Palin is certainly an attractive target.  She has bad ideas, some history of scandal, and in some cases, no ideas at all.  But I am troubled by how much attention she has attracted from all sides, from the main stream media and from the blogosphere.  This election needs to be about issues that are critical to our survival as a nation: War and international relations, the economy and tax policy, energy strategy, labor rights and equal pay. 
McCain has terrible positions on all of those issues that need to be exposed.  The key problem with Governor Palin is that she has little knowledge of those subjects.  It is hard to imagine her challenging McCain, the way Biden might challenge Obama to sharpen strategies, or even correcting his confusion of Shia and Sunni or the borders of Iraq. 
Selecting Palin certainly brings into question McCain's experience argument and his judgment and, I think also, his claims to putting country above personal ambition.  But Republicans will make those arguments themselves.  From the partial evidence of conversations with Republican neighbors this weekend, they already have.
McCain certainly intended this selection to appeal to the PUMA voters.  But McCain advisor Charlie Black's comments expose the real intent and position of women like Sarah Palin in a McCain administration: ""She's going to learn national security at the foot of the master for the next four years."  There you have it: while pandering to women, their real position is "at the foot of the master."
But even if we could, we should not look to win the election solely on the basis of this foolish, pandering selection.  It is critically important for Obama's campaign to discuss, educate and mobilize voters about the real issues that will continue to matter once the election is won.
And, in addition to those issues, it is critically important that we work with the Obama campaign to fix the broken politics of Washington, the politics of personal destruction, and yes the politics of misogyny that seems to infect progressives and the left as well as the right. 
Let's leave the issues of 'babes' and wardrobes behind.  Let's focus on McCain and the real issues in this race.