I prefer Michael Palin, myself. More cosmopolitan.

I don't know if this analysis by Ezra Klein of McCain's vice-presidential choice of Sarah Palin is accurate, but I hope it gets a lot of play, because it's convincing. The "he's trying to look cool"-angle is great. It makes McCain look like one of those really old teachers who get the kid's slang wrong trying to "reach out to them". Good narrative for the Obama campaign:

This was, for McCain, a major decision. And we can learn from it. And here's what even his supporters must admit: Country did not come first. Polls did. The calculations are fully transparent. Understanding that he needed to broaden his electoral coalition, he picked a woman. Understanding he needed youth, he picked a young politician. Understanding he needed to emphasize his reformist credentials, he picked a onetime whistleblower. What he didn't pick was anyone able to help him govern, or capable of stepping forward in a moment of crisis. Palin is not an experienced foreign policy hand like Lieberman or a successful and experienced governor like Tommy Thompson. Today, McCain chose his campaign over his presidency. Over our presidency. Palin seems like a promising young politician, but McCain increasingly seems like a desperate one.

That having been said, I was kinda underwhelmed by Obama's speech at the convention. He gorged on a whole bunch of silly tropes he'd been sensible enough throughout the rest of the campaign to use sparingly. It just seemed too over-the-top to me.

And there was way too much emphasis on the military, Georgia and Israel for me to feel entirely comfortable. Also: you might not have heard the dog-whistle, but he was talking about doing military operations against Bin Laden and Al-Qaida, which means going into Pakistan. That's very troubling.

Update: although, when I think about it, he's finally putting some policy ideas more widely into the field, which is probably what his campaign needs at this point. Or maybe it's just my blood sugar talking. Who knows?