[John McCain]'s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate has turned the defeat into Armageddon. Ms. Palin is everything that liberal feminists loathe: a gun-toting evangelical, a polar bear-hating former beauty queen, a mother of five who opposes abortion rights and celebrates the fact that her pregnant teenage daughter has "chosen life."

Kim Gandy, the president of the National Organization of Women, dismisses her as a "woman who opposes women's rights." Debbie Dingell, a leading Michigan Democrat, said that women felt insulted by the choice. Joe Biden says that, if Ms. Palin becomes the first female vice president, it will be a "backward step for women."

"Eighteen million cracks," says the New Republic, (referring to Ms. [Hillary Rodham Clinton]'s 18 million votes and the glass ceiling) "and one crackpot."