Entries associated with the tag "Sarah Palin":

Just when I thought the Reader had the feast-related slaughter video market to ourselves for the moment, we get our thunder stolen by... well, of course. She's got a nose for making news.

Weirdly, I have a long history with this sort of thing. My mom did a memorable post-college stint in a food science lab, one of the many reasons she eventually became an English prof. In middle school, I watched my English teacher, who owned a large farm, kill a chicken for us to eat; my "alternative" school's one sex ed class, which consisted of one session, was inspired by one of us sixth graders finding a tool on her farm used to castrate bulls.

In my college days, after helping cut freshly slaughtered cows lengthwise (not easy), I would drive the stomachs from the killing floor in a backhoe to a "dead animal dump," which is about as foul a thing as you can imagine.

So I'm not especially shocked or amused--hell, in aerial wolf-hunting country, this is probably just playing to the base. On the other hand, I can't be the only person having Fargo flashbacks.

The McCain team is finally doing something good for America: they're throwing Sarah Palin under the bus, throwing the bus under a tank, and building a pyramid over the tank. Bonus: too late to win, too late to not embarrass Tribune Company Star Columnist Jonah Goldberg.

But I think the thing about Africa sounds like they're pulling Fox News's leg (another bonus).

I think.

At this point, I would just start making up the craziest stuff I could think of, like "thinks Pakistan is a kind of pasta" and "blew off Larry King to grenade-hunt polar bears" and seeing who bit. We will believe anything you tell us about her. Just give us two anonymous sources.

Sarah Palin, the gift that keeps on giving:

"In Reno, Nevada, Sarah Palin just told the crowd about John McCain, 'Send him on his last mission!'"

The McCain campaign, still terrified of the right-wing lunatic fringe.

Mark Kleiman, following up, makes an interesting point: "I think the fact that Bill Ayers, due in large part to his connections with the Chicago economic elite (his father ran the local electric utility), was allowed back into what passes for decent society there reflects badly on the morals of elite Chicagoans."

Generally speaking, I think it's good for the health of society when former offenders are encouraged to be functioning, law-abiding members of society, so I'm hesitant to agree. It's unfortunate that such a conversion is much easier for Ayers (not to mention his wife, an NU prof and former chi-chi law firm employee), thanks to his economic and educational advantages over the majority of former criminals, but that's a slightly different issue. Also tenuously related to the subject: I tend to attribute the focus on Ayers not to any media ideological bias but to the story's simplicity and sexiness, but you'd think that the fact that the would-be head of McCain's transition team is tied to lobbying efforts on behalf of Saddam Hussein, in the wake of the first Gulf War, would be no less so.

The Trib scored an interview with Sarah (and briefly Todd) Palin. As a teaser, here are a couple questions:

"Q: You have amazing campaign crowds and yet still people are saying 'is she weighing down John McCain.' How do you feel when you hear that or when you see pollsters asking that question."

"Q: You're giving this policy speech tomorrow, but has this journey been worth it to you when you're getting nitpicked on wardrobe and polls"

The transcript is here, and the story's here (if you've never written a news story from an interview, compare to see how babies are made).

Update: I wonder if the RNC will give her unused makeup to charity. PRIORITIES: YOU'RE DOIN IT WRONG. The McCain campaign's the last outfit that should be spending more on makeup than political strategy. Although her makeup artist is doing a better job than McCain's advisers, so maybe it makes sense.

Update II: Ta-Neishi Coates:

"Then yesterday I saw Palin has the highest negative rating for a VP candidate in recorded history. And yet, fools are still talking that 'Palin for president in 2012.' You know me. Totally obsessed with race, so let's say it. A brother in that position not only would not be considered for 2012, he would be impeached when he returned to governorship for embarrassing the state, and then have his ghetto card revoked for embarrassing the local Negrocracy. This country would never allow a black person to be in Sarah Palin's position, and for that I have only two words for white folks everywhere--Thank you."

I have to admit I'm a little confused as to how a candidate can be "nitpicked" by polls.

And Daniel Larison:

"Not to push the Huckabee vs. Palin argument too much in one week, but can Henninger be serious when he says he would rather have Palin as President instead of Huckabee during an international crisis?  Let me put that another way, since I doubt anyone can seriously believe that: does Henninger really want to go on record espousing such a ridiculous view?"

