Matters of Opinion

John McCain has made news with another act of political non-conformity, picking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential candidate. [Her official Web page is here, but it was jammed Friday afternoon.]

Why pick a national unknown, who is only 44 years old and has served only two years in statewide office? To appeal to the women who are miffed about Democrats not picking Hillary Clinton? To mollify social conservatives who will like Palin's pro-life, pro-gun record?

Or because, to paraphrase Monty Python, "She's beautiful, she's conservative, she's got huge ... deposits of oil and gas." [Original line, dealing with tracts of land, delivered in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" by Michael Palin, no known kin of Sarah.]

Chances are that Gov. Palin, leader of a state where the economy is based on oil, whose husband works in the oil fields, who once served on the state's oil commission, who favors drilling in ANWR, was picked to appeal to the ever-larger segment of the American electorate that wants to drill, drill, drill.

There's a lot to be learned about Sarah Palin. It will help the voters that the big newspaper in Alaska, The Anchorage Daily News, is owned by the McClatchy chain, which operates one of the best serious news operations on the planet.

Some instant blogalysis:
-- The AP's Ron Fournier: John McCain's risky choice of Gov. Sarah Palin gives him a running mate who doubles down on his maverick image, may appeal to "hockey moms" and other women, and counters Barack Obama's aura of new-generation change. But he may have undercut his best attack on the Democrat. If Obama is an empty suit, as McCain has suggested, is Palin suited for the Oval Office herself?
-- The Detroit Freep's Ron Dzwonkowski: Youth, gender, a background entirely outside the Washington Beltway, and enormous energy as a campaigner. She's a working mom with five children, has been in business and is a hunting and fishing enthusiast. She can claim a record as a government reformer and a tax cutter and someone who cares less about partisanship than about getting the job done.
-- The Dallas Morning News' Michael Landauer: Five reasons why Sarah Palin is a laugh-out-loud choice for VP.
-- Slate's The XX Factor: Never Underestimate a Woman with a French Manicure and the Smell of Fish.
-- The Washington Post's Gene Pool: Sarah problem here?
-- The San Francisco Chronicle's Below the Beltway: Sen. John McCain's long-ball choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was both brilliant and a clear and convincing sign of his total desperation heading into the Twin Cities after Sen. Barack Obama's knock-out convention.

-- George Pyle/Editorial Writer