Firing a state employee for personal or political reasons and then taking executive privilege and refusing to provide the emails during the investigation is not "path-forging." It's right in the vein of the Bush administration.

And impressing as a leader of the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission, or in fact even as the Governor of Alaska, does not give her any foreign policy experience, and I am honestly worried about that. Obama has sat on the Foreign Relations Committee for four years, which gives him exponentially more knowledge and experience (and that's not to mention Joe Biden, who chairs the Committee).

On a ticket where John McCain has shown he is unlikely to engage in diplomacy, or even have the ability to do so if he tried (imagine him talking to al-Maliki about the Pakistan border), you want someone by his side who knows what she is doing. And Palin just doesn't cut it. If he wanted a woman, there were many others out there who were vastly more qualified -- Susan Collins and Condi Rice to name just two.

And sorry to bring it up, but what if McCain dies in office while we're still fighting two wars? To borrow your line, if you try to argue that Palin would be ready to lead, it just proves you've been drinking the Kool-aid.

If serving on some committee for three years, most of which time he spent on his campaign, was enough to prepare Obama to be leader of the free world, then Palin should have little trouble catching up with the requirements for VP.

 I don't think anyone on this blog is at all willing to make a good-faith comparison of Palin and Obama.  Who on this blog remembers that Obama was a nobody state legislator in 2004?  The speed with which democrats have back-pedaled on their "it isn't experience, its judgment that counts" talking point is breathtaking.  Whatever amount of experience is required for the office will be drawn immediately below whatever Obama has: 3 years on some committee.  Experience at the head of the Republican ticket is magically irrelevant because McCain is definitely going to die the day after the election. 

Whatever ethical rumor is levied against Palin by the corrupt party machinery she unseated in Alaska is embraced as unassailable fact.  I'm surprised you guys haven't unmasked her as a buchananite yet.  Likewise, the selection of Palin can be boiled down to her working set of ovaries.  Meanwhile Palin's records as a reformist moderate running against party establishment Democrats will go unremarked.

Yes it would be nice if Palin had more experience.  But that dilemma doesn't prove a thing about Barack's readiness.  In the unlikely event that McCain dies at the beginning of his term, she may have a bit of learning to do.  In the likely event that Barack does not die immediately after his election, so will he. And it is unlikely that the same electorate that chose Barack for a presidential candidate will be insulted with Palin as a potential vice president.

Alright then, you convinced me: Palin is great.

Just one question: How is Palin anywhere near being a "moderate"? She's about as far to the right as you can possibly get.

You've got me there.  I guess I got a little carried away with my rhetoric.  Sometimes it's hard to remember that after the last 8 years, spending restraint is still technically a conservative principle.