Your concern for the Republicans is puzzling, any observer of this process would think that an Obama supporter such as yourself would see this as an advantage for him. But you seemed all of a sudden overly concerned about this being a poor choice for the ticket. I suspect that you are concerned, but not for the Republicans but that this choice will unite the base, get a good porition of the "Hillary Women" and ultimately be the undoing of the Dems again.
You listed the positions that Mrs. Palin has held, how many has Obama held? She's the govenor of a state that is only about 100K smaller in population than Delaware, where Biden is just a Senator. Spin it any way you like, she's is more qualified right now to be VP than Obama is to be POTUS, plus she has none of the baggage of a Rev. Wright or a left-wing-bomb-thrower like Bill Ayers or a convicted felon like Tony Rezko. Her spouse is a blue collar regular guy who fishes for a living, not some elitist 300K a year who isn't proud of their country. As I see it McCain's move yesterday was very smart and went a long way to securing an Republican victory.