I have one fundamental concern about the ramifications of the Palin pick. With all this discussion about her lack of experience, is the media going to lower expectations for her so much that she could skate by in the VP debate by seeming vaguely knowledgeable?
It's happened before. Bush was graded on a curve in his debates with Gore - it didn't matter that Gore won all three on the facts hands down.
Palin may well be a likable person that people (especially the shallow folks in the media) will want to root for.
And she may well be able to give herself a crash course on national issues that would fool people who want to be fooled.
One further problem: we can expect the Republicans to make the case that Biden is bullying this nice little lady, whatever he does. It's unavoidable, but a debate against a woman calls for a somewhat different playbook. Senator Biden will need to be firm but polite in rebutting her.
These are some basic thoughts. Above all, we need to push back against the notion that she should be graded on a curve as a newbie. McCain picked her, he didn't have to, and now we're stuck with her as one of the two potential VPs. She doesn't have to perform well for a newbie, she has to perform well for a Vice President of the United States.