No gentle way to say this so I will spare my usual tact.  Every time this stupid c#nt opened her mouth millions of dollars poured into demo cash registers in record numbers.  She's one of the greatest democratic fundraisers in history.  Dumb repubs will foolishly believe she is the future.  Smart repubs know she's the past.  Her idiotic rants about the 'real' America of 'small towns' made smart people shake their heads- as the 'real' America of the cities and suburbs made themselves heard when it counted most.  Dems are praying that she comes back for obvious reasons- her bizarre anti-intellectualism, her strange narrow world-view, and the obvious spell she's casted over her party elders have clearly blinded some important people to the damage she's caused.  The McCain of 2000 would have never, ever had anything to do with this breeder. 

During the campaign and in retrospect, Palin was probably one of the more refreshing choices I've seen in politics.

An unwise pick, no doubt. Although he may have gathered a handful of women as a result, he has pushed away many of the fence-sitters with the brash choice of an unexperienced candidate (and potential successor), as well as one who comes across as more than a little dopey...
However, if something did happen to McCain, would anyone object to her removal as president?

Come on! Who really believes that Sarah Palin is qualified to be President of the United States? The only job of the Vice President is to be ready to succeed the President should he be incapacitated. McCain, by selecting Palin, would leave the country in unprepared hands. Considering that he had over 6 months to think about and make this selection, you would imagine that he could have made a better pick. McCain made this pick strictly for political purposes and not for the greater good of the country. For someone's who's campaigning on the slogan "Country First", he didn't do so in this key occasion. That says a lot to me about his priorities.

Not that Obama is much better by any means. Indeed I just finished standing in a 2 hour line to cast my ballot for a 3rd party candidate. My question is how can we not have better candidates standing for the highest office of the land. With all the qualified and talented people we have living in this country, is Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or Joe Biden and John McCain the best we can do? We really need better standards for who runs for high office. The standard is not "who would you like to have a beer with" or "who dresses the best" or "who speaks the best". The standard must come down to 4 basic qualities: leadership, responsibility, intelligence and honesty.

Unfortunately we haven't seen any major Presidential candidate with those traits in some time. We must demand better.

It probably cost him Cindy's vote.

I have yet to receive an answer to this Q...if McCain wins...will it be because he DID pick Palin?

The only true policy decision that a Presidential candidate gets to make before the election is to select a VP candidate.  I thought Palin was a brash, irresponsible, and cynical pick, and it certainly made me question McCain's judgment.  For all but the real hard core culture warriors, I believe she makes McCain close to unelectable.