Today's Must Read: An "apology" to Sarah Palin

Sometimes I'm downright proud to be a journalist. Today's must read is Roger Simon's "apology" to Sarah Palin over at Politico. Best of all, he quotes the wonderful Lily Tomlin: “No matter how cynical I get, it’s just never enough to keep up.”

Palin candidacy death watch gathers steam

Over at Daily Kos, they've already started a death watch thread on the vice presidential candidacy of Sarah Palin. Intrade has already started trading on whether or not Palin will be forced to withdraw. Personally, I think it's way too early to tell if Palin's candidacy will be a rerun of Tom Eagleton's 1972 aborted run for veep, but stay tuned.

Meanwhile, the steady drip, drip, drip of Palin revelations continues.

Greg Sargent at TPM ElectionCentral has a great rundown of the controversies stacking up against Palin. The Washington Post reports today that the allegedly anti-earmark Palin was pro-earmark when she was mayor of tiny Wasilla. She hired a lobbying firm and helped bring $27 million to the town of 6,700 people. The New York Times weighs in with a detailed piece on the not-so-active vet of Palin. The Los Angeles Times quotes one Republican strategist "with close ties to the campaign" as saying that the vet was little more than a Google search.

Today's Must Read: John McCain's desperation

Politico does a nice job of running down the six things picking Sarah Palin as veep says about John McCain. Point #1? "He's desperate."

Sarah Palin: Not such a bad idea?

Rebecca Traister makes some good points about how Sarah Palin helps John McCain. Traister wonders if Barack Obama really should have picked Hillary Clinton.

McCain's Hail Mary vice presidential pick

William Greider makes the point at The Nation that John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as vice president shows the GOP's desperation. Uh huh.

Sarah Palin: Not a stunning pick at all

"It's a girl!" Slate enthuses in announcing John McCain's new veep-mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. It sure is a girl, and by naming Palin, McCain makes one thing clear: The only way he thinks he can win in November is by picking off Hillary's female supporters. This isn't exactly news.

But how the heck can he do that by naming a running mate with almost no experience who is anti-choice? Hillary Clinton's selling points, among others, were that (a) she had the experience and (b) she was pro-woman. Does McCain think women voters are too stupid to notice Palin's record?

Once more Sebelius is named as a possible vice president

By Diane Silver

The Washington Posts today listed Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as one of nine possible vice presidential candidates.

I'm going to sound terribly cynical, but I don't see this as very likely. If nominated, Barack Obama may well need to shore up the white male vote and chose accordingly. Hillary Clinton would need to pick a male running mate for similar reasons of touchiness, prejudice and balance. John Edwards is Sebelius' best bet for getting the number two spot, and Edwards' star is decidedly dimming.

Please note that I'm not saying that such touchiness / prejudice / political balance are right, only that they're factors candidates will likely consider as they mull over a running mate.