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Worst Pick Ever?
The Anonymous Liberal — ... -The McCain campaign has sent a team of lawyers to Alaska to begin the vetting process that they apparently didn't do before choosing Palin as VP. ...

St. Paul, Kinda Day One
FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right — ... on the robust vetting Sarah Palin (even though it's obvious she was vetted very, very poorly if at all), and talked in sound bites about how she represented a fresh face for the Republican Party. Mitt Romney blew me off (it’s almost like he doesn’t want to talk about VP stuff), and Norm Coleman was last seen sprinting from the scene, so they had no comment. You really aren’t a fully realized human being til you’ve been blown off by Mitt Romney. ...

Sarah Palin Hired Lobbyists To Bring In $27 Million In Federal Earmarks
Oliver Willis — ... she said Friday. In her years as mayor of Wasilla, however, Palin oversaw the hiring of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh, an Anchorage-based law firm with close ties to Alaska’s most senior Republicans: Rep. Don Young and Sen. Ted Stevens, who was indicted in July for allegedly accepting illegal gifts. The Wasilla account was handled by the former chief of staff to Stevens, Steven W. Silver, who is a partner in the firm. Ash Josh Marshall notes and the NY Times is now reporting, it is clear Sen. McCain used the same sort of judgment in ...

Just One Day at Memeorandum: Any Questions About Media Bias?
Stop The ACLU — ... — He’s a superhunky bad-boy ice hockey player from cold country; she’s a chestnut-haired beauty and popular high school senior. — Soon the all-American teen twosome will make GOP vice presidential pick and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin … FACE IT: THEY DIDN’T VET HER — Earlier I noted Andrea Mitchell’s reference to reports that the McCain camp had just sent a team of GOP lawyers up to Alaska to do what I guess you’d call a post-vetting of Sarah Palin. Now George Stephanopoulos appears to have more. Palin’s Teen Daughter Is Pregnant ; New G.O.P. Tumult — ST. PAUL — The 17-year-old ...

He Really Is A Maverick
The Great Plains Observer — Need any more proof that John McCain is a maverick ?…the McCainers are sending a “rapid response team of about ten operatives that includes lawyers” to do the aforementioned deeper vet. A lot of attention is being given to Gov. Palin’s daughter’s situation. The much bigger deal is the expanding trooper-gate investigation, the fact that Palin lied in her Friday speech about her purported opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere, her apparent former membership in the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, and more. Whom other than a maverick would have the cajones to make one of the ...

They Just Didn't Vet Her
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — Josh Marshall nails it: A lot of attention is being given to Gov. Palin's daughter's situation. The much bigger deal is the expanding trooper-gate investigation, the fact that Palin lied in her Friday speech about her purported opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere, her apparent former membership in the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, and more. Individually, you can come to your own judgment about how consequential these stories are. What they show pretty clearly now -- in addition to the news that the McCain campaign is only now sending in a vetting ...

Palin’s Pregnant Daughter and the VP Vetting Process
Outside The Beltway | OTB — ... for “a deeper vet.”  As  Josh Marshall puts it, “Face It: They Didn’t Vet Her.” Team McCain insists this is nonsense and that they were fully aware of the situation with Palin’s daughter.   AP’s Liz Sidoti reports that, Sarah Palin’s path to the Republican ticket started with her name on a list — and a team of some 25 people poring through public records searching for trouble spots without her knowledge. Then came the 70-question survey and a nearly three-hour interview. [...] Stoking the notion of a rushed examination, a timeline issued by the campaign indicated that ...

MORNING READ
News — ... will relate more to her because of her real-life experience, writes The Next Right's Patrick Ruffini . If Democrats want to have a debate over a teenage pregnancy, they would only be helping McCain and Palin, who are pro-life, and hurting Obama, who is pro-choice, writes Townhall's Mike Gallagher . FROM THE BLOGS: [image] Erratic - Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo [image] McCain is Fundamentally Unsuited - Steve Benen, Political Animal [image] Face It: They Didn't Vet Her - Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo [image] Alaska ...

Max Blumenthal: Council for National Policy “Hidden Hand Behind McCain’s Palin Pick”
Comments from Left Field — For those who claim that the McCain campaign didn’t thoroughly vet their VP nominee before offering her a slot on the ticket, Max Blumenthal puts all concerns to rest: Last week, while the media focused almost obsessively on the DNC’s spectacle in Denver, the country’s most influential conservatives met quietly at a hotel in downtown Minneapolis to get to know Sarah Palin. The assembled were members of the Council for National Policy, an ultra-secretive cabal that networks ...

Hullabaloo — ... - turns out that as mayor she had a personal lobbyist that secured around $27 million in federal earmarks. There are at least 10 McCain operatives up in Anchorage at this point, and didn't get there until THURSDAY, the day before the choice was announced. And major media is ...

Strangers with e-Candy
Firedoglake — Special Ed catches Jodi Kantor from the New York Times misrepresenting herself on teh internets to innocent tweens just like one of those Dateline predator episodes. As Ed explains: ...