the presidency － history? or hers?

The thing is, there seems to be much to like about GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin.

Never mind the fascinatingly diverse roster of roles she's played － high-school basketball point guard ("Sarah Barracuda"), beauty queen (Miss Congeniality, no less), sportscaster, hockey mom of five (one a child with Down Syndrome), lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, Blackberry juggler, small-town mayor, head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, government whistle-blower, political hero ("Saint Sarah"), Pentecostalist, Vogue model [see above], gettin'-after-the-good-ol'-boys governor. Palin is also, by most accounts, extremely likable, fairly fearless, genuine, practical and unflappable.

She's smart. She's scrappy. She's sassy. She's a straight-shooter, both figuratively and literally. She's not afraid to call a spade a spade, and quick to pick up the shovel herself to toss the bad ones out. She sold the governor's jet on eBay, for goodness' sake. And she looks like Tina Fey.

What's not to like? Ah, let me count the ways ...

She is for oil drilling within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
She is against listing polar bears as an endangered species, is against protection for salmon from mining contamination, and is for the aerial shooting of wolves to raise moose populations for hunters (the girl loves a mooseburger, incidentally).
She does not believe global warming is caused by humans.
She is against same-sex marriage, and the extension of spousal benefits to same-sex partners.
She is against stem-cell research.
She has no national policy experience, and no foreign policy experience, except to have referred to the war in Iraq as "a task from God."

Most unfortunately and ironically, Palen says she is "as pro-life as any candidate can be." She is against abortion for incest and rape victims, but does support it in cases where the mother's life is in danger. She is a member of Feminists for Life, which is not against the use of contraception, but she is against sex ed.

Which is too bad for her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, who is currently five months pregnant and unmarried (though presumably betrothed).

Which, let's face it, happens － in all sorts of families with all sorts of belief and value systems. Teenagers are teenagers, and nearly none are known for their consistently stellar decision-making capabilities.

But what gets me is the way the news was presented by the McCain-Palin campaign. "We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby," said Sarah and Todd Palin's statement. Proud of her decision to have her baby. You mean, she has a choice about whether to have her baby or not? Ohhhhhh, yeaaaah － that's why they call it "pro-choice."

Likewise, Palin herself was commended by anti-abortion groups on her decision to have her youngest son, despite his in-utero diagnosis of Down Syndrome. Again, Palin exercised her own right to choose, yet is fiercely opposed to extending that right to other women. She may be as right-wing as they come, but there's nothing right about that kind of hypocrisy.

No matter which party par-tays into the White House next January, it will be an awesome first: America will be led by either its first black President or its first woman Vice President. It's just a shame this historic step forward for U.S. women － the first woman on a Republican ticket, the second woman ever on a Presidential ticket － has been entrusted to someone so committed to holding women back.