Epic Fail
It's the only way that I can describe McCain's decision to choose Sarah Palin as his running mate. To a certain extent I can understand his logic. She has a perfect conservative pedigree for the base, she's a complete unknown, and she's a woman which in theory allows McCain to go after the disaffected Hillary crowd. I've heard this described as a hail Mary pass, an attempt to do something bold to shake up the election. It does put the Obama camp in the awkward position of having to attack a woman, but that's hardly going to be an issue since her policy positions are so out of synch with the desires of most women. To be honest I'm sure that there are plenty of Democratic women (Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi to pick two off the top of my head) who have the ability and inclination to rhetorically destroy Sarah Palin on the public stage.
The biggest problem with this choice is that it takes the biggest Republican talking point, that Barak Obama isn't experienced enough to be president, and turns it into a giant joke. They are trying to say to independents, "Barak Obama with 6 years in the IL senate and 2 years as an IL senator is not qualified to lead this country. However, Sarah Palin with less than 2 years as Governor of the least populated state in the nation and time as the mayor of a small town on her resume previous to that IS qualified." It doesn't ring true, especially since Palin lacks even the most basic knowledge of nationally critical issues. She actually asked a reported what the vice president DOES all day. When she was asked about the Iraq war last spring she responded with, "I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. I heard on the news about the new deployments, and while I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place; I want assurances that we are doing all we can to keep our troops safe. Every life lost is such a tragedy." This is how John McCain shows his judgement to the nation, by picking the least qualified person in the hopes of winning political points. It's a terrible move, but very much in line with GW's republican party. Considering he's making this announcement very close to his 72nd birthday, one has to wonder just what the hell he's thinking.
The icing on the cake here? Palin is not only related to the disgraced Ted Stevens but is currently under investigation for abusing her power in an attempt to get her sisters ex-husband fired. The story was FARK worthy before today and it's going to be great seeing it gracing the front covers of mainstream news organizations in the very near future.
I can't help but think that this is John McCain betting the election on the PUMA crowd, a group of people who's sole accomplishment has been to make angry and near incoherant appearances on cable news shows. Let's take a second to go over the stated objectives and subsequent accomplishments of the PUMA's:
Maybe the reality is that the Republicans didn't want to waste Romeny or Pawlenty on this doomed run for President. Maybe the brilliance of this move is that they are sparing what little remaining talent they have left rather than sending them down in flames on a doomed ticket. Either way there is no way to view this as anything other than a desperate move by a desperate candidate. Of course, the hail Mary play isn't the sort of thing that winning teams use.
To sum up, McCains VP Choice? Completely unqualified and inexperienced, under investigation for ethics violations, cynical and desperate political ploy.
I couldn't be happier.