That's why they're pushing this absurd notion that Sarah Palin's two years of governorship doesn't adequately qualify her, but Tim Kaine's (Democrat!) two years did qualify him.

Being liberals, and having pissed off the PUMAs, they can't come out and ask if she's tough enough, flinty enough, if she's got the stones, if she can order men into battle to die. So they're going to insinuate it by asking about her "experience."

It's actually a valid question, not just on the substance but as to the perception.

Perception first, Sarah Palin isn't just a woman. She's an adorable, bubbly, sweet woman. None of that actually means she's not tough or serious -- but people have their preconceptions, and most people that painfully cute are not thought as tough or cagey or, when necessary, ruthless.

(I actually think those perceptions are wrong, largely -- I think people who are cute aren't perceived as cagey and ruthless, even though they actually might be quite mercenary, because their looks are disarming and tend to engender trust, not suspicion. No one ever thinks a puppy deliberately crapped all over your new couch, but of course the little bastard knew exactly what he was doing. But those soulful eyes let him get away with blue murder.)

As to the actual facts-- I don't know if she's "tough enough" or not. I know I've liked everything I've heard from her since I started hearing about her six months ago. I know she had the stones to take on the Alaskan political establishment -- including her own party -- an expose corrupt officials she came across.

That's not "nice." It's noble, but not "nice." Nice is trying to tear down walls and build bridges -- all that pussy-shit Obama talks about -- not rip someone's guts out for lacking integrity and breaking the law.

I don't know how far that unsentimental righteousness goes, but certainly she's not the creampuff her looks suggest.

Nevertheless, partly because of sexist bias against women (let alone cute women), and partly just because we require all our presidents to have a minimum threshold of steely ruthlessness (except if they're Democrats, of course; look at the soft sob-sisters running this year), Governor Palin does have to convince America she's got the grit for the job.

And it's not just men who harbor doubts about female presidents -- it's women, too, and perhaps even more than men.

She surprised me today. She was confident and unfazed, direct and sharp. I'm looking forward to being surprised further. But I guess I do need to be surprised further, as do many voters.

Adorableness has its advantages, but it has its drawbacks too. She's got to show some real iron. And maybe cutting apart that soft-handed starched-shirt Joe Biden woud be a good start.

On a related note... Here's some sexist bias-- some say women might be all in favor of women achieving great things in principle, but when it comes to specific women making concrete achievements, suddenly they're a bit lukewarm on the whole idea of sisterhood.

Jealousy and envy, I'm talking about.

Is that real? Will this actually backfire and drive women away?

Attack Dog: Actually, a good start in dispelling the "too nice, too sweet" impression would be to play the role of the attack dog well. If she's thought of as being 25% a ball-breaker... well, win-win.

Burn on Barracuda: I wanted to google some of Palin's attacks against the Dems to remind myself of how well she did.

Allah has one, wrapping "fearmongering" on energy production around Joe Biden's pencil neck.

She has a sweetness to her as she "attacks." (Attacks in quotes, because of course what she's saying is both true and vitally relevant; but anytime a Republican notes a Democrat's votes or quotes it's an "attack," most often of the "intolerable and unacceptable" sort.)

I have to deduct style points, though, because that bubbly, sweet, gosh-darn sort of manner just doesn't seem serious or dour enough to me.

I know we've got that in spades from Mr. Warmth McCain, but still... I think she'll have to ease up on the sweetness and get a bit more grim.

On the plus side: Everything she says is right and informed. The only knock is the style one.

Posted by: Ace at 02:04 PM | Comments (73)
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Shit.

This thing will pick up steam over the middle of the Gulf. Wherever it hits, it's gonna suck. A lot.

Mississippi is being proactive, as is Alabama, as is Louisiana and Texas.

I expect overreaction, federal and political. Can't be helped. The narrative is too deep and too timely.

In spite of all that shit, I hope those of you in the path take care, do what you gotta do, and come out grinning.

As Sgt. Phil Esterhaus used to say, be careful out there.

