As for being "The only Alaskan Republican not under indictment....", MSNBC was displaying a factoid slide including the line "Under investigation". Haven't tracked it down yet, but that should be interesting.

If ever a VP choice signaled a campaign on the defense, this would be it. Given Palin's complete lack of substance, her sole qualification would appear to be her gender in a blatant attempt to court disaffected Hillary supporters.

Fox "News" was gushing over the choice, saying it will "change the whole dynamic of the election", somewhat wistfully. Granted, it certainly disrupts a lot of things, not least some of McCain's previous positions. He's hinted broadly that he might serve just one term (after vehemently ridiculing the idea a few months ago), now he'd be passing the torch to a, a....Sarah Palin (the hesitancy was trying to think of an appropriate noun, but I think that "Sarah Palin" may become a noun in its own right signifying an utter lack of qualification other than the correct genitalia; one would hope those bitter Hillary supporters retain enough perspective to be insulted by the choice of Palin).

Speaking of which, took a timeout to watch the VP rollout ceremony (pundit-free on C-SPAN). Palin confirmed her role as Judas goat with a heavy-handed pitch to disaffected Hillary voters. Her general demeanour was more "stand by my man" (McCain) rather than spare President, most noticeable when she praised MCain as the man she wanted as Commander-in-Chief over her son in the Army. What if she should become CinC someday?

One final amusing observation: A Fox "News" pundit was grasping for an argument in favor of Palin, and observed that Palin has more executive experience than anybody else on the ticket, having been a governor for two years. How could I not laugh, thinking about how my experience here makes me equally qualified to be President? You could be day-shift manager at Burger King and have more "executive experience" than anybody on the ticket.