It’s now confirmed that John McCain has picked Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Here’s her bio on wikipedia.

This was a smart pick on a number of levels. It shows the McCain camp has been listening to conservatives. Palin is a strong conservative candidate. She’s a reformer who even took on some in her own party and cleaned up governement in Alaska. She’s a member of the NRA and pro-life. She supports drilling in ANWR and she’s a tax reformer.

It exploits the opportunity created by Democrats in their snubbing of Hillary Clinton. A side benefit might be that while she’s a great public speaker and will hold her own in the debates, you’ll see a big contrast between her and bitter Biden. If he attacks too hard, it could cost him points with female voters.

She’s also a Washington outsider. If people are looking for hope and change from the status quo of Washington, D.C., she brings more credibility than either of the insiders on the Democrat ticket.

It also takes some of the hype off of the Messiah’s campaign in that this election will be historic if either side wins now. The timing of the announcement is great, too. Coverage of the pick is overshadowing the MSM’s lovefest for Obama in some respects. (Though they’re trying hard not to let “news” get in the way of their salivation over The One.)

It also brings youth to the ticket. Of course, CNN is already claiming she’s too inexperienced… which is wildly amusing considering the “experience” of their candidate of choice. But consider this… of the 4 principles on the two main party tickets, she’s the only one with executive experience.

Good job, McCain campaign.

UPDATE: So let’s think about this. While the Democrat Convention seemed to focus so much on women’s rights and breaking glass ceilings… which party has a woman on the ticket? HotAir has a good roundup of the benefits of the Palin choice.

UPDATE 2: Once again showing that they’re long on talk and catchy slogans and short on substance when it comes to treating women with equality, the next Democrat talking point, as promoted by CNN, is that by running for V.P., Palin’s neglecting her son, Trig, who was born with Down’s Syndrome. Of course, if she were a Democrat, they’d be praising her “progressiveness” and running supporting stories of how her disabled son serves as an inspiration for her political career. Sorry, sweetie.