According to this story, Joe Lieberman was John McCain's preferred choice for VP. Ultimately, he listened to advisers who gave him the obvious news: McCain-Lieberman was a losing ticket if he wanted to hold his base.

For weeks, advisers close to the campaign said, Mr. McCain had wanted to name as his running mate his good friend Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democrat turned independent. But by the end of last weekend, the outrage from Christian conservatives over the possibility that Mr. McCain would fill out the Republican ticket with Mr. Lieberman, a supporter of abortion rights, had become too intense to be ignored.

Polling didn't help McCain pick Sarah Palin since "virtually no one had heard of her, a McCain adviser said." She beat out Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney because she had "glowing reviews from influential social conservatives" and McCain felt he needed an "attention-grabbing choice." [more ...]

Sending good thoughts to those in the path of Hurricane Gustav. New Orleans has been evacuated.

This is an open thread.

Steve Benen writes about the Palin pick:

A top "loyal Bushie" told the Politico's Mike Allen that McCain's decision is "disrespectful to the office of the presidency." That's actually a pretty good way of characterizing it. . . . Campaigns have their ads, their polls, and their tactics, but at the end of the day, credible people who care about the country know that this is more than just a theatrical game -- the future of the nation counts more than the future of a candidate. . . . [H]onorable Americans of character don't gamble with the nation's well-being. They know there are lines that can't be crossed for expediency's sake, no matter how strong the temptation.

(Emphasis supplied.) [More...]

Yesterday we noted the Washington Post picked up on Troopergate. Tonight, it's McClatchy.

Is Gov. Sarah Palin ready for what's coming her way?

Politico reports John McCain may postpone the Republican National Convention. Daily Kos says it's a good idea.

Update: Five questions Gov. Sarah Palin needs to get ready to answer, from her financial disclosures to her passport.

Update: Marcy weighs in on Palin. Humorist Mad Kane writes a limmerick, Sarah Who?

Borrowing from the Bush Administration's "preemptive war" playbook, police agencies in the Twin Cities made "preemptive strikes" against organizations planning to protest at the Republican National Convention.

Ramsey County authorities conducted raids across Minneapolis and St. Paul Friday and Saturday .... Five people were arrested and more than 100 were handcuffed, questioned and released by scores of deputies and police officers, according to police and elected officials familiar with the raids.

The police continue to be obsessed with groups that came to town to monitor police misconduct. [more ...]

The Florida Gators stomped the Rainbows Warriors of Hawaii 56-10. Michigan lost its home opener for the second year in a row, this time to Utah, 25-23. It was a good day.

This is an Open Thread.

Georgia10 plays, citing this article:

"I think [Sarah Palin] is the most inexperienced person on a major party ticket in modern history," said presidential historian Matthew Dallek.

That may well be. But isn't it true that a presidential historian could ALSO say, if asked:

I think Barack Obama is the most inexperienced person on the top of a major party ticket in modern history.

There is a reason Abraham Lincoln is invoked by Obama supporters, as Al Gore did, because you have to go back to Lincoln to find a Presidential candidate with less experience than Obama. I have consistently stated my view that experience is incredibly overrated. For a long time, I thought Obama supporters agreed with me. Seems not.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Hands-down, my favorite hangout during the Democratic National Convention was Brooklyn's, across the street from the Pepsi Center and comandeered for the week by CNN which recast it as the CNN Grill.

First, it's an excellent and inviting space, with great light, huge ceilings and many different kinds of seating. In addition to stools that run the length of the ample bar, there are also both bar and regular height tables and booths. The outside patio was roomy and festive. At night, crowds gathered round to watch the big tv's. [More...]

An episode of 48 Hours Mystery airing tonight on CBS will explore Michael Skakel's conviction of murder in the death of his neighbor Martha Moxley.

A new one-hour episode of 48 Hours Mystery will focus on a videotaped deposition by Skakel's ex-classmate at Brunswick School, Gitano "Tony" Bryant, in which he claims two Bronx, N.Y., teens confessed to him that they killed Moxley, as well as Skakel's two pending legal appeals to reverse his conviction.

TalkLeft's coverage of the Skakel case is collected here.

We can't expect a rousing acceptance speech from John McCain, so the GOP will have to look elsewhere for adrenaline. Bobby Jindal would have provided the fresh face that the moribund party needs, but the governor is intelligently staying home to preside over Louisiana's response to Hurricane Gustav.

Gustav is gaining strength and is on track to make landfall Tuesday, three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and caused more than 1,500 deaths along the Gulf Coast. Just where Hurricane Gustaf will make landfall is uncertain, but if it stays on its projected path, it will hit the central coast of Louisiana.

President Bush has already declared Louisiana a state of emergency. Now that Louisiana has a popular Republican governor in an election year, it has the president's attention. Whether his administration will be any more helpful (or competent) this time remains to be seen.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has appointed one justice to the Alaska Supreme Court: Daniel Winfree. Here's part of her statement on his appointment.(US States News November 16, 2007.)

Winfree, 54, was born in Fairbanks. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Oregon in 1977 and both a law degree and a master's degree in business administration from the University of California in 1981.

He worked for Perkins, Coie law office in Anchorage 1982-85, then opened his own law office in Valdez, practicing there from 1985-90. Winfree returned to Fairbanks to open a legal partnership, Winfree and Hompesch, which he closed in 1996 in favor of the Winfree Law office, which he has operated in Fairbanks since 1996 as a six-attorney private law office.

More....