Like the fact that she did not know what the Vice President's job was. She got the question twice.

She gave a “policy speech” where she talked about the wasteful spending of money on fruit fly research. We know what we know now about Autisim because of…wait for it…FRUIT FLY RESEARCH.

Ms. Ultra Executive had NO effect on her staff whatsoever. Where was her executive ability to discern whether or not she had a true call from a Head of State? Regardless of whether the staff put the phone in her hand, did nothing kick in with her to make sure this was a true call?

Well, ok that was awhile ago. Let's deal with the present. The hurried press release of her innocence in Troopergate at the 11th hour has now been proven false.

She doesn't have a enough media savvy yet (which is UNBELIEVEABLE) to do a interview someplace other than where they grind the turkeys.

When she goes on a show like Meet the Press, The No Spin Zone with Bill O'Reilly or anybody who is not going to give her a powder puff interview then she will start to look like she is serious. She has gotten by on her looks and her personality for so long that she never had to do anymore than smile. That day was over when she was chosen as VP nominee. The only one who didn't know that was Sarah Palin.

Listen, she energized the base. But obviously you needed more than the base to win. If she is truly serious about being someone on the national scene, then she needs to STUDY THE COURIC interview EVERYDAY. Research every question she got asked that she messed up on which would be ALL OF THEM. Stop sounding like “Talking Points Barbie” and hire someone to work with her on her presentation.

1.

I totally agree McCain ran a terrible campaign- but he also picked
someone who not only had the wrong experience for the international
problems we are facing, but who turned off liberals, moderates and
Independents. Conservatives with a conscience like Peggy Noonan and
Chris Buckley admitted that she was unsuited. The rest ignored her
obvious failings and fell in love.

She's an able politician but after the election, you have to have some
substantive knowledge. Also her ethical problems at home were not a
good sign of what was to come- especially for a reformer. Just look at
the split she caused in the GOP, whereas Obama's pick of Biden was
acceptable both to his supporters and to many outside the party,
because of his 30+ years of experience in Washington.

Kritt11: The only reason 60% said she wasn't ready for the VP was that the McCain campaign refused to defend her and refused to let her defend herself. At the time of the pick, the vast majority of the American people said she was a brilliant pick.

“He picked Palin, and then realized that she had a poor level of knowledge on both domestic and world affairs” and your reason for that is….?? (crickets chirping). Yeah, I thought so.

“Fox and Newsweek are now reporting that she didn't understand that Africa was a continent, not a country, and didn't know what countries signed on to NAFTA.” And you heard the from ? Oh that's right. McCain staffers who ran one of the worst campaigns ever and then had to pin a loss on someone so they could work again. Not the most reliable people IMHO.

“His staffers attempted to keep her hidden from the press and tried to coach her before she was allowed to give selected national interviews, but it didn't work” No, it didn't and that was the problem. You notice that once she “went rogue” and told the staffers to shove it up their you-know-what's, McCain started to climb back into the polls. It was Palin that turned his ship around at the end, just too late.

I'd love to pin McCain's loss on Sarah Palin's ugly head. She is a horrible, horrible person, and she did a lot to damage the McCain campaign. But she did not cause McCain to lose – she only exacerbated the loss. Even if McCain had picked an insert-wonderful-and-competent-republican-name-here candidate instead of Palin, he still would have lost. However, it might have been a much narrower victory without her.

But, you cannot come across as desperate for the job. It is a large part of what killed Kerry's campaign (OK, a part – there were so many shortcomings in his attempt it is hard to label any one as key).

Certainly other Presidents have been elected with light-weight VP's on the ticket (Bush/Quayle). But the obvious lack of vetting, her ignorance on key issues, the playing of the gender card her selection indicated, the pandering to the base (who never really liked him, but would not dream of voting Democratic) rather than going with his real choice of Lieberman cost him both the maverick and the moderates, and McCain's age making his VP selection more critical than others all worked against him.

Prior to the economic meltdown, he just might have had a chance. But not with Palin. So, while you cannot say she cost him the election, I think you can say he could not win with her as his running mate.

Regarding the sources of all the anti-Palin stories, I heard that they are coming from people in McCain's campaign with ties to Romney. It makes sense, who else has more motive to tear down Palin.

She blew several key interviews with the press– remember she couldn't name a SCOTUS case other than Roe v Wade and couldn't think of the publications she reads?Palin was the person who bragged that Putin's head flies over Alaskan air space as proof of her foreign policy credentials. At the end it was difficult to see the difference between her and her caricature on SNL.

Obama didn't have anything to do with that.

McCain did panic after the Democratic convention, when he felt he had to seize back the momentum. There was still a possibility that Hillary supporters were not ready to back Obama, and he might be able to capitalize on their anger. He also knew that he did not have the right stuff to turn out the base the way Bush had in 2000 or 2004. He lacked Obama's superior fundraising and organizational skills and did not appeal to conservatives as strongly as Bush had.

He picked Palin, and then realized that she had a poor level of knowledge on both domestic and world affairs.Fox and Newsweek are now reporting that she didn't understand that Africa was a continent, not a country, and didn't know what countries signed on to NAFTA. His staffers attempted to keep her hidden from the press and tried to coach her before she was allowed to give selected national interviews, but it didn't work. In the end Palin was both a tremendous strength and a huge liability to the campaign.

It really bothers me that so many conservatives were willing to overlook her obvious shortcomings to get one of their own on the ticket.