On MSNBC, Pat Buchanan argued that if Sarah Palin turns out to be a wonderful VP candidate, then it would validate McCain's decision, and it wouldn't matter that the vetting process was done shoddily and hastily.
The results justify the means, in other words.
Pat Buchanan is wrong. The Palin pick is a disaster, regardless of how well she does, because it reveals a lot about McCain, his careless and impulsive decision-making style, his poor judgment and his unfitness to be President. What's more, I argue that if Palin does well over the next few months, it is likely to make John McCain an even scarier and dangerous proposition in the White House. Reasoning below.
If Palin turns out to be an effective vice-presidential candidate, it would only embolden McCain by ratifying his impulsive and reckless mode of decision-making. Essentially, John McCain would be given the license to make spur of the moment, last minute decisions based on very little facts or on a sober assessment of the situation. Instead, he'll go with his "gut" and make a decision based on absurd and irrelevant criteria.
If McCain unleashes his impulsive decision-making in the White House, we won't get more of the same, we'll get four years of living in perpetual fear that McCain will go off and make a spur of the moment decision endangering the lives of millions of Americans and people all over the world.
Validating McCain if Palin turns out well would be akin to validating a gambler's decision to bet his family's life savings on a hand of blackjack, just because he lucked out and won the hand.
In criticizing the Palin pick, any criticism must