1. As you may have heard, we NR-niks met her in Alaska, when we were cruising there. She was charming, refreshing, and bright. I remember Dick Morris in particular saying that she could go quite far.
2. I was always against her nomination as veep. The main reason: How can you knock Barack Obama as too green for the job when you have Sarah Palin?
3. I said the same thing about Bobby Jindal, much as I love him, much as I’m wowed by him.
4. If you were going to go the inexperienced-young-person route — i.e., Palin or Jindal — why not Jindal? Why is he not preferable?
5. Jindal, though a new governor, is not all that inexperienced — in fact, not inexperienced at all. He just doesn’t have national-security credentials.
6. No fair saying, “But this is the veep slot, not the presidential slot.” What are the three criteria for a vice-presidential nominee, long handed down? 1) Would he make a good president? 2) Would he make a good vice president? And 3) Would he make a good candidate?
And we remember that McCain is regarded as an oldster with a shaky health record.
7. Will some conservatives (and maybe some others) object that she is a mother with children, including an infant, who should not have time for such a demanding job? You bet.
8. McCain probably figured that he had to throw a long ball — and this is a long ball. It is unorthodox, yes. But beyond unorthodox: Is it bizarre?
9. Two second ago, she was mayor of Wasilla. Now she’s going to be vice president of the United States, “a heartbeat away from the presidency”? Really?
10. She became governor last year — which is somewhat disquieting to know.
11. I’m nervous about her — nervous only for electoral reasons, not substantive reasons — but I’m a big fan of hers, and I wish her well (needless to say).
12. This morning, our publisher Jack Fowler e-mailed to me a picture of me with the governor, snapped during our Alaska cruise. She looks much better than I — vice-presidential, in fact.