[psw0585]

That's simply not the case, and you know it.

I stated that Parker's qualifications to deem Palin unqualified as she did were derived from her opinion -- and, in this case, I would add her informed opinion.

Parker delineated, quite succinctly, her reasons for that doubt: that, quick study or not, Palin doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make a majority of Americans comfortable with a "President Palin," should conditions warrant her promotion. She notes rightly that Palin filibusters and repeats words, filling space with meaningless, often non-sequitur dead wood. You and I know the quotes...so there's no point repeating them here...but they are indeed painful to hear and even worse to watch and hear. "Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there," as Parker noted.

Parker isn't responsible for Palin becoming a drag on the ticket -- Palin is. And McCain took a big, impetuous gamble when he chose her, a decision borne largely in reaction to Obama's dissing of Shillary and to steal some thunder away from the DNC, which was getting all the news. His instincts in this case seem to have proven him wrong. The fact that Parker points this out and that it pisses you off doesn't make it any less true.

In my opinion, that is.

[Will88]

It was an exceedingly dumb move on the part of the McCain campaign to allow Gibson and Couric to have long, drawn out interviews with Palin that they could later splice and edit to show whatever they chose. That just set things up for problems, and for questions about details few other candidates are asked about.

And, no, Parker’s made no good points because they were long, gotcha interviews designed to ask questions they knew a governor barely two weeks on a national ticket would not have dealt with. Bush, Reagan, Clinton and Carter as governors had long prep times for interviews before they announced a run for president because they planned to run and prepared, and had time to prepare. Palin had virtually no notice, and the little time she had was used to prepare for the convention, not for policy study on every imaginable issue.

I don’t think there has ever been a governor put on a national ticket so suddenly in our memory, with so little time to prepare. All that happened is a testament to the utter stupidity of the McCain campaign for allowing interviews of that length, with those particular journalists as Palin’s very first interviews after accepting the nomination.

Parker is a bogus conservative, piling on for some reason known only to her. Any half sensible person knows there is a lot to prepare for when going from governor to a national ticket, and no one has had less time to prepare than Governor Palin.

The McCain campaign handling of a very bright and capable, enormous addition to the ticket has been utterly and totally stupid and incompetent. The question is can she (and they) recover, or has their ineptness and hamhandedness tainted and diminished a bright young star in the party.

That’s what I know about this situation.

McCain needs to learn to let the MSM spit and fume and whine. They are not his friends (has he ever learned that), and he loses little or nothing by making them adapt to his timetable, and not the other way around.