Palin's Stumbles Make Women of All Stripes Cringe

John McCain must not understand affirmative action. “You don’t run out and hire the first woman you find on the sidewalk and call it a day,” writes Susan Reimer in the Baltimore Sun—you take the time to find someone qualified. But it’s painfully clear McCain didn’t do that when he picked Palin, and now women of all political persuasions are cringing as she stumbles.

“One of our sisters is dying like a bad comic on open-mike night,” Reimer writes, “and we can barely stand to look.” When McCain loses, Palin is sure to take the blame, meaning it could be a lifetime before another woman makes a national ticket. Yes, Palin is unqualified—scary times do not call for “Joe Sixpack Everyman” types—but hopefully “if McCain loses, everyone will blame Tina Fey.” (More Sarah Palin stories.)