In reply to a pro-Palin friend …
For one thing, that speech was written long before McCain picked her. Bush’s speechwriters filled in blanks after the choice. (That was admitted by the McCain people. I can dig up a quote, if you want.) She probably only saw the speech the day before she gave it.

In any event, this is a woman who;
a. Is virulently anti-choice with no exceptions
b. is pro-”creationism” to the point of advocating it being taught in schools
c. is anti-global warming. She doesn’t believe in it. She wants polar bears off the endangered species list.
d. She tried to fire the town librarian after the librarian refused to ban books that Palin wanted banned.
e. There were 5,000 people in Wasilli when she took over as mayor. There are more people who went to my school. That is no experience!
f. She’s been governer for 20 months of the 47th smallest state in the union. That’s barely experience.
g. Has ducked the media as well as the campaign trail since being picked.
h. She is a big fat liar and a hypocrite.
    1. She lobbied for the bridge to nowhere before she claimed to be against it and still took the money (and I have pics!)
    2. She hired Abramoff’s lobbyist to get federal monies for her little town of 8,000. Eventually, she ended up with $20+ million from the federal government.
    3. She worked with Sen. Stevens (soon-to-be-convicted of bribery) to get more earmarks for her town.
    4. She ran a budget that was in surplus when she took over as mayor to a debt of $20M (I think that that number is right. I can go look it up.)
    5. She fired people who were not with her, including the police chief, when she won office, both as mayor and as governer. She surrounded herself with acolytes. She was almost recalled (as mayor of a town of 8,000!)
    6. Her husband was a member of the Alaskan Independent Party until 2002. Their goal is to secede from the US. Palin went to two of their conventions and spoke at the last one.
    7. She vetoed a bill helping out pregnant teenagers. Just like her running mate voted against similar legislation.
    8. I will bet you $10 her daughter doesn’t marry the child’s father. The father’s myspace page came out and it turns out that he’s not interested in being a dad and he described his relationship in a very casual manner. I bet you that they’re being pressured to lie at this moment in time and after the election, they’ll go their separate ways. I don’t really care one way or the other, but it’s blatant disingenuousness on Palin’s part.
    9. Palin’s pastor is a big fan of the “Jews for Jesus” group. In fact, the head of that anti-semitic organization spoke at Palin’s church a couple of months ago. Palin was in attendance. Do you think that she’ll separate herself from the church?

This is what has been learned about Palin in a few days. Wonder how much more will come out in the upcoming weeks.

As far as your statement about her not being a lawyer, I think that it’s pretty silly to hope for someone who will not be able to read the legislation that they want to pass, let alone write any.  I think that it’s pretty critical that the president and vice-president be lawyers.