I wish the members of tonight’s town hall debate audience had asked Senator McCain some of the following questions. They didn’t:

• Is Governor Palin ready to be president if something happens to you?
• Is Governor Palin more qualified to be Vice President than Senator Biden?
• Is Senator Obama less of an American than you?
• Does your tax plan reduce taxes for 95% of Americans?
• How does your POW status qualify you to be president?
• Are your ties to Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac greater or lesser than those of Senator Obama?
• What would you say to people who think Senator Obama is a muslim?
• If you could only choose one, would you cut taxes for people making under $250K a year or over?
• Do you belief Senator Obama is a traitor to America?
• Does your friendship with G. Gordon Liddy reflect poorly on your judgement?
• How can you be both a “maverick” and a “voice of reason”?
• Does your part in the Keating Five make you a good candidate to manage a financial “rescue plan”?
• Should people vote for you because Senator Obama is black?

Instead we got a bunch of boring questions that I doubt anyone actually wanted answers to. Maybe next debate.

Bill Kristol, on Fox News, suggests that McCain should ask voters concerned about the economy to “judge the character, the judgement, the background of the person you’re putting in charge”.

Hm.

Does Kristol not recall The Keating Five, where McCain intervened in an investigation of his political patron, which, eventually, resulted in over 20,000 Americans losing their savings? John McCain’s involvement in protecting Charles Keating calls into direct question McCain’s character, judgement and background. McCain thought it was more important to protect his political pals over the public.

Kristol also says McCain should tie Obama to “some pretty unsavory characters”. Think Kristol remembers that John McCain is great friends with G. Gordon Liddy, who helped plan the Watergate break-in (and went to jail for four years because of it) and advocated killing Federal officials?

Is that the character, judgement and background you want in your president?

Watch Krisol blather (thanks Talking Point Memo):

Although I’ve been following the 2008 presidential cycle closely, I haven’t written anything here since May of 2007. The Democratic National Convention and the Republican selection of a Vice President candidate, though, threw me back into the mix with a vengeance. I’ve added a couple of entries from the last few days, and I suspect I’l have a bit more to say in the coming days and weeks.

I find myself unable to completely fathom Senator McCain’s choice of Sara Palin for Vice President. Earlier I suggested that McCain was supremely confident in his chances to win in November. After thinking this through, having the initial shock subside, and reading more about Governor Palin, I’m changing my mind.

I can’t imagine that McCain honestly believes selecting a running mate with less than two years’ experience as Governor of a state with the third lowest population in the country is the way to get elected. Palin would be a heartbeat away from the highest office in the land—and a 72-year-old heartbeat at that; is Palin really ready to be President should the unfortunate happen?

Maybe McCain is scared witless, or throwing the election.

Perhaps he feels he can’t possibly win. The Electoral College map is breaking in Obama’s favor, and the Democratic party finally seems to have united behind their candidate. If he can’t win, he wants to at least go down in history as the presidential candidate who put the first woman on a Republican ticket.

Or perhaps McCain realizes that, at 72, he doesn’t really want to be President. He can’t just quit, so he choses someone so woefully under-qualified that no one could legitimately vote for them. After all, the very charges McCain has been leveling at Obama are can now be brought against Palin. If you shouldn’t vote for Obama because he’s “dangerously unprepared”, how do you vote for Palin?

There’s one more possibility. Palin is completely untested on the national stage. We don’t know how she’ll handle the pressure, or what skeletons might be in her closet. Could this be a total red herring? A political flea-flicker? Could they be planning to enjoy the media bounce from choosing Palin, only to have her step down just before the elections “for personal reasons”, and then bring in their “real” choice?

Of course, perhaps I give too much credit to McCain; perhaps he truly believes this selection is the way to victory. Nothing surprises me anymore.

Just a day after Barack Obama accepted his historic nomination for President of the United States, John McCain shocked the world by selecting Sara Palin as his running mate.

By now, if you care you’ve already read all about her, and if you’re like me, you’re left with dueling impressions: one the one hand, wow, what a bold, out-of-the-box, dare I say maverick choice. And yet, on the other, seriously? After leveling charges of inexperience against your opponent, you select someone who has less experience on the world stage?

What this tells me is McCain is supremely confident in his chances to win the presidency. He’s basically saying that even with a complete unknown as his running mate, he can defeat Obama and Biden in November.

Either McCain believes the American people really can’t bring themselves to vote in large enough numbers for Obama, or there’s some kind of October Surprise planned that will completely derail Obama’s candidacy. Palin is certainly not the most prudent pick.

Whatever the reason (including the possibility that Palin is one of the best political minds in the country), McCain has successfully retaken the news cycle. People have already forgotten about yesterday’s historical event.

Well played Senator McCain.

What will be fascinating is to see how the Democrats choose to answer this challenge. Accusations of sexism were already leveled by the Clinton camp as one reason for her loss. Will the public, media and Democrats go easy on Palin because she’s a women, fearing such continued charges? Will Biden attack her as viciously as you would expect him to do against an established male Washington insider? Heck, does she have the experience and knowledge to effectively debate Biden on the issues?

The elections just became a bit more interesting.

Tonight, for the first time in the history of this country, a Black man accepted the nomination of a major political party for the presidency of the United States of America.

I don’t have anything insightful to say, I just marvel at the achievement, one hundred and forty-five years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and forty-three years after the Voting Rights Act.

I regret that eighteen months ago, when Barack Obama first decided to run for President, I didn’t become a citizen, because I didn’t think he would even get this far. I once said

I would love to see Obama run, and be elected, President of the United States. I’m just not sure the country’s ready to agree with me.

Regardless of what happens on Election Day, it’s clear that today, a large number of Americans are willing to put aside issues of race and vote for a man who inspires hope and appeals to our best nature.

Congratulations to Barack Obama.