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Conventional WisdomEmily Bazelon and Christopher Beam field questions about Obama's acceptance speech and McCain's veep choice.

Updated Friday, Aug. 29, 2008, at 6:39 PM ET

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Christopher Beam: I'm sure they'll go after 1) her pro-life record (although her decision to have a child with Down syndrome will likely make that line of attack seem nasty), 2) her inexperience (she's been governor for less time than Obama's been a senator; yes, it's rich coming from Obama, but inexperience has been a major weapon in McCain's arsenal), and 3) her support for ANWR drilling (McCain opposes it—for now), and 4) the controversy over whether Palin had a state trooper fired who was in a custody battle with her sister.

In fact, they already are.

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Atlanta: Governor for two years? Doesn't know what the Vice-President does? Isn't this choice more than a little condescending to women? Are people actually going to fall for this?

Christopher Beam: David Plouffe, is that you?

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Outliers: Unnhh....the only outliers on the Hilary women issue have been the chattering members of our overmediated society. Hillary voters, like the voters for thousands of other losing campaigns over the centuries will be voting for the party whose concerns reflect their own. Your abilities to find a few camera/quote hungry folks and create a narrative is a great work of bad fiction, but your customers know it is a transparent fiction.

Emily Bazelon: I've argued elsewhere that you're right about that, but I've been struck in the last week by the polls of Clinton supporters on their view of Obama. As Slate's John Dickeron wrote this week, "Roughly 30 percent of Clinton voters say they won't vote for him, and this is not a one-poll anomaly." Now maybe this will change, but 30 percent is a high number. If those women don't live in key battleground states, than maybe they don't matter as much as the number would suggest. Still, I'm very curious to see if the convention makes that 30 percent response fall.

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Boston: Palin seems to me an exceedingly short-sighted pick. It's such a transparent attempt to capitalize on Obama-hating PUMAs, that theoretically has the potential to affect US leadership for the next four years. What if McCain gets elected and drops dead six months in? (God forbid, but you never know.) How are they going to cast Palin as "in it for the long-haul"?

Emily Bazelon: I agree that making the case that Sarah Palin could easily take over as president, if need be, is the hardest selling point for the GOP. But we'll have to see how she performs in the coming weeks. She's wholly unfamiliar to almost all of us now. She won't be, soon enough. Maybe a few weeks of campaigning shouldn't really be enough to prove anything. But I think it will matter nonetheless.

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Alexandria, Va.: I think you response to New York, implying that Hillary's supporters only voted for her because she was a woman, is part of the reason why Hillary supporters are upset still. I know that I voted for Hillary because she was the better candidate in my mind. Although I am still unconvinced by Obama I will probably vote for him. But every time I have an Obama supporter give me a hard time for stilling being unconvinced it makes me NOT want to vote for him!

Emily Bazelon: OK, I've posted once explaining that this is not what I meant, and I apologize for not being clear the first time around. I am talking not about the Obama v. Clinton choice, in which the case for Hillary was entirely sound. I'm talking about framing Obama v. McCain in terms of anger over Hillary's loss, which to me seems short sighted.

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Is This a Joke?: McCain is not exactly the picture of health and vitality. What does he get by putting in someone that no one, and I mean no one would ever consider for the Presidency in that very public spot?

Christopher Beam: The "heartbeat from the presidency" argument might be the toughest one for McCain/Palin to answer. Especially when, as you say, he's no spring chicken. But ultimately, people don't vote based on veeps. Sure, the choice is seen as a proxy for their judgment in general. But I think very few Republicans will see Palin as a deal-breaker. Of course, the vice presidential debate could change that.

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Hillary Supporter: I have to agree with Clavericks assertion. Before McCain picked Palin, I was sure I would write in Hillary's name. Now I don't know. I didn't think the election could get worse but it just did. I have to say though, reactions like yours—saying how refreshing to hear a Hillary supporter base his/her choice on policy—is insulting.

Emily Bazelon: Well that's interesting that you feel that way, about not writing in Hillary's name any more. And apologies again for having insulted you, because that's not the meaning I intended (see last posts).

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Bethesda: "her pro-life record (although her decision to have a child with Down syndrome will likely make that line of attack seem nasty)"

It doesn't have to, if it's done right. There is a way to applaud her own personal choice—pointing out that she was able to make it because of available family, emotional, logistical, and financial support that she is so fortunate to have—while arguing that she would like to take away other women's right to make such a personal, decision—i.e., to make her own choice mandatory for all.

Emily Bazelon: Yes I think that's right. It will be up to the Democrats to finesse this carefully. But wait, can we just stop for a second and contemplate how amazing it is, in a lot of senses of the word, that we are about to have a Republican vice-presidential nominee with a son going to Iraq AND a small baby?

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Washington, DC: As a gay man, I'm not really seeing all that much difference now between the tickets when it comes to gay rights.

Having vetoed anti-gay legislation that would prohibit the Alaskan government to pay same-sex benefits, she's gone on record as being about as supportive as Obama. She spoke in favor of the anti-same-sex marriage amendment they had in Alaska, but with Obama's states' rights approach to marriage, he should be okay with that.