The New York Times editors weigh in with surprising opinions on the issue of experience in the Vice Presidency

From the Gray Lady herself:

Where is it written that only senators are qualified to become President? . . . Or where is it written that mere representatives aren’t qualified, like Geraldine Ferraro of Queens? . . . Where is it written that governors and mayors... are too local, too provincial? . . .

Presidential candidates have always chosen their running mates for reasons of practical demography, not idealized democracy. . . . What a splendid system, we say to ourselves, that takes little-known men, tests them in high office and permits them to grow into statesmen. . . .

Why shouldn’t a little-known woman have the same opportunity to grow?

Why not, indeed? We are so excited to see that the NYT is rising to the occasion and that we can agree with her editors....(insert sound of engine growling and whining to a dead stop and silence.)

Whoops, sorry... that was from 1984, defending the choice of little-known Geraldine Ferraro for the Democratic Veep spot, someone who hadn't run in a campaign outside her NYC borough, and who was in only her second term in Congress.

I guess that the standards are different when it's a (gasp) conservative Republican woman we're talking about. One suspects that we'll see conservatives digging up all sorts of similar quotations dating to 1984, set side by side with snide Palin put-downs from the same liberal house organs (and perhaps the same individuals.)

Meanwhile, Ms. Ferraro is on record, not surprisingly, as scoffing at the idea that Palin is unqualified to be Vice President. In fact, her studied silence is raising questions about whether she is contemplating joining some other feminists in supporting Palin:

On the day McCain announced her selection as his running mate, Palin thanked Clinton and Ferraro for blazing her trail. A day later, Ferraro noted her shock at Palin's comment. You see, none of her peers, no one, had ever publicly thanked her in the 24 years since her historic run for the White House. Ferraro has since refused to divulge for whom she's voting.

(Thanks to Jay Nordlinger at NRO for the compilation, which is apparently making the rounds.)