Obama Explains Biden Pick, Reacts to Palin

Obama describes why he selected Joe Biden for his running mate, and gives his first reaction to McCain's choice:

Sarah Who?

Okay, everybody's already chimed in on this, so here are some of the reactions:

"Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies -- that's not the change we need, it's just more of the same." - Bill Burton (Obama Campaign Spokesman)


"The vice president is a heartbeat away from becoming president, so to choose someone with not one hour's worth of experience on national issues is a dangerous choice. If John McCain thought that choosing Sarah Palin would attract Hillary Clinton voters, he is badly mistaken.The only similarity between her and Hillary Clinton is that they are both women. On the issues, they could not be further apart." - Senator Barbara Boxer

"That’s right folks, the old guy went for the hot young thing. A May/December political pairing of historic significance. I’m sure he’s thinking, she’s from Alaska, she’s got to be in the pocket of Big Oil, we’ll get along fine. Or maybe he’s counting on her hottie librarian look to appeal to all those disaffected Clinton supporters. Either way she will be known henceforth as the Geraldine Ferraro of the GOP." - Frogette

"This is insulting and I feel pandered to. Clearly he wants to capture the voters Hillary earned...and he thinks a woman, any woman will do." - Deb Morrone

"In the long run, Palin may help McCain win Alaska’s paltry 3 electoral votes, but Romney could have helped in Colorado and Nevada and Tim Pawlenty could have helped in Minnesota. I have a gut feeling that McCain just drove the Straight Talk Express into a ditch. Congratulations to President Barack Obama!" - Robert Rouse

I’m sure the country will feel completely comfortable with Palin becoming president if something were to happen to McCain - especially considering 99% of the American people have never heard of her until today. I wonder if she’s related to Dan Quayle?" - Jeff Pruitt

"McCain has chosen Alaska’s brand new governor, Sarah Palin, as his V.P. pick. It’s an interesting choice, most likely seeking to poach disgruntled Clinton supporters from Obama. But, other than the fact that both Clinton and Palin have two X chromosomes, the similarities are few." - Doug Masson

"Thank God she's not from Indiana. We already served our term as a spawning ground for inexperienced third-tier veep candidates." - John Good

Lionel Weighs In

Veep-Stakes

CBS is of the same mindset as I regarding Obama's VP selection:

Thomas Cook over at Blue Indiana offered up a contest where readers were to compete in selecting Obama's Veep choice as well as the date and time. The deadline for entries was at midnight yesterday - My choice was Evan Bayh at 1 PM on Friday. I still suspect that Joe Biden (Whom I initially supported in the primaries) may well be the pick, but I selfishly hope for Bayh for the coattails he would bring to the Hoosier state. Honestly, I'd be thrilled with either of the two, but I think Evan on the ticket would nearly ensure a statewide clean sweep for Democrats. We shall see. . .

Strike 2 More Names from McCain's Veepstakes

#1. Mitt Romney, who couldn't think of a thing to say regarding McCain's legislative achievements in regards to energy:



#2. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who had lots of nice things to say about Barack Obama yesterday:

"Say what you will about Barack Obama," the Minnesota Republican told a conservative group, "people gravitate when you have something positive to say. People want to follow hopeful, optimistic, civil, decent leaders, they don't want to follow some negative, scornful person."

You may recall last month's response by Veep contender and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford when asked about the differences between McCain’s economic platform and Bush’s. Result? He couldn’t come up with anything. At that point the chattering class basically 86′d him from the Veep list.