Palin was essentially a "Hail Mary" VP pick, which was what McCain needed at the time. He needed to attract the most amount of media attention possible, appease the conservative base, and to an extent it worked.
The problem is, Palin herself was poor on the stump and acted "on her own" at times, contradicting the top of her ticket. Palin energized conservatives, but cost McCain "experience" voters, and probably other independents.
Now, the question is, who would have been a good VP pick for McCain?
I think Kay Bailey Hutchison would have been a great vice presidential selection, but she is somewhat pro-choice so that automatically eliminates her. If he wanted a female, he could have selected Elizabeth Dole, but she was struggling to hold her own Senate seat, so I'm not sure. Trying to think of some other prominent GOP females - the Sisters of Maine would have been good choices but they're in the same bag as Hutchison, pro-choice and pro-gay so no chance in hell the Republicans would support them. As for House members, I don't know many too prominent GOP women aside from Palin's lunatic twin sister Michele Bachmann, the only person I know of who makes Sarah Palin look like she has a double-digit IQ.
Just for you, semocrat, here's a list of the Republican women currently serving in the House:
1. Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA-45)
2. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL-5)
3. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL-18)
4. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL-13)
5. Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS-2)
6. Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI-10)
7. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN-6)
8. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO-8)
9. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC-5)
10. Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC-9)
11. Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH-2)
12. Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK-5)
13. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-7)
14. Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX-12)
15. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-5)
16. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV-2)
17. Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY-AL)
17 Republican women compared to 56 Democratic women (and that's not counting Delegates from places like DC or Guam, many of whom are also women, all Democrats).
The others are right in saying that none of these women are (or at the time, were) prominent enough to be considered for VP (then again, Palin herself wasn't either). I will say this, though: out of all the Republican women currently in the House, only one of them strikes me as someone who could run for president or vice president someday, and she's running for Governor this year (therefore leaving the House): Mary Fallin. Call me crazy, but I can see it happening should she be elected Governor this year (which is extremely likely).
Cathy McMorris Rodgers is another one I can see going down this path as well, but she went to an unaccredited bible college (Pensacola Christian College in Florida) a la Bob Jones University so...I don't know. But she seems to have a brighter future as well.
But at the end of the day, I'm more focused on the Democratic women (albeit in a totally non-gay way, as I'm a straight chick, which I know you're not
)
(PS, in case anyone's interested, I'll do a list of all the Democratic women in the House too)
