Palin as veep

I have to admit, I really like the choice of Palin – not because she's a woman (although that is a nice bonus poke in the eye of the Democrats, who have started taking us wimmin fer granted), but because I like her history. Palin kicked hindquarters to get herself into office in Alaska, coming from outside her own party to beat the corrupt machine, and, since then, has been serving quite nicely to cut the dirt out of the state. Even the little "abuse of power" scandal somebody brought up some months ago, in which it was claimed her office had her former brother-in-law fired from his job with the state police because he was beating his wife -- if true -- reflects well on her by subtly increasing the trustworthiness of the police force.

The complaints I've seen about her lack of experience are valid, but then, she has more executive experience than the other three candidates, combined, and, as Ed Morrissey points out, she's also been the head of the only state with only foreign countries on its borders, so I'm pretty sure she's well aware of the issue -- and, considering the challenges to fair trade issues over fishing rights, etc., she's probably dealt with that, too.

Another worry, coming from a few, is that "she's a creationist." Uhmmm. She's a Christian. She hasn't tried to foist her beliefs on anybody else; in fact, she's in favor of open discussion, rather than indoctrination -- at least, according to this article in the Anchorage Daily News:

"I don't think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn't have to be part of the curriculum."

Seems to me, that makes her more open-minded than most. It looks as though some agree with me.

Another gripe is that she brings nothing to the table, as she's from a state which has sparse population, few delegates, and not much other influence on the rest of the country. My view is, while Alaska is way the heck up in the boonies, it's what the rest of us lower 48 fancied ourselves to be a century ago -- fiercely independent and filled with pioneer spirit. There's no sit-on-your-rump-and-whine stuff allowed. Corruption eventually gets dealt with, by people, oddly, like Sarah Palin. That appeals to us folks in "flyover country." It's really appealing. Really appealing. It brings us to the table.

From what I've seen, she's a brilliant pick on the part of McCain, and I suspect she can handle the crap with the media are likely to try to paint her.