UPDATED: tmi3rd adds:

We know that the models are all taking it more and more towards southwest LA... more towards Lafayette and Lake Charles with the center of circulation. We know that right now it's supposed to strike as a category 3 hurricane- that means winds between 111-130 mph. That means a storm surge typically of 9-12 feet.

That also means that folks around Morgan City and Houma will get the northeast side of the storm- never a good place to be.

We also know that the city and state are taking it very seriously, and are setting things up well ahead of a landfall- they were in emergency management mode Wednesday.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 01:25 PM | Comments (68)
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A particularly despicable claim was asking Pat Buchanan if he thought Sarah Palin, who he asserted was a big supporter of Pitchfork Pat and in particular of his "anti-gay" policies (without evidence! -- he was just taking her social conservatism to be the equal of Buchananism), would frighten the center.

Note the entire premise of that question was not based on fact, but upon either his imagination or an email from Media Matters.

Correction, Again! Wrong again. Apparently she did sign up to be part of Buchanan's movement in some fashion. I blew that one. Apologies. Matthews got it right.

Once Buchanan defended himself (having no time to defend Palin), Andrea Mitchell actually stepped in and rebutted Matthews, noting that Palin is libertarian to some extent and that Palin's first veto was in support of gay rights (i.e., she vetoed a bill restricting gay rights).

Matthews didn't have much to say about that. He didn't retract his previous assertion, certainly.

Instead he dove right back in with the "inexperienced" thing. Gee, and I thought two years of high elected office was all an exciting and charismatic newcomer needed to pass the experience threshold.

Still no word on how many National Guard troops Barack Obama commands.

That's all the fun from Chris for the day. After that eight minute segment, it's All About Barack.

Verdict: AWWWWWESOMMME.

Sarah Palin Wants Creationism Taught in Classes! Well... not actually. Note the Dowdification of the quote.

And Matthews is Back on Palin: At least he acknowledges she is in fact a maverick and reformer, and knocks down the oily Democratic hack's attempt to claim she's part of the Stevens-Young corruption in Alaska.

That's ridiculous -- she's been fighting that her whole term.

Posted by: Ace at 01:21 PM | Comments (26)
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I'm not sure this will be fruitful... Alas, the biggest categories in Cool Facts include jokes about sexual prowess, sexual promiscuity, and assorted body functions, and none of that seems appropriate for our little Barracuda.

Still... who knows, maybe you morons will figure out the right take.

To be honest, I'm not sure the cool facts would rival the real facts. She hunts and eats moose, and she flies her own float-plane.

A moose bit my sister once... Sarah Palin avenged her.

Oh... Here's a site dedicated to cool facts about Sarah Palin. Cool pic, too.

Thanks to Jay.

Posted by: Ace at 12:39 PM | Comments (183)
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The funnier stuff is at the end, though, as she describes the Michelle Obama/Al Gore World the Dems live in. more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:28 PM | Comments (35)
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Well, no one's exactly surprised by that.

The fight here is to make sure they don't try to absorb all of Georgia, or turn it into a KGB puppet.

Posted by: Ace at 12:20 PM | Comments (19)
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"I would add that Obama does not need to be arguing how important experience is. Let me also add that when Tim Kaine, who has exactly the same experience as Palin, was treated by the Media and the Dems as a serious and acceptable potential pick, it opens up charges of a double standard."

Who's that from? Instapundit? Some other Obama-skeptic? Nah -- he linked it, but it's from TalkLeft.

More from Instapundit: A big round up. Here's a good snap from McCain:

This rather churlish response from the Obama campaign won't help them -- dissing small towns doesn't fit well after Biden's "nobody is better than anybody" talk. [LATER: McCain response: "I'd think the Obama people would have learned by now not to belittle the experience of women."

I stand by my previous statement: Obama was not the mayor of a big city. He wasn't the mayor, or governor, of anything. Though he's from a big city, he actually just represented a part of it. And the key word is "represented." He didn't lead; he sat in committee and cogitated and voted (well, he mostly voted present, but whatever). And of course he dished pork to his donors and corrupt friends.

