I said before I thought Biden was an "interesting and bold choice" for Obama.  Well, today McCain actually one-upped him.  Gov. Sarah Palin from Alaska is an interesting and amazingly-super-bold choice for McCain.  The veritable explosion of positive feedback from Republicans (as opposed to the rather tepid response from Democrats about Biden) suggests it will help him immensely this November.

She's young so she appeals to the young voters registering this year.  She's a woman, so she appeals to Hillary supporters.  She's a lifetime NRA member, so she appeals to bitter gun owners.  She's pro-life, so she appeals to people clinging to religion.  She has a son going to Iraq, so she appeals to military families.  She's cut government waste in Alaska, so she appeals to anti-tax conservatives.  She's outside the mainstream, so she appeals to people fed up with politicians.  She's a former beauty queen, so she appeals to people who objectify women.  (I didn't really want to add that, but I guarantee everyone is going to tack that onto the end -- "...all that and she's got a great rack, too!!!"  You know you're going to do it, Republicans, so don't even try to deny it... I've already seen and heard it numerous times today.)

Having said that, this choice does have a tinge of desperation to it.  It's clearly a calculated maneuver to get votes.  You can easily imagine the McCain strategists sitting down and saying, "Okay, our guy's getting clobbered; we need a Hail Mary pass right now or we're going to lose this thing."  (Campaign strategists really talk in football metaphors, you know.)

I think selecting Palin also lends credibility to the rumors that McCain is really ticked off at Obama for trying to paint him as a Washington insider after he's worked his whole career for the "maverick" label.  It's like he went out of his way to pick someone from left field so he could say to the world, "See!  See!  I totally told you I was random and crazy!  You just never know what I'm going to do next!!"

Looks like this is going to be yet another close election.  How many more of these 50/50 elections can America bear before she finally snaps in two?