Encrypting site content increases server load, so response time may lack a little.. and we all know Google does take that into account. Also, it might be important that robot files and sitemaps are under the https protocol. I am guessing Google is pretty darn smart about it, I can only imagine though that a broken certificate throws a red flag.

Ha! Interesting.. I wonder if Google does count that against you since part of their latest algorithm factors in page load times.. though I would think that having your site behind https might give you some extra kudos somewhere.. considering you verified the integrity of your site at least.. (ALTHOUGH, there was that recent security breach where we someone can spoof being a CA...)

Yea, I am sure there is some top secret Google magic if they are forced through SSL!

This is a good question! I have no idea. I know that there are sites that do run behind SSL (like paypal) and their pages seem to appear on google just fine. As far as how this impacts your PR, I have no idea.