Take Five, mid-convention edition

1. My first reaction to the news that Sarah Palin was going to be the vice presidential choice of the Republicans was "Who?" My second reaction to the news was "Boy, the Democrats will never carry Alaska now." And my third reaction to the news was, "That sure puts a torch to criticism of Obama's lack of experience."

2. I've heard the argument that Palin's choice is an attempt to woo disgruntled Clinton voters who are women, but I can't see that working too well. Palin is anti-choice, a longtime member of the NRA, and someone who wants to teach creationism in schools. Does that sound anything like Clinton's agenda? I could see a handful of Clinton's supporters staying home in disgust, but I don't think said argument gives enough credit to her supporters and their depth of philosophic values.

3. I haven't seen most of Obama's acceptance speech yet, but with the stadium, confetti, fireworks and so forth, it might have provided the most impressive pictures I've ever seen of a political event. You could almost picture them ahead of time in a photo spread in Time or Newsweek.

4. I did see the post-speech analysis for Obama's address on tape delay. I went back and forth between Fox News and MSNBC (one started the analysis a few minutes earlier, making it easier), and it was fascinating. On MSNBC, the commentators were absolutely gushing on how it was the greatest speech since Washington said farewell to the troops. On Fox, the commentators were essentially saying it was the same old Democratic song and dance, nicely packaged for a change. There was some middle ground out there, and it took people like Chuck Todd and Brian Williams to find it, but those who talk a lot about bias in the media would have found ammunition.

5. If you have some extra time, the designated download of the week is Roger Simon's article on Politico.com on the Democratic primary process. It's something like 18,000 words over 24 pages, so read it at your leisure. But there's some great information in there.