I’m laughing my ass off by now. If I may be so bold as to crib directly from HuffPo, here’s what I know collectively of the presumed Vice Presidential candidate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin:

• Before becoming governor a scant 17 months ago, her biggest public role was that of a mayor of a town with a population of about 7,000 people.
• She was nearly recalled as mayor in 1996.
• She was the director of indicted Sen. Ted Stevens’ 527.
• To paraphrase my favorite talking point of the 2004 Presidential election, she was for the so-called “Bridge to Nowhere” before she was praised for being against it.
• To answer admittedly nasty rumors about her 17 year-old daughter being the alleged true mother of the baby born officially to Sarah Palin in April, admits that said daughter is actually currently 5 months pregnant and is planning to marry the father.

On that last point, I’d like special recognition to be given to the McCain personal stamp of approval on the vetting process that apparently was aware of the little bun in the oven when he officially picked her.

Now while I realize that having a pregnant daughter doesn’t exactly disqualify one for being in public office, it does put neon highlights on the enormous problems that arise when you listen to Republican ideals. This is, after all, the party that condemns the use of birth control and proper sexual education — “Abstinence ONLY” and all that fucking nonsense.

On a side note, the Republicans made a big deal about scrapping most of the pageantry of their convention this week in St. Paul in favor of pageantry surrounding helping the folks in New Orleans as they evacuated from the path of Hurricane Gustav. As it turns out Gustav was nothing like Katrina and the damages appear to be blessedly limited. So their big plans of making it look like they actually care about people seems to have backfired, too. Now the big news is that having a well-coordinated team of FEMA and local government running an clean evacuation of a major city can actually be done. That and a certain rather notable kid is pregnant.

I’m left to wonder if McCain will get any post-convention bounce at all. I think he should count his blessings if he comes out even come Friday. This has been hilarious since he introduced Palin. She’s like the Republican equivalent of Jar Jar Binks.