"what is wrong with this man?"

mcworse has made his choice, and the reviews are rolling in — like a train wreck.

cnn's "the cafferty file":

jack cafferty: the question about mrs. palin went up on cnn.com about an hour and a half ago. we have received, before this show started, over 6,000 e-mails on this little topic. and the republicans ain't going to like this.

rebecca in california: "as a lifelong republican soccer mom living in an affluent community, i was impressed with senator obama's acceptance speech last evening. having my morning latte with a few of my republican friends, i almost spit my coffee when i heard the news. is mccain really putting the best interests of our nation first? to me, he is pandering to women, trying to obtain their vote. it seems he wants another 'trophy' to parade around with. what is wrong with this man?" mitch in michigan writes: "i think mccain's selection of sarah palin as v.p. very similar to bush's nomination of harriet miers to the supreme court. it shows how much a mccain presidency would be just like the bush presidency, with the selection of totally unqualified individuals for high government posts. we've seen the disastrous results of such picks by bush. we can not let mccain continue this saga." doug writes: "had i known that being a hockey mom under 45 and having virtually no political experience was the desired v.p. running mate for mccain, i would have asked my wife to throw her hat into the ring. mccain has just handed the presidency to barack obama."

jack cafferty: i'm telling you, there's 11,000 postings. we got a lot of mail to this, wolf.

fairbanks daily news-miner:

sarah palin's chief qualification for being elected governor was that she was not frank murkowski," cole said of her enormously unpopular predecessor ...

anchorage daily news:

state house speaker john harris, a republican from valdez, was astonished at the news. he didn't want to get into the issue of her qualifications. "she's old enough," harris said. "she's a u.s. citizen."

denver post:

i served with hillary clinton. i know hillary clinton. hillary clinton is a friend of mine. you, sarah palin, are no hillary clinton." sorry to steal joe biden's thunder, but we didn't want to wait for the vice presidential candidates' debate to say the obvious. ... in short, the presumptive republican nominee, an old soldier in all senses of that term, drafted the political equivalent of the unknown soldier as his co-pilot. mccain's pick of palin jettisons his attack that obama isn't ready to lead and looks more like a desperate "hail mary" campaign tactic aimed at female voters.

register citizen:

it's also obvious that mccain, if elected, is counting on surviving a presidential term.

journal news:

any woman won't do. i've got a message for mccain: hillaryites didn't want a woman; they wanted that woman. if this is his attempt at wooing disaffected hillary backers, he has sold all women short.

national review online:

... he is one arrogant sob. mccain is essentially telling the world that he doesn't really need a vice president. it is hard to imagine palin playing the same sort of role that modern vice presidents like gore, bush, cheney, or mondale played. rather, the office would seem poised to return to the "proverbial warm bucket of p***" category.

chicago tribune:

steve chapman: this decision mocks mccain's seriousness on the issues that are supposed to be his strength. it tells us that he puts his own political fortunes above the safety of the nation. andrew zajac: john mccain may have some work to do ... if the underwhelmed reaction of former maryland gop gov. robert ehrlich is any indication... "i gotta go digest this choice," he mumbled to a couple of acquaintances.

new york times:

he was looking for someone who was well prepared to fight against international islamic extremism, the transcendent issue of our time. and in the end he decided that in good conscience, he was not going to settle for anyone who had not been commander of a state national guard for at least a year and a half. he put down his foot!

time:

mccain's mighty and oft-swung obama swatting hammer of experience has been instantly changed from steel to rubber.

politico:

presidential scholars say say she appears to be the least experienced, least credentialed person to join a major-party ticket in the modern era. so unconventional was mccain's choice that it left students of the presidency literally "stunned," in the words of joel goldstein, a st. louis university law professor and scholar of the vice presidency. "being governor of a small state for less than two years is not consistent with the normal criteria for determining who's of presidential caliber," said goldstein. in one swift stroke, mccain demolished what had been one of his main arguments against obama. "i think we're going to have to examine our tag line, 'dangerously inexperienced,'" a top mccain official said wryly.

i'd feel bad for sarah, but she's only got mcworse to blame. her horrid press only underscores the wisdom of obama's choice of biden. obama's pick was a play to the punditry, whose glowing praise was what he needed in order to promote the "judgment" meme he's been trying to cultivate.

mcworse desperately wanted to steal a news cycle from obama, and he's succeeded, though his victory is profoundly pyrrhic: the press he's won is as bad as the press he'd won the last time he tried stealing a news cycle — the night of obama's primary victory speech. and it calls into question his judgment, keeping mcworse right where obama wants him — behind.

and mcworse's gambit has now put the once-tricky question of his age up front and center — on his birthday with a vengeance.

that's two unforced errors for the price of one. isn't the birthday boy supposed to be receiving gifts instead of giving them?

mcworse advisor charlie black:

she's going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years, and most doctors think that he'll be around at least that long.

wow — sexist and condescending! a twofer! nice to see the republicans can still insult the people they're trying so desperately to win over.