I read about Palin a year ago in Monocle, a UK magazine, and the article was talking about how she was kind of naive but a truly popular grass-roots politician and what a shame it was that she was from Alaska (the sticks) otherwise she should go to Washington.

I think this was a very clever move, if somewhat lacking in subtlety. Those Dems who were supporting Hillary because she was a woman will really have to think very hard about this. And on top of that McCain is about the best GOP POTUS a Dem could hope for and Palin about the best GOP VP a Dem could hope for.

But what this really signifies is the death of the neocons. The "maverick" McCain as President and the centrist Palin as VP? Neoconservatism as a political force is gone. It might be back, but no time soon. The conservatives in the US are starting to look like European mainstream conservatives - pro-business but socially moderate (which is how I vote, incidentally). So much for the US being right of everyone else in the Western world.

I have to say I had half-hoped that other famous GOP centrist, the Gubernator, might be picked as VP candidate, but I'm guessing there would be some constitutional issues there because he was born abroad.

Pimping my site, again.

http://www.worldcomicbookreview.com