Couldn't agree more with him, because I never understood why Huckabee never took off with the Republicans. He's calm, likable, quick on his feet, more articulate about his faith than any other candidate including Obama, and clearly appealing to and even part of the evangelical base without coming across as a sop to the lunatic fringe. His compassion, while it may take different forms than mine, seems genuine. He's got some dirt underneath his nails (an Arkansas governor? you don't say), but nothing I recall that seemed more squirrley than most pols, except the Wayne Dumont thing, which is so weird I can't wrap my head around.

The worst possible interpretation of the Palin pick is that the McCain campaign is old and thinks with its collective dick. I didn't think that--initially she seemed plausible, for someone who didn't know anything about her, not that I knew much more than the campaign--but then I read the NYT's interesting if not particularly shocking piece on why the McCain campaign is full of fail (not mentioned: the campaign is leaking like a sieve to the liberal media during the stretch run instead of campaigning):

"What he liked was how she stuck to her pet issues — energy independence and ethics reform — and thereby refused to let Rose manage the interview. This was the case throughout all of the Palin footage. Consistency. Confidence. And . . . well, look at her. A friend had said to Davis: 'The way you pick a vice president is, you get a frame of Time magazine, and you put the pictures of the people in that frame. You look at who fits that frame best — that’s your V. P.'"

What is this cover of Time you speak of? Doesn't Wonkette blog there?

This was probably a good idea circa 1950, before television... and Saturday Night Live... and the 24-hour news cycle... and YouTube... and all the other things that have made the cover of Time a non-factor. Anyway, since this blog has been a repository for confused speculation on McChaos, I thought I'd pass it along. I think it might factor in, but the ultimate lesson, I'm starting to think, is that the campaign lives in fear of its own base and it's pathetically obvious.

I predict today's outrage will be:

"The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

"According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74."

As usual, elitist coastal bloggers don't get it (nor do RNC donors, apparently). Matt Yglesias (emphasis mine):

"No more making fun of John McCain’s expensive shoes for me — $520 for a pair really does look down-home and working class compared to his everywoman running mate"

I know there's strategic and ideological interest at work, not to mention some karma, but: you have to be kidding me. You know what people of limited or modest means, and no exposure to or interest in elite ideas of taste, do when they get paid? They buy shit. Lots of shit. (And clearly the Palin family can't just go to the RNC and say "gimme $150K to invest"; there's a really specific spigot with a likely expiration date.) Look up nouveau riche or Parvenu. Go to Graceland. Watch MTV Cribs. Look at household debt.

One of my teachers growing up, one of the first people I knew from old money--old Southern money--told me a great truth once, though I don't remember the occasion. New money is shiny; old money is worn. New money is about buying things; old money is about inheriting things. New money will put the best-looking rug on the floor and replace it when it gets dirty or styles change; old money will have a worn Persian rug (click to expand thumbnail; I took the photo at a next-level-elite southern country club, with a section designed by Jefferson) because old money isn't about being rich, it's about being rich for generations.

In other words, class resentment is not the resentment you are looking for here. Jealousy, perhaps. The Palin family's RNC-funded* spending spree might violate good judgment, but not class. It makes sense, even if it's not sensible, so to speak.

* Also, she's a GWB-era Republican from an oil state. Getting while the getting is good is clearly the point of the current Republican Party and the national political establishment generally for years now; the circuit has been closed. This is peanuts; try not to act so surprised.

Sarah Palin's going to be on SNL tonight so that we can all laugh at her! She's so funny. If she says "sock it to me?" I think Rick Perlstein's head is going to explode.

So sue me, I think everything my college roommate writes is funny.

David Brooks, New York Times, 9/16:

The feminists declare that [Sarah Palin is] not a real woman because she doesn’t hew to their rigid categories. People who’ve never been in a Wal-Mart think she is parochial because she has never summered in Tuscany.

David Brooks, New York Times, 10/03:

David Brooks, The Atlantic redesign launch party, 10/06:

[Sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party.

This is what happens when your salt-of-the-Wal-Mart fetish collides with your terror of life outside of an oligarchy.

