The Palin Decision...

Party lines have been drawn, and their soldiers have spoken. I think that the evaluation of the Palin decision, with few exceptions, correlates strongly with one's decision in the presidential election:



I made this graph up to visualize this dynamic. Really, with few exceptions, conservative-leaning pundits have praised the choice (Michelle Malkin, Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes), and liberal-leaning pundits have ridiculed it (Paul Begala, the NPR anchors yesterday). I feel like this same pattern has occurred among people I know. I ran this by a lot of people. Many of my liberal friends were enraged by this. Some of them brought trenchant analysis into the picture. Others did not, and it was utterly preposterous to hear some of them railing against inexperience in a vice president when Palin's experience is at least comparable to Obama's experience... who wants to be president. It was akin to the pot calling the kettle black.

Likewise, conservatives who have railed against Obama's inexperience for the entire election have embraced this pick. It's a tad upsetting.

And yet, I fall in the middle in this election (I lean McCain, though not strongly), and I'm tepidly supporting the Palin pick. So, there you go. The pattern holds strong.

I think that I'll end with the conclusion that if Sarah Palin had been a second-term governor, this pick would have been a no brainer. Take from that what you will.