Awesome... Hope she doesn't talk Bristol into aborting. That could gain McCain some of the Hillary vote!

As a woman, I really can't believe the appallingly bad taste expressed in your post. You really have to learn to tone down the hatred, Roxanne. Thankfully, I found the following excerpt from Chrystia Freeland at ft.com a lot more astute:

During the Democratic primaries, Gloria Steinem, pioneering feminist and Hillary Clinton supporter, argued that the contest had revealed that gender was “probably the most restricting force in American life”. She illustrated her point by imagining a female version of Barack Obama and contending that no woman with such a slender biography would be considered seriously for the presidency.

It is now clear that Ms Steinem was right – although proof comes not from the treatment of the Democratic lioness Mrs Clinton but from the responses, particularly on the left, to the Republican newcomer Sarah Palin. Less than 24 hours after the triumphant close of a convention that nominated a 47-year-old first-term senator as its party’s candidate to be president of the United States, Democratic heavyweights were sputtering with horror at the idea of a 44-year-old, first-term governor as Republican vice-presidential nominee.

As the Democrats absorb Senator McCain’s truly maverick decision, I suspect we will hear less of this “experience” argument. Governor Palin, who took on her own party’s good ole boys and won, has as much of a record of political achievement as does Senator Obama: running a state, no matter how sparsely populated, is a bigger executive job than being a senator. More­over, you do not have to be Karl Rove to point out that the inexperienced candidate on the Republican ticket is running to be vice-president, not commander-in-chief.

The article can be read in its entrety at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4ad145f8-7907-11dd-9d0c-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

I have NEVER seen the left in a bigger panic. Life is beautiful.

"Order Bristol’s dress (Elastic waist!!! Is white inappropriate after six months?)"

THAT is really, really despicable rhetoric. Even your Messiah finds it revolting. Did you not hear Him tell his faithful, "I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people’s families are off limits, and people’s children are especially off limits."

In just a single news cycle, the left has sunk to the lowest of lows -- trying to bring down a woman they haven't even heard speak yet. My God, Roxanne. It must be awfully sad and lonely to be so consumed with hate.

What horrible vitriol you've chosen to post here, Roxanne.

The lunatic left and inside-the-Beltway snobs who mock John McCain's selection Sarah Palin as his running mate are SO full of malevolence, it's scary. Very scary.

Governor Palin was a brilliant choice. Sure, it's a risk. But it's no less a risk than taking a chance at the top of the ticket on a first-term senator from Illinois who doesn't have very much to show in terms of legislative accomplishments or foreign policy expertise. Palin, on the other hand, actually has something neither Obama or Biden or even McCain have -- executive experience.

EARTH TO THE LEFT: SARAH PALIN HAS ACTUALLY RUN SOMETHING!

"Order Bristol’s dress (Elastic waist!!! Is white inappropriate after six months?)"

Has the left actually optioned to sink to the basest of depths, spewing the most malicious venom possible? Is this actually happening? Sadly, yes.

As Andrea Tantaros at RCP pointed out today:

Liberals like to pretend they are tolerant and accepting of those who are different but when it comes to anyone not ensconced in their progressive, elitist dogma they mock and attack their lifestyle to inspire hate. But because governor Palin is endearing, authentic and easy to identify with, she invokes sheer panic in them. Why else would they assail a very popular, promising lady and her children?

The key question here is: what is the left trying to prove? How does this make Sarah Palin unfit to serve? And how exactly will this story look to voters? A mother stands behind her child. I can think of worse stories than “Palins Come Together to Support Teen Daughter.” This is America. This is life. And this is private.

Ridiculing McCain’s VP pick for her commitment to family, poking fun at her hobbies and pushing smear about her kids will only bite back because assailing the American family only makes the lefties look desperate, unstable, paranoid and downright mean. And it will hurt the Democratic brand if it continues.

Here's an article from Christopher Orr of The New Republic, called. "The Case Against the Case Against Palin." As anyone vaguely familiar with politics knows, TNR is hardly a bastion of conservatism. And that's what makes this article so refreshing to read. Imagine, a publication on the left reporting on Sarah Palin clearly, fairly and fully. I have shortened it a bit so that this post does not to run too, too long. Thanks in advance for posting this, Roxanne. Mr. Orr wrote:

At the end of 2005, a close friend, who is a lifelong Alaskan, called to say that he begun writing speeches and talking points for a certain gubernatorial candidate -- Sarah Palin.

I was dismayed at my friend’s choice of political entree. Why was he wasting his time on a relative nobody, trying to beat an incumbent governor (and former three term senator) in the Republican primary? "Wait until the party machinery goes to work on Palin. They will eat her for lunch," I said.

Governor Murkowski expressed a similar view. "If I decide to," he said, "I will run and I will win. It's that simple."

The folly, of course, turned out to be my own (and Murkowski's), as Palin slaughtered the incumbent in the primary -- posting a 30 point margin of victory -- and went on to win the general (over a former Democratic governor) without seeming to break a sweat. She then quickly fulfilled an implicit campaign promise by slapping down ExxonMobil, BP, and ConocoPhillips in negotiations over a proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline, even though they, too, by all accounts, were well prepared to dine on her tender little frame. Not bad for a lightweight.

Listening to the Democratic leadership respond to John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, one hears echoes of the Alaska Republican leadership from just a few years ago. Barack Obama’s spokesman, Bill Burton, put it this way: "Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency." Former mayor? If you're going to skip over her job as governor and, before that, her job heading the commission that oversees production of the largest petroleum reserves in America, why not "former high school student"? Bah, what does it matter: She's just a small town mayor, just a hockey mom, just a beauty pageant queen. Palin has never shunned these belittling monikers, in part, I imagine, because the camouflage has served her so well.

Watching Palin operate over the past few years has been like witnessing a dramatic reading of All the King’s Men. In 2002, Murkowski had interviewed but passed over Palin in selecting a replacement for the senate seat he vacated to become governor. In a grand act of nepotism, he chose his own daughter instead. Palin was tossed a bone: She chaired the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees the production of petroleum in Alaska. When she reported conflicts of interest and other ethical violations by another commissioner, she was ignored by Murkowski’s chief of staff and ultimately resigned in frustration. One can imagine how the quick double dose of corruption--insiders having their way with the polity and its resources--sickened the young Palin. It also fired a savage competitiveness that is not, perhaps, apparent at first glance.

What the Republicans missed about Sarah Palin then--and what the Democrats seem poised to miss now--is that she is a true political savant; a candidate with a knack for identifying the key gripes of the populace and packaging herself as the solution. That keen political nose has enabled her to routinely outperform her resume. Nearly two years into her administration, she still racks up approval ratings of 80 per cent or better.

Sarah Palin is a living reminder that the ultimate source of political power in this country is not an Ariana Huffington salon; even now, power emanates from the electorate itself -- power in 2008 emanates from the working class electorates of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Sooner or later, the Obama camp will realize that the beauty pageant queen is an enormously talented populist in a year that is ripe for populism. For their own sake, it had better be sooner.

Wow, Roxanne, looks like you bit off a little more than you could chew!