No, she's there for the long haul.

There is more substance to Ms. Palin than most people realize. She really did take on the old-boys network and won the Alaskan governership without any help from the Republican party. She does not deserve all the credit for this feat. The incumbent Governor, Frank Murkowski, pretty much defeated his own re-election bid through incredible arrogance if not downright malfeasance. Alaska is a small state population-wise, and I know people who not only know Sarah Palin, but consider themselves to be good friends. The image that she instills, among both friends and the general public, in a word is integrity, something rarely found in politicians above the village level.

That said, McCain has pretty much destroyed his own strongest argument against Obama. The claim that Obama lacks experience is disingenuous when McCain proposes a vice-presidential candidate with a whole two years of experience, a candidate more likely to succeed to the Presidency due to McCain's age than any VP candidate in the last 50 years. Actually, more likely than any VP candidate ever. But wait, I do Ms. Palin a disservice. Two years? No, that's discounting her time as mayor of Wasilla -- a town in Alaska so small it didn't even have a police department when she took office. Yeah, that'll have those Hamas hard-liners trembling in their boots.

Overall, though, it was probably a good move for McCain. It gave him a huge publicity boost, and then when the excitement dies down (which it shortly will) people will realize that even though Ms. Palin has few qualifications, they are voting for a President in the coming election, and that who is on the ticket for VP is pretty much irrelevant.

If I had anything to say about how the Obama campaign was run, I would want him to stress (1) that four more years of McBush will absolutely destroy what is left of the country [He'd be lying -- it is already too late, but lies are how people get elected]; and (2) if experience is so important, why did McCain pick the Mayor of Wasilla to be his potential successor? That tells me unequivocally that he is more interested in winning the election by any means than in what might be best for the country.

In the end, I won't be surprised if the Democrats manage to shoot themselves in the foot once again and give away yet another election. Long term (that is, any time frame more than four years) there will be no winners here. Whichever candidate and associates garner the most electoral votes month after next will be ending their political careers. The ship of state has already struck the iceberg, and now the participants are fighting to see who will be Captain of the Titanic.

tanstaafl.