USA Today has released the results of its first poll on Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain's choice of a Republican vice-presidential running mate.

39% say she is ready to serve as president if needed, 33% say she isn't, and 29% have no opinion.

That's the lowest vote of confidence in a running mate since the elder George Bush chose then-Indiana senator Dan Quayle to join his ticket in 1988. In comparison, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was seen as qualified by 57%-18% after Democrat Barack Obama chose him as a running mate last week.

There's other numbers in the poll that are favorable to the McCain-Palin ticket, particularly those related to the lack of importance of the VP candidate of both parties to their decision as to whom to vote for. And while Obama's speech was viewed favorably, it doesn't seem to have resulted in gaining him a lot of new voters.

Sarah Palin's mother-in-law hasn't decided who she will vote for in November.

Faye Palin admitted she enjoys hearing Barack Obama speak, and still hasn't decided which way she'll vote. "We don't agree on everything. But I respect her passion," she said. "Being pro-life is who Sarah is."

Faye Palin said the entire family was shocked by the news on Friday. "I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative.

One of the residents of Wasila told the News: [More...]

No surprises in the abortion plank of the Republican platform. In 2000, John McCain wanted the platform to include exceptions for rape and incest, and to save the mother's life. He said in May that he still held to those positions. He apparently has little influence over the platform of the party he leads, or he's choosing not to exert the influence he has. The platform will not include those exceptions. Wonder why?

Mr. McCain has been trying to win over social conservatives wary of his candidacy, and the party is set to approve the platform Monday without the exceptions. On Friday, he named a vice-presidential running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, who opposes any exception for abortion and whose selection was hailed unequivocally by groups opposing abortion rights.

Under McCain/Palin, the Grand Old Party is the Same Old Party. The party that refuses to respect a woman's right to choose. The party that would rather see a woman die than allow a pregnancy to be terminated medically.

Perhaps hearing it from Digby will make it more palatable:

I really hope the Obama campaign does not take to heart some of the "advice" it's getting about going after Palin with snappy slogans over her picture that say "this is what McCain thinks is ready to lead?" After all the talk in this election about feminism, I think the Obama campaign is sensitive enough to know that that reads like a sexist dogwhistle loud enough to shatter the sound barrier. This is not a good approach.

I don't think that many Hillary followers will vote for an anti-choice zealot, but there is no point in unnecessarily suppressing the female Obama vote by thoughtlessly pushing buttons that don't need to be pushed. McCain chose Palin partially because they wanted to keep open the wounds of feminist discontent and there's no reason to help them by picking at the scabs. There are many things on which to attack her --- her social conservatism, her anti-environmental extremism, her bad policies, even her potential corruption, but her inexperience has to be handled very deftly. [More . . .]

Steve Benen writes about the Palin pick:

A top "loyal Bushie" told the Politico's Mike Allen that McCain's decision is "disrespectful to the office of the presidency." That's actually a pretty good way of characterizing it. . . . Campaigns have their ads, their polls, and their tactics, but at the end of the day, credible people who care about the country know that this is more than just a theatrical game -- the future of the nation counts more than the future of a candidate. . . . [H]onorable Americans of character don't gamble with the nation's well-being. They know there are lines that can't be crossed for expediency's sake, no matter how strong the temptation.

(Emphasis supplied.) [More...]

Yesterday we noted the Washington Post picked up on Troopergate. Tonight, it's McClatchy.

Is Gov. Sarah Palin ready for what's coming her way?

Politico reports John McCain may postpone the Republican National Convention. Daily Kos says it's a good idea.

Update: Five questions Gov. Sarah Palin needs to get ready to answer, from her financial disclosures to her passport.

Update: Marcy weighs in on Palin. Humorist Mad Kane writes a limmerick, Sarah Who?

Georgia10 plays, citing this article:

"I think [Sarah Palin] is the most inexperienced person on a major party ticket in modern history," said presidential historian Matthew Dallek.

That may well be. But isn't it true that a presidential historian could ALSO say, if asked:

I think Barack Obama is the most inexperienced person on the top of a major party ticket in modern history.

There is a reason Abraham Lincoln is invoked by Obama supporters, as Al Gore did, because you have to go back to Lincoln to find a Presidential candidate with less experience than Obama. I have consistently stated my view that experience is incredibly overrated. For a long time, I thought Obama supporters agreed with me. Seems not.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

We can't expect a rousing acceptance speech from John McCain, so the GOP will have to look elsewhere for adrenaline. Bobby Jindal would have provided the fresh face that the moribund party needs, but the governor is intelligently staying home to preside over Louisiana's response to Hurricane Gustav.

Gustav is gaining strength and is on track to make landfall Tuesday, three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and caused more than 1,500 deaths along the Gulf Coast. Just where Hurricane Gustaf will make landfall is uncertain, but if it stays on its projected path, it will hit the central coast of Louisiana.

President Bush has already declared Louisiana a state of emergency. Now that Louisiana has a popular Republican governor in an election year, it has the president's attention. Whether his administration will be any more helpful (or competent) this time remains to be seen.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has appointed one justice to the Alaska Supreme Court: Daniel Winfree. Here's part of her statement on his appointment.(US States News November 16, 2007.)

Winfree, 54, was born in Fairbanks. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon in 1977 and both a law degree and a master's degree in business administration from the University of California in 1981.

He worked for Perkins, Coie law office in Anchorage 1982-85, then opened his own law office in Valdez, practicing there from 1985-90. Winfree returned to Fairbanks to open a legal partnership, Winfree and Hompesch, which he closed in 1996 in favor of the Winfree Law office, which he has operated in Fairbanks since 1996 as a six-attorney private law office.

More....

Here's more of the repsonses Sarah Palin provided the Anchorage Daily News in October, 2006 when running for Governor (Anchorage Daily News, October 22, 2006, via Lexis.com):

8. Would you introduce - or, if introduced by a legislator, would you support - a bill to adopt the death penalty in Alaska? If yes, which crimes should it apply to?

If the Legislature were to pass a bill that established a death penalty on adults who murder children, I would sign it.

6. If Roe v. Wade were overturned and states could once again prohibit abortion, in your view, to what extent should abortion be prohibited in Alaska?

Under this hypothetical scenario, it would not be up to the governor to unilaterally ban anything. It would be up to the people of Alaska to discuss and decide how we would like our society to reflect our values.

More...

Jeralyn's summary of Gov. Palin's policy positions should please the most extreme members of the GOP. She is a model of intolerance; a model Republican.

It's interesting that she admits smoking pot. Is the new Republican strategy to admit the commission of crimes that the Republican Party would like to see vigorously enforced against everyone else? If "trying" pot has become so socially acceptable that a Republican candidate for VP can admit her criminal behavior, shouldn't Palin support the federal decriminalization of marijuana? Given her reliance on state law as a mitigating argument, shouldn't Palin oppose the Justice Department's interference with rights granted by California's medical marijuana laws?

Maybe those are her views. If she's not on record, it would make a good debate question. (Biden, unfortunately, might resort to his longstanding War on Crime stance with an equally disappointing answer.)