The McCain campaign's decision to revisit Bill Ayers and Rev. Wright (since, you know, that worked out so well before) is wholly unsurprising given his personnel and his place in the polls, but I can't help but think it only emphasizes his rash choice of an obscure and unvetted VP candidate. Crazy pastor? Check. America-haters? Check.

I was hoping the selection of Sarah Palin would lead to a valuable, earnest national discussion on the subject "White People: Crazy?" but the ironies seem to be lost.

Sure, why not? She's the scariest thing you can think of--and also it's easy. 

But wait: from our neighbors to the north comes the report that U.S. costume suppliers have been caught unprepared. 

Really? People think they need to pay money to achieve this look? No wonder our economy's tanking. 

On a related note, the diffuculty maskmakers seem to have had in capturing Obama's likeness is rather interesting.

I thought that because Sarah Palin managed to avoid collapsing in on herselfand drawing the McCain campaign into a black hole of incompetence--though it's worth noting that her handlers increased her handicap--it hardly represented a draw with Joe Biden, but I guess I was wrong. "The Winner? It's Debatable":

She succeeded Thursday in one crucial respect: re-establishing herself as a charismatic, composed performer. The evening had offered a needed opportunity to reverse a growing perception among voters that she lacks the intellectual firepower and experience to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

More:

And being considerably smarter and more articulate than many caricatures suggest, Palin spoke her declarative sentences, declarative sentences delivered without necessary regard to any question, with passion, striking speed, and an upbeat folksy charm.

And thank goodness for that:

In and out of the campaigns, America is obsessed with clear, focused, personal communication. It is surely a consequence of our cluttered and bewildering media and economic environment. We've never been in deeper need of an emotional narrative, and both sides are desperately trying to deliver one.

Heartwarming. I know that when the House and Senate were busy passing a $700 billion Wall Street bailout that even professional economists can't agree is necessary what I was really in want of was an emotional narrative. Maybe she can contract herself out to the DOD, since they have plenty of money to throw at emotional narratives.

And since I'm in an ill temper about this, let's see what David Brooks has to say:

There she was, resplendent in black, striding out like a power-walker, and greeting Joe Biden like an assertive salesman, first-naming him right off the bat.

Sorry, bad idea.

Anyway, it's swell that so many professional journalists thought Gov. Palin did great on the basis of not swallowing her own tongue, because I think the McCain campaign could use the encouragement.

For me I thought Palin's one real achievement was when she and Biden remained on the stage, families in tow, to talk for a surprising amount of time; it was a human moment made even more so by the behavior of her icily unpleasant running mate.

To celebrate Banned Books Week, the McCormick Freedom Museum is holding a Banned Books ReadOut next Saturday, September 27, from noon to 4 PM in Pioneer Court, next to the Trib Tower. "Acclaimed authors and local celebrities" will read from their favorite banned books, and authors whose books have been banned or threatened will sign autographs. The PR promises Judy Blume, Lois Lowry, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Achy Obejas, Luis Alberto Urrea, Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell, "and more." It's free; call 312-222-7871 for info.

I know this isn't local, but it's too awesome not to share.

According to Carney, Palin's office makeover included flocked, red wallpaper. "It looked like a bordello."

*Mostly it's an excuse to link to one of my favorite blog posts of all time.

Also, the fact that 4chan may play an important role in the 2008 campaign is definitely going to get us all Raptured or something. If you don't know what 4chan is... well, phew.

Heeding a commenter's advice (to Whet, technically), I took a look at what Camille Paglia had to say about Sarah Palin. And was reminded immediately why you can never take anything Camille Paglia says seriously.

One reason I live in the leafy suburbs of Philadelphia and have never moved to New York or Washington is that, as a cultural analyst, I want to remain in touch with the mainstream of American life. I frequent fast-food restaurants, shop at the mall, and periodically visit Wal-Mart (its bird-seed section is nonpareil).

Do I actually need to explain to anyone here why this almost made me pee in my pants?

Seriously, though, even when she's talking about someone besides herself, she's full of horseshit--like the idea that if you're a feminist you have to admire Palin and her "indomitable spirit" somehow even if you don't agree with any of her ideas. No. No you don't. That's what feminism's about--the right to be judged on your wingnut views and not how you represent your gender.

