If John McCain would have picked Lieberman, the party faithful at the Republican Convention could have revolted to the point of refusing to vote for Lieberman's nomination. The Republicans have had horrible fund raising, nominating Lieberman would have made it worse.

Since the Republicans are a party in the middle of a death spiral, there just was no good candidate for VP as there was no really good candiate for President. The only reason McCAinis the nominee is that the other Republicans running for president were even worse.

That act defies his slogan of “Country First” and comes down more as “McCain Victory First”- which is unfortunate for him and for all Americans who support him.

McCain should have gone with his gut and chosen Lieberman. It is clear he knew nothing about Sarah Palin and her smallness is embarrassing. For example, the report found no truth in her claims against her ex-brother-in-law. She just hated him. She also approved a Major Grant for a Youth Center at a church she came to admire even while eliminating similar grants to other Youth Centers and churches.

Senator McCain chose the sexy sister from the modern version of The Anchorage Hillbillies. Palin uses government power as HER power because she has no ability to “blink”, which most of us do when we are asked a serious question or confronted with real world complications.

Sarah Palin should have said to Senator McCain, “have somebody investigate me the way we would investigate an unknown Democratic candidate. If I can pass that test, I will be glad to serve with you.”

But we know what she says, “You can't blink.” Well no wonder she winks so much.

Only in Palin's bizarre world could claim your partial term as governor as enough experience for VP, but then also claim that anything unethical you may have done during that short time is off-limits and should not affect your qualifications as VP.

She was elected because she claimed to be a Republican who would not tolerate ethics violations by the corrupt, established and entrenched Republican regime. Surprise surprise, she hasn't even finished one term and she's already got mud on her own face.

The motivations for releasing the report don't matter to me; it was the only acceptable action to take for the citizens of Alaska, anyone working in the AK state government and the voters of the entire US.

I guess the concern about ethics will last about as long as the Democrats in Congress cared about holding hearings and holding people accountable. AFter passing an $800 billion bailout without significant hearings.

Holy cow… I just read that again and realized I've hit an even nastier streak of cynicism this morning than my norm.

The real quesiton is how long will the Democrats love of ethnics last once the West Wing of the White House is filled with fixers from Chicago. Considering that the wife of the next president of the U.S. was involved in influence peddling in Chicago casts doubts on how far the Democratic Party is willing to do concerning ethnics.

I'm not sure this is refreshing. My understanding, from reading the occasional snippet of the Alaska newspapers that pop up on memeorandum, is that Ms. Palin was at odds with the Republican Party establishment in Alaska. So I don't count their votes, by themselves, as evidence of disinterested pursuit of ethical government, nor evidence of her guilt. Perhaps it is just petty payback.