VP candidate Gov. Sarah Palin

Wow. What a shock decision from McCain. I was positive he'd pick someone more in his league, like Brownback. Someone you know for sure would carry on Bush's legacy of faith-based invasions, non-torture waterboarding, and domestic spying.

But apparently, he picked a little-known governor of Alaska, who has only really been in high office for 2 years. And, in her opening speech, she certainly made a good impression with me - claiming to be a no-nonsense politician who fights corruption and pork barrel spending, who supports energy independence and sees political service as an obligation to the common good rather than party ideology. But most importantly, she came off as a decent human being (which is unusual in politics).

I almost wondered if a democrat had snuck into republican ranks. But her record is strongly conservative on the social issues: against abortion unless the mother's life is in danger, against gay marriage, and in favor of teaching creationism in public schools as a viable alternative to evolution.

So the Religious Right must love her, right?

By and large, they do. But a few of the knee-jerk variety decided that she's anti-family. And here's why: she works for a living. How radical!

Sheesh. I'm surprised those wackos didn't demand that she cover up her ankles, lest the impiety bring down God's wrath.

One particularly muddle-headed commentator wrote that being a stay at home mom is "the zenith of human accomplishment." See, I was going to say the works of Shakespeare or da Vinci or Claude Monet. Or the Hubble Space Telescope or the Large Hadron Collider or ITER (a nuclear fusion power plant). Or mapping the human genome or eradicating smallpox. Those are pretty awesome accomplishments. Child care and domestic chores, not so much. Sure, I agree that raising children is certainly a necessary and rewarding experience. But the zenith of human accomplishment? I don't think so.

UPDATE: Wow, in the news, there's a veritable torrent of stories (and scandals) about her. Suffice it to say that my initial, meager supply of goodwill is being quickly eroded by all these allegations flying about her. I'm not at all pleased at the prospect of someone a heartbeat away from President being a religious basketcase with a subpar knowledge of American history.