There's been speculation, here and elsewhere, that Sarah Palin's a token choice -- hey, she's got ovaries, let's get all the womens' votes, 'cause they're too dumb to see past the superficial... but I've seen some good arguments why she *specifically* is a very good choice.
Time Magazine thinks she's a very good fit, message wise. HotAir.com summarizes it like this:
McCain had several options open to him in this choice, but none of them would have addressed all of the points that Palin does. Tim Pawlenty is a Washington outsider and an Everyman too, but fortunately Minnesota has not been plagued with official corruption, and Pawlenty has not had to crusade for massive reform. He has governed as an effective and strong center-right leader, but doesn’t have the dynamism of Palin. Mitt Romney, who would have been my first choice, has a proven track record in both private and public sectors of strong leadership, but his compromises as governor of Massachusetts already had people calling him a flip-flopper on key points like abortion. Also, Romney isn’t exactly an Everyman; although he is a Washington outsider, his wealth hardly gives the impression of one.
Palin is, in a way, Pawlenty with a ferocious record of reform. She went after her own party’s state chair and exposed his corruption at the Oil and Natural Gas Commission. Palin defied Ted Stevens and Don Young in refusing to accept the Bridge to Nowhere and told them that Alaska can build its own bridges. Otherwise, like Pawlenty, she enjoys and excels in sports, has a young family, and prior to entering the governor’s mansion lived in a solidly middle-class home. Palin is, as Pawlenty often points out, more Sam’s Club than country club.
For a candidate who wants to run on a platform of change and reform, Palin fills the prescription perfectly. Not only has she not spent more than three decades immersed in Washington politics, she already has a proven track record of attacking corruption wherever she finds it — even in her own party. As Time says, Palin provides everything McCain needs in a partner for his mission of reform.
