how DARE we ask if the repug VP nominee is actually qualified?!

McCain campaign angrily calls for end to questions about Sarah Palin's
background

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Associated Press) -- John McCain's campaign on Wednesday angrily called for an end to questions about Sarah Palin's background, calling it a "faux media scandal designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee" for vice president.

"This nonsense is over," declared senior campaign adviser Steve Schmidt in a written statement.

The statement stood out for its admission that Palin is under siege _ it condemns "this vetting controversy" _ and for its attempt to blunt questions about how rigorously McCain and his campaign explored the background of a candidate who may get the nation's second most powerful job.

"The McCain campaign will have no further comment about our long and thorough process," Schmidt said.

McCain shook up the presidential race last Friday by picking Palin, a little-known governor serving her first term in Alaska. Since then, the self-styled "hockey mom" with a record of bucking the state's political establishment has had a bright spotlight shone on her private and public life.

First, she announced that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter, Bristol Palin, was pregnant. Among the other revelations, none of which seem to have shaken McCain's confidence or undermined her support among GOP delegates:

_A private attorney is authorized to spend $95,000 of state money to defend her against accusations of abuse of power.

_Palin sought pork-barrel projects for her city and state, contrary to her reformist image.

_Her husband once belonged to a fringe political group in Alaska, with some members supporting secession from the United States.

_She has acknowledged smoking marijuana in the past.

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Imagine if this was a Democratic nominee - we would never hear the end of every minute detail of her life - and we would know far more minute details than we do of this clearly unqualified woman.