Quayle: Palin Furor 'Sounded Familiar'

Instead, he picked Dan Quayle

(NEWSER) - Vice President Clint Eastwood? It was at least a possibility in 1988 when George HW Bush was considering running mates, reports the Note blog at ABC News. Two factors helped: Eastwood at the time was the Republican mayor of Carmel, California, and Bush was getting clobbered in the polls by Michael Dukakis. Eastwood's name got raised "in not an altogether unserious" manner, recalls former campaign chief and Secretary of State James Baker. More»

Don't be so quick to judge Palin

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin's critics say she was unqualified to be vice president, but don't be too quick to label her the worst pick ever, writes Matthew Cooper. In the Atlantic , he runs down others since WWII who need to be part of the conversation:

• Spiro Agnew: Nixon's VP had to resign on bribery charges and had scant experience before being picked. "In terms of corruption and temperament, has there been anyone worse in memory?"
• Richard Nixon: His paranoid personality would have made him a disaster as president in the '50s had Eisenhower died in office. Nixon dealing with Stalin, Khrushchev, and Castro? Yikes.

Real test: can she woo undecideds?

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin earned roars from the primed Republican crowd last night in St. Paul—but it remains to be seen whether she can translate that enthusiasm to undecided voters, writes Adam Nagourney in the New York Times. “It’s more difficult with someone of her background to go on the attack than it would be for Joe Biden” with his years of experience, a former GOP senator tells Nagourney. More»

He's a strong conservative, and a demographic win: William McGurn

(NEWSER) - Hey, Republican strategists, interested in a young, dynamic, Latino vice presidential nominee? Then William McGurn has a name for you, "And he's not Marco Rubio." Instead, the Wall Street Journal columnist suggests the less-famed Luis Fortuño, governor of Puerto Rico, who's "part of a rising generation of Republicans pushing pro-growth, small-government agendas." When Fortuño took office, one in three Puerto Ricans worked for the government, and the state couldn't make payroll. So he slashed 20,000 government jobs, and then cut individual and corporate taxes. More»

Oh, yeah, I read about that somewhere, says still-angry Sarah

(NEWSER) - Not one to forgive and forget, Sarah Palin took the opportunity yesterday to kick Katie Couric now that she's down—and exiting as CBS News anchor. Couric famously put Palin on the spot in an interview during the presidential campaign when Palin was unable to name a single publication she reads regularly. Asked on Fox News about Couric's departure, Palin quipped: "Yeah I read something about that in a newspaper." She also mocked Couric's comment that the anchor was leaving her job to explore "multi-dimensional" story telling. More»