According to Max Blumenthal in the Nation, the pick came from Council for National Policy. (h/t TalkLeft).
Last week, while the media focused almost obsessively on the DNC's spectacle in Denver, the country's most influential conservatives met quietly at a hotel in downtown Minneapolis to get to know Sarah Palin. The assembled were members of an ultra-secretive cabal that networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy.
CNP members have included Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Grover Norquist, Tim LaHaye and Paul Weyrich. At a secret 2000 meeting of the CNP, George W. Bush promised to nominate only pro-life judges; in 2004, then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told the group, "The destiny of the nation is on the shoulders of the conservative movement." This year, thanks to Sarah Palin's selection, the movement may have finally aligned itself behind the campaign of John McCain.
He goes on to state:
The members of the Council for National Policy are the hidden hand behind McCain's Palin pick.
If this is the case, as we suspected, it makes a mockery of McCain's "Country First." In McCainland, it's election before country, religion before country. The Maverick has bowed to the Kingmakers - The Vice Presidential nominee of a major party has been selected by the Christian conservatives.
One can almost see why the vetting was so poor - McCain wanted Lieberman or Ridge. He was behind, with no road to electability, and the extreme Christian right said "pick her or else you lose." I wonder if they assured him she was "fully vetted"?