You, ma'am, are no Hillary Clinton

To paraphrase the late Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen: I know Hillary Clinton.  Hillary Clinton was a candidate of mine.  You, ma'am, are no Hillary Clinton."

After months of mocking a member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Barack Obama's, "lack of foreign affairs" experience, I'm amused at Fox News and the conservative punditry talking about Sarak Pallin's foreign affairs experience given her state's geographical proximity to Russia.

(And is it reassuring to see that Tim Russo's misogyny is bipartisan?)

Did the Palin pick kill the news coverage over Obama's speech?  Sure, but just about any nominee would have.  The fact that McCain did so little vetting of this candidate says something about McCain's judgment.

Let's attack Pallin for her lack of a record.  She's credited for taking on her party's establishment.  But the Republican incumbent she defeated came in third in their primary (with a paultry 15%-- a number only Bob Taft would envy).  And even then, she didn't get over 50% in her party's primary.  She did not even get a majority of the votes in the general election.

Prior to being elected Governor, she had been a Mayor of a small village.  She left a legacy of financial mismangement. (HT: Daily Kos)

Sarah Palin left the finances of her town Wasilla in tatters when she moved on in 2002. She wanted a legacy as mayor, it seems, and pushed hard for the town to build a hyper-expensive sports complex. But Palin screwed the process up badly. Instead of buying the land for the complex when it was offered, her administration allowed a developer named Gary Lundgren to snap it up. Then Wasilla tried to seize the land from Lundgren through eminent domain. In the end, what with court costs Wasilla paid at least $ 1.7 million for land it could have bought for less than one tenth that sum - if the purchase had been handled properly. For this incompetence, Wasilla is still paying a steep price: higher taxes and cutbacks in services.

She's been praised as being the Commander-in-Chief of Alaska's National Guard.  Yet, she's apparently been largely absentee:

Alaska Business Monthly: We've lost a lot of Alaska's military members to the war in Iraq. How do you feel about sending more troops into battle, as President Bush is suggesting?

Palin: I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments  . . .

That was her in March 2007. 

During her first term as Governor, she initially supported the "Bridge to Nowhere" until Alaska's congressional delegation couldn't obtain enough in federal earmarks to entirely pay for it.  State spending has exploded under her, with the State having the highest operating budget in its history.

What do some of the people who know Pallin best have to say about her?

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?" Alaska Senate President Lyda Green-- the Republican Senate President.

Obama was actually threatening McCain in turning solid red Alaska blue.  Pallin's approval rating is still high, although dropping as the TrooperGate story has been developing.  McCain picked her because she's a popular Governor in a State where McCain has been underperforming and he wanted to try to peel off any Clinton supporters disappointed that she was not seriously considered and unconvinced by the Convention of Unity.

To suggest that Pallin was picked solely on her genitalia is insulting to her achievement; but to ignore her flaws and suggest that she is an acceptable substitute for Hillary Clinton is insulting to everything Hillary Clinton has stood for.