Hate Palin? Want to preach to a bigger choir? This is making the rounds (h/t Miss Mia):

Even as a prestigious-university-educated, alt-weekly-web-editing, indie-concert-going, Intelligentsia-sipping snooty urban elitist, when I see Eric Zorn write "she said 'EYE-rack,' 'EYE-ran' and 'IM-ported oil,' which grated on my ear," it gets my dander up. I don't know if I say IM-ported, but I do say IN-surance and UM-brella and "awl" for "oil" when I'm not being careful because that's how everyone around me pronounced those words for the first 18 years of my life.

And when I'm being careful, I feel traitorious. Jason Isbell explains it better than me in "Outfit." 

In other news, I'm waiting on someone to hire Jay Smooth and/or Ben to write for a major metropolitan daily.

Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland (he lost his race for Senate) got the crowd chanting DRILL BABY DRILL. That was AWESOME. To steal a neologism from Stephen Colbert, it was crasstastic! I would kill for a McCain t-shirt with that slogan. Both parties need to be more like Threadless.

Mitt Romney: words cannot express how much I'll miss him after November. He's camp for political junkies, this incredibly earnest, pretty, expensive figure who looks perfect on paper and at first glance, but who observation quickly reveals to be just busted. He's like the Legends of the Fall of politicians. "Tyrannosaurus appetite of government unions." See how it's just slightly off, like a chair with a leg that's just a bit too short? That's Mitt Romney. He has everything except talent.

I can't actually say anything bad about Mike Huckabee other than that I disagree with virtually all his actual political stances. He's the only good speaker in the Republican party--he sounds exactly like John Edwards, actually, but the difference between Edwards and Huckabee is the difference between good and great. His only competition right now in political oratory is Obama. He's also the only politician who sounds thoughtful about Christianity, especially off the cuff, as one would hope from someone with an M.Div.

Wow, who thought it was a good idea to bring up eloping? Paraphrasing: "They face the challenges that parents throughout America face": her daughter's pregnancy is a qualification. Well played!

I've been trying to figure out what the deal is with the pictures behind the podium is, and I finally figured it out: it's a screensaver!

Rudy using "community organizer" as a punchline was slick. "Community organizer" is going to be the new "San Francisco values." Mitt Romney must look at Rudy with angry, unbridled envy. 

DRILL BABY DRILL! We are inside Terry Southern's head right now. Mitt Romney is wondering why they aren't chanting about tyrannosaurs.

"He immersed himself in Chicago machine politics." Hey, that's us! Sorry, kind of zoned out there.

"Who won? Bin Laden? Al Qaeda?" Isn't that kind of an awkward question? You know, given things?

Rudy is blasting "them" for saying that Sarah Palin running for VP makes her a bad mother. (He really loves being snide--he feels the same way about being a douchebag as I feel about baby animals.) Followed by a cutaway to Bristol Palin. They're cutting away to Bristol Palin every 30 seconds, so I guess the gates have been opened. I think I'm going to be ill.

Hey, it's the woman of the hour. Damn, she's pretty good. I think the accent alone might be worth half a point. Mitt Romney must be grinding his teeth into powder.

The stiff upper lip about Wasilla... she's good. Even if you don't like her, you should be aware of this. Thus far it's really a star-making performance. I wouldn't mention the Bridge to Nowhere, though. I mean, it's not simply a lie... there are T-shirts. You have to finesse that shit.

The thinly veiled torture lust just makes my blood run cold. Coming from someone seemingly normal--someone who hasn't clearly gone 'round the bend like Giuliani or Romney--just makes it all the more terrifying.

ptb: "sarah palin is kind of dressed like hermann goering. DOWNTOWN PRINT IT"

Hang on... now they're doing some kind of halftime show/performance art/country concert... now John Rich is singing a country-rock song... "he got shot down in some Vietnam town... put him in the Hanoi Hilton, thought they could break him in two...." John Rich sings of arms and a man! It's like "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" with creepy overtones about habeas corpus. I'm developing irony cancer.

Sarah Palin's a star; she made herself with that speech, just as Obama did back in 2004. The structure was brilliant, moving from hockey mom to barnburning conservative; it was polished in the cultural details, like the phrase "a servant's heart"; and her glaring weaknesses were returned as culture-war ammunition. She has a presence that's a mass-charismatic version of normal, perhaps closer to Bill Clinton than George W. Bush--composed, unforced, folksy, and radiant, yet with a killer instinct. I'm not surprised the National Review is in a glee meltdown and talking of flipping the ticket.

Will this change the shape of the immediate election? My friend Ben seems to think the speech was too small: "perfectly pitched to a party interested in nothing more than nurturing its own resentments."  Perhaps, but she's better at it than any other prominent Republican since Bush was still trying.

Either way, she's gone from albatross to future star with one speech, which, as a politics, writing, and oratory junkie, I can't help but be impressed with. If you don't understand why some of us wade through the John Warner and Mitt Romney speeches, that's why.

George W. Bush looked hale, like he usually does when he's not working. His comparison of the angry left to the VC was invigorating; indeed they won't break John McCain's spirit, because they're all being thrown in jail. (Anyway, Tucker Eskew beat them to it.) Stephen Colbert had the best line (paraphrasing): "A Republican National Convention without George W. Bush would have been like a USC reunion without O.J. Simpson."

Fred Thompson, the worst Law & Order DA, ate his Wheaties; accusing Barack Obama of wanting to kill newborns was some advanced double-secret dog-whistle politics. If he'd been this spunky back in the spring, he would have... well, he would have lost anyway, but with more dignity. To quote Chris Rock, "I haven't seen white people this angry since they canceled M*A*S*H."

The main course was leftovers: Joe Lieberman, who delivered the keythroatclearing as the sound of one hand not clapping. He was the bright spot for the Republicans, proof that despite their rough week they dodged a bullet when John McCain was forced to leer at pick Sarah Palin. Say what you will but she probably won't talk over applause to explain her own obvious joke. Twice. There is such a thing as bad press, but it's better than Joe Lieberman. Take it from someone who cast his first presidential vote for Al Gore.

MSNBC brought on Harold Ford, Jr., who gave the Republicans an A and a B+ but I didn't catch for what. He's clearly angling to be the next Joe Lieberman, which tells you all you need to know about his political instincts.

I was doing my fantasy football draft for most of the evening, so I didn't catch much on policy specifics except for multiple descriptions of John McCain's torture a much stronger stance against abortion than usual, which is either a sign they really, really mean it this time or they're extra-worried about the evangelicals turning out.

John Kass is right to criticize a DKos diarist playing up Palin pregnancy rumors (though he ignores that the site was at war over whether to discuss the rumors--for the one diarist's irresponsibility, there was plenty of reasoned and quite angry dissent). But does the fact that the rumors in question weren't true make it worse than the Trib starring the different but true story of the same Palin daughter being pregnant on today's home page?

Based on the argument that Kass makes, which emphasizes her youth, right to privacy, and the irrelevance of her free will to her mother's political career over the truth of the rumors, I'd say the obvious answer is no. Which makes me wonder if he'll go after his employer and all the other media outlets that are playing the story up over all the other rich, relevant Palin dirt that's been spreading from the unvetted candidate.

For the record, there seem to be two generally proffered reasons to discuss the Palin pregnancy. First, the candidate supports abstinence-only education, so this is some small bit of proof that abstinence-only sex ed doesn't work. I think it's proof that I need to get "correlation is not causation" (read it, it's a hell of a post) tattooed to my forehead (indicative of something? bzzt). Second, and more broadly, it's about policy. But it was about policy before, too, and reading crystal balls about other people's families ("Anyone who watched coverage of the Bush twins' barroom exploits knew that the avert-your-eyes stance toward candidates' children has its limits"--what the fuck, Washington Post) is not just poor form, it distracts from the meat of policy discussion with emotional pornography.

Kinda thinking that Sarah Palin and the Gustav unconvention are going to put McCain ahead in the polls.  Permanently? I have no idea. But for awhile at least, yes. There are indicators that the former is helping, and it's worth remembering how weird the VP slot is--Cheney aside, unless McCain dies she'd be perfect.

And as far as the VP being a "corrective" to the ticket--Biden's experience, Palin's social conservatism, etc.--the angle that's not being explored is that Palin sends a message that JOHN MCCAIN IS GOING TO LIVE FOREVER.

In re Gustav (and don't forget Hanna), Dr. Jeff Masters at Weather Underground (the best weather site) and millwix at DKos are invaluable.

Since the immediate CW on Sarah Palin seems to be WTF (inexcusable!), I thought I'd take a look. I know it's not local, but the hairs went up on the back of my neck when I saw the first wave of reaction.

First, start with James Wolcott's rundown of the other main candidates. They sucked. Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge were the most Serious choices, and they were apparently ixnayed by management (can't remember where I read that, but I'll update when I find it) for being too moderate. Don't know what happened to Eric Cantor.

That leaves as your "strongest" candidates Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty. Romney was a one-term governor of Massachusetts. Pawlenty is partway into his second term. Neither has any political experience outside of state or local politics, unless you count being CEO of the Winter Olympics. Neither is/was overwhelmingly popular as governor, although they held their own. Neither is particularly charismatic. I guess you could include Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, but the former isn't a politician at all and the latter isn't a politician and was a disaster at HP.

I'll be honest and say that I don't know that much about Palin as governor, so I'll have to outsource immediate opinion to erstwhile Alaskan Dave Noon at the generally left-wing blog Lawyers, Guns, and Money, who vouches for her personal appeal (and it appears she has a gift for political theater), competence, and lack of corruption (heretofore the only famous thing about Alaskan politics, especially their Republicans), and casts a skeptical eye on the nascent Troopergate scandal.

His biggest criticism of her is that she's a radical social conservative (but not so radical that she'll give the middle finger to her state supreme court; more) and ready to drill the fuck out of Alaska for oil, but that's clearly part of her appeal to the McCain campaign. Her choice to carry a child with Downs syndrome to term will carry her a long way with the Christian right, and as far as following one's conscience it's admirable.

So, think about it. Lieberman and Ridge are out. Romney has just a couple more years of political experience than Palin, and his foreign policy experience amounts to running for the Republican nomination. Oh, and he's unlikable. Pawlenty is in his second term as governor--a job that Palin might actually be better at--and doesn't seem to have any experience of any kind outside of Minneapolis. Plus there was that bridge collapse.

The NYT's roundup/bio is even more convincing. Is it a good idea? I have no idea. Do I understand the logic? Yes. Will Biden own her in the VP debate? Maybe, but I'm the only person in America who watches that.

Do I think the fact that she's an attractive woman with a nontraditional pedigree and work history from a state no one thinks about has something to do with the fact that Steve Chapman and others are bugging out? Um, yeah, kind of. For the record, the women at Slate's XX factor are highly impressed, including the incomparable Dahlia Lithwick, whose word carries more weight with me than virtually any other political commentator writing today. Am I going to get sick of the acronym VPILF? Yeah, real fucking fast.

YMMV--I'm not the most informed person to be listening to about Palin and am playing catch-up like most of America. Chill, was I think my point.

Update: Shorter Eric Zorn: Alaska's awful tiny. Oh, okay then. Please let us know how big a state you have to be governor of in order to be Vice President.

Update II: Wonkette, both the posts and the comments, is the abyss. Really, really ugly.

Update III: Joan Walsh makes a good point--she's also there to balance out McCain's nonphallus-related weaknesses, which is to say almost everything except foreign policy, not to mention his wealth and presumed detachment from the interests of working-class etc., which the Democrats are hitting pretty hard.

Update IV: She's got as much experience as Tim Kaine; her rep in AK government and media is very poor (really good discussion here)

Update V: In the comments, Albert Williams (implicitly) asks--why not Kay Bailey Hutchinson? According to Ezra Klein, because she's pro-choice, which also nixed Ridge, Lieberman, and Jodi Rell.

I'm coming around to the idea that this is a fuck-up, for a number of reasons: he doesn't know her and vice versa, which makes him look incompetent and hasty, and like he doesn't have the balls or autonomy to take a different sort of risk with Lieberman, by accounts his first choice; it'll piss off Pawlenty and Romney, who got took; even if she's cleared in the firing scandal, there's this; and there's the whole bridge to nowhere thing.

I'm still willing to buy the idea that she's an ok governor who's getting called up to the Show too early--I'm not saying she's confidence-inspiring as a veep pick, just not sure how big the actual difference is between her, Kaine, Romney, Jindal, Pawlenty, etc. But it seems like the actual disaster is the process.