If nothing else, the choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate has given the press and both political parties a lot to talk about. On the Right, the choice of Palin has energized the base and the word from Minnesota is that tonight promises to be a very lively audience for the four main speakers, culminating with Palin’s speech.

In the media, jounalists are scrambling to uncover anything they can about this politician, possibly to make up for being caught with their pants down on Friday morning.

The reaction on the Left has been most interesting to watch though. Our friend Ames has exceeded even his normal breakneck posting schedule to put out a volume of posts on Pain that I lost count of over the weekend.  He seems to be operating under the strategy of saturation bombing and we will anxiously wait to see if it is effective.

As for the rest of the liberal crowd, reaction to Palin has been met with an interesting mix of attacks from a variety of angles. The tone of these attacks reached such a fever pitch that Obama himself had to step in and try to distance himself from the attackers yesterday.

One of our close friends and fellow centrists / moderates Dyre42 over at Dyre Portents offers his own spot-on analysis:

The result has been days of ad hominem attacks on both Palin and her family, rank condescension by the MSM, and a stream of vitriol on the left that is normally reserved only for W himself. In fact the treatment of her family became so bad that even Obama tried to reign it in.

I agree with Dyre that what we have seen is right up there with the stuff we normally see directed at the Great Satan, George W Bush. This speaks to a point I have tried to make in the past (here and here) which is that the Left was so energized with hatred heading into this election that anything short of a landslide may prove to be cause for riot. I think McCain’s military service has blunted the point of what would have been a very ugly general election if someone like Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney would have gotten the nod. With Palin though, it seems the Left was willing to try taking the gloves off. Dyre again offers his analysis of the effect:

A side effect of this has been that the base has circled the wagons around Palin and by extension McCain. Additionally I think the nonstop coverage of McCain’s decision to make Palin his second forced many independents to reevaluate their position on a McCain presidency.

I have spoken about this on other blogs’ comment sections. No matter how much liberals believe that Palin is the opposite of what women have been fighting for, the truth is that many women, especially baby boomers and older, are going to find it hard to go into a voting booth and pull the lever against a woman. I have already personally heard from several women who now say their decision is completely in the air again. This bodes well for the GOP.

I’d like to leave you with one last bit of speculation from Dyre. He may be reaching a bit in his theory, but I like it nonetheless. It would impress me to know McCain’s camp was thinking that far ahead.

But I can’t help but wonder if McCain’s campaign suspected that this would happen. By that I mean that by picking Palin they would bring out the worst that the left has to offer and therefore give them just enough rope to hang themselves.