Palin brings GOP Flavor in '08 – UPDATED

Last night, my Li’l Bro Thom and I were wondering about McCain’s pick and I said, “it has to be Palin, the GOP cannot put McCain and some boring middle-manager type against Obama. Obama is too glamorous; he’s so glamorous that he could afford put Biden on his ticket, because he didn’t need more glamor! Palin, please! She’s smart, she’s feisty, she has at least as much experience as Obama, and hers is executive, she can speak without a teleprompter, and she will bring energy to the whole race.”

Someone reminded me today of what I wrote two years ago:

The next GOP candidate has to be charismatic, and yes, have a patina, however thin, of ethnicity. John Kerry and Al Gore were the last two button-downed-droning-mainline-protestant types we’re going to see as serious candidates for a long time, I think. And to be honest, Kerry was so insecure and phony, and Gore was so nakedly crazed by the end of his 2000 campaign, that their weirdnesses stood in the place of ethnicity, which is probably the wrong word. Perhaps the word I want is “flavor.” President Bush is WASP but with a twinge of cowboy and plain-folks about him that is appealing. A staid, respectable white fellow with no twinge of flavor is going to die out there. He’s everyone’s competent project manager, but no one’s CEO. Again, who has got flavor in the GOP? Rudy. Rice. Romney has a little because he is exotically Mormon, but as I said, I suspect that flavor will not travel well. In a world where “It’s Hard Out There for a Pimp” is an award-winning song, a candidate has to bring more to the party than the dependability of a Maytag washer.

Palin brings some flavor. Thankfully. And flipping ’round the cable channels, oy, the press looks really, really unhappy. Andrea Mitchell sounds pained.

Gateway Pundit is finding the first negatives in the press.

UPDATE: Someone just emailed me that McCain has “made a cynical move nominating not the best for the job, but the most appealing.”

Geez, be careful there, friend. You open yourself to the question of whether the Democrats did not also make “a cynical move, nominating not the best for the job, but the most appealing.” Unless, of course, you’re ready to make the argument that Obama is truly better qualified to be president than Biden, Chris Dodd or, you know, Hillary.

The Democrats have to be careful, now, and so does the press. Much of what they’d like to say about Palin – about age, experience, identity politics, etc – will only open the door to similar inquiry about Obama. And the bottom line to those sorts of debates will always be this: Palin is at the bottom of the ticket; Obama is at the top. Talk Left is wisely trying to warn them.

Ed Morrissey talks competence.

Apparently the PUMA’s are excited.

Ace has the first hates and more. Interestingly, people who say women can do anything and should not be tied down, suddenly think Palin should be home raising her children.
Jimmie Bise is looking around and making some smart observations.
NY POST: Pictures!