Obama does a lot of resume padding. But he seems to be implying, without saying, that he actually had some executive experience governing big-city Chicago.

He didn't. His district was bigger than Palin's town, but Palin, unlike Obama, actually governed. She ran it. She made decisions. She couldn't just vote "present" on difficult issues like Obama could (and did, and did, and did and did and did).

Oh-- and since then, she's been a governor. A governor of a state which borders on two countries: Canada, our biggest trading partner, and Russia, our biggest, um, "rival."

(And yeah: They do border. There's that island where the border runs along the middle.)

Obama, meanwhile, can brag that he helped bring about trade agreements and quell border-disputes between the South Side and Lakefront.

Well, Her or Tina Fey: Bart--

You know who Gov Palin reminds me of?

Chief Marge Gunderson from the movie Fargo. Pregnant but still chuggin' along in her important mostly-male-occupied profession, and Palin sounds a lot like a Yooper.

Correctionmania! Boy am I getting crap wrong today.

Alaska and Russia have no split island as I asserted. However, in the winter, the ice freezes between them and you can walk from one to the other.

Thanks to Alice H and others.

Posted by: Ace at 11:35 AM | Comments (51)
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Pork. The other white meat. (Can I say that?)

Both Obama and Palin are very experienced when it comes to pork and corruptly-procured earmarks.

They come at it from slightly different perspectives, though.

Sublimminabbabble: Palin is identified in the media as Sarah Palin (R-AK).

You know what I'm talking about.

Sexist.

Posted by: Ace at 11:13 AM | Comments (13)
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At least on a Clinton Voters Forum.

Thanks to CJ.

As Their Link is Overloaded... I hope they won't mind me stealing their post -- which otherwise can't be read by anyone.

Jim Lindgren stresses these are all the responses on the thread -- "no cherry picking!"

Wow, Thanks so much to this Sarah Palin who never forgot us. She is a fighter. She paid her respects to our Hillary and Geraldine . They now no more think women in this country are 2nd class. You go girl and thank you for a refreshing pick Sen. McCain.

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i wish i could see the look on obamas face when he heard this vp pick

Or Michelles. "Why'd he go and do that!"

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I am going over to John McCain's website and thank her for acknowledging the glass ceiling and our struggles. She needs to know that there are LOTS of us behind her fight.

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Maybe those 18 million cracks will help her shatter the ceiling!

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You can bet that BO did not see this coming.

I'm listening to his acolyte now on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell. The tone of her voice and this almost choking quality of her words tells me that she sees this as a real problem for her guy, BO. (I'm gleeful.)

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gave John McCain a standing ovation and a 10 minute claps. It did not matter that there was no one around except my dog to share that.

Hats off! Bigtime!!

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Sarah visiting a wounded soldier in Germany.

Remember just a short while ago Obama would not visit the wounded soldiers in Germany but he would take take to play the rock idol there.

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Geraldine Ferraro is a very astute woman!

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obama made the biggest mistake of his career not choosing Hillary. The Democrats got behind obama so much they didn't even realize what they were doing trying to push Hillary out of the picture. I'm sure Hillary is not happy obama did not make her but she is probably laughing now and preparing for 2012 campaign with the slogan "I told you so"

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I am thrilled her speech was genuine, and promising!!!!! Let's go Forum, we have a mission.

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Obama did not see that coming! I'm sure a lot of people didn't see it coming. Great job by the McCain campaign to keep things very hush hush!

McCAIN / PALIN '08

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Wow. I've been listening to 98.7 Kluv, and they keep cranking out songs about women. They're really celebrating, too! The last one I heard was, "Treat her like a Lady!" TOOOOOOOOOO cool.

Posted by: Ace at 11:01 AM | Comments (51)
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A tough one. There are two schools of thought on this.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 03:14 PM | Comments (33)
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