Boehner says Palin critics are 'elitist'

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) believes Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's addition to the GOP ticket will help down-ballot Republicans, particularly in working-class communities.

"She talks like a normal person," Boehner said in an interview with Politico. “I think middle-class voters want to vote for somebody that sounds like them, sounds like someone that lives next door to them."

The Republican leader in the House believes Palin's addition boosts the party's prospects in the Midwest and upstate New York because her background mirrors that of many voters in those parts of the country.

"If you look at the battleground demographics — middle-class, working-class people — they all can identify with her," Boehner said. "If you listened to her speech last Friday, her maiden venture, she sounded like an ordinary person.  ... This is a lady that helps with the voters we need to attract."

Boehner also assailed Palin critics as "elitist." In his view, that includes many members of the national media in Washington

McCain camp lashes out at press over Palin

McCain aides, responding to questions about Palin’s qualifications to be vice president as well as her family life — including her pregnant and unwed teenage daughter — have aggressively turned the tables on the media by questioning reporters' motives and suggesting a sexist double-standard...

Lieberman meets with Palin

Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman met with newly minted Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin Tuesday, a GOP source told CNN.

Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic VP nominee, met met with Palin to "share his experience as a VP candidate" the source said.

The two also talked policy and politics, the source said.

Campaign pulls Palin from pro-life event

The McCain campaign canceled at the last minute a long-scheduled appearance by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to accept a pro-life award from conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly.

... "I don't think it was very smart," said Schlafly, known for her successful battle against the Equal Rights Amendment. "You can see these people are very supportive of her, and it would have been very good for her to come."

Schlafly, who lined up Palin a couple of months ago, said the campaign told her only that McCain's running mate needed to rest and get ready for her convention speech tomorrow night.

Politico: Palin ignites culture ward

The selection of Palin — a new heroine of social conservatives — has helped reignite not only abortion but also other flash-point issues in a way few of McCain’s other vice presidential options would have done.

Conservatives see her as a kindred spirit who lives her anti-abortion words in the most profound way: by giving birth to a child she knew would be born with Down syndrome. Gun owners see her as authentically one of them: a hunter with a passion for the outdoors and gun freedom.

Social liberals agree — and are proving just as ready for combat on issues that many operatives and analysts believed would have less relevance in an Obama-McCain campaign...

Pat Buchanan: Palin pick is paying off big time

By passing over his friends Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, and picking Palin, McCain has given himself a fighting chance of winning the White House that, before Friday morning, seemed to be slipping away. Indeed, the bristling reaction on the left testifies to Democratic fears that the choice of Palin could indeed be a game-changer in 2008.

Liberals howl that Palin has no experience, no qualifications to be president of the United States. But the lady has more executive experience than McCain, Joe Biden and Obama put together.

None of them has ever started or run a business as Palin did. None of them has run a giant state like Alaska, which is larger than California and Texas put together. And though Alaska is not populous, Gov. Palin has as many constituents as Nancy Pelosi or Biden...

Sarah Palin's had her eye on the VP post for awhile

I knew Sarah Palin was angling for the veep slot right after John McCain clinched the nomination in March.

I stumbled upon that revelation quite by accident, having been assigned to do a snarky little piece for Dome magazine on who has the hottest governor - Michigan or Alaska.

When I asked Palin's spokeswoman if she was insulted about all the attention on her boss' looks and beauty queen bona fides, I was charmingly told "just how flattering" it was that folks were talking her up as a potential No. 2.

Palin offers details about Troopergate