Maverick x 2

Wow!!! As Chris Matthews might say, McCain's pick for Veep sent a shiver up my leg. After closing the gap in the polls all summer this may be the move to put him over the top. I was fortunate to catch Sarah Palin's acceptance speech on the radio and I am impressed. She seems to fill every requirement the Republicans had:
1) She, like McCain, is a maverick unafraid to take on special interests and her own party. This should help reinforce his maverick brand.
2) She is not of Washington. In fact she is about as down to earth as you get in a politician. After a full week of the Obama/Hollywood celebrity-fest out in Denver, it was nice to see real Americans back on center stage.
3) She is fically conservative. She spoke about how she turned down the appropriations for the bridge to nowhere authorized by Congress, and how last year she cut $231MM of wasteful spending from Alaska's state budget. Yes, you read that correctly...a grand total $231MM of big government spending was sent swirling down the proverbial toilet by her line item veto pen. The part I like is the "veto reason" column, where a large number of the cuts are marked "not a state responsibility". If you are a fiscal conservative or libertarian, that way of looking at spending should excite you (as it does me).http://ktuu.images.worldnow.com/images/incoming/Vetoes.pdf
4) She is socially conservative...both pro-life and pro-gun rights. In fact she is a moose hunter (and thats not a euphamism for anything she actually goes out hunting moose) and fished commercially.
5) She makes the McCain campaign as "historic" as the Obama campaign (although you may not hear this in the press as I think most of the arugala eating, east coast based networks believe this is a coronation rather than election)
6) In an election season where energy independence and energy policy is a major issue, Palin offers the experience of being governor of the largest energy producing state as well as having served on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commision.