect every time? No – no one does. But it’s a huge commonality and I don’t see how McCain could have selected a running mate that didn’t make that a top priority.

Second, and more subtly, Palin makes up for a major failing in McCain’s arsenal. I don’t know if McCain is self-aware enough to understand this, but his strategists surely are. McCain attracts only lukewarm support from his party because he’s just not a charismatic leader, not a warm and appealing personality type. Palin, on the other hand, is charming. She’s honest, direct and disarming, and may help make up for his deficit in that area.

The experience thing? Well, sometimes experienced leaders get thrown into a job like this one and fail miserably – and sometimes inexperienced leaders jump in over their heads and succeed beyond their wildest dreams. I don’t think there’s any preparation for the job of vice president (or president) of one of the largest nations in the world – you sink or swim.

As a note – I lean further left than Bryan. My politics are a little left of center – I often describe them as small-l libertarian. I disagree with Sarah Palin on many major points of her platform – but it still doesn’t stop me from being very, very excited for her as a professional woman, a working mother, and a breath of fresh air for our nation’s political climate.