I don't think any serious analyst, Republican, Democratic, or otherwise, doubts she was chosen for her gender as well as her right-wing credentials (see Andrew Sullivan's blog for a number of reactions). McCain's only chances to win are to pick up some of Clinton's disaffected primary voters, and he believes he can attract both the PUMAs and the Christianists with a single pick. I think it was a good call on his part, and I hope he's wrong.

No, I don't feel that two years of experience governing a population smaller than Boston's — following on the heels of being a mayor of a town of six thousand — come anywhere close to Obama's years as a state legislator and then a senator dealing with foreign policy issues. Palin has said, in an interview this summer, that she doesn't even know what a vice president does. That's just sad.

Chalk most women's reactions to a female, right-wing, clearly underqualified candidate as misogyny if you like, but I think it's a difficult argument to defend (clear misogynist slurs — most of which come from men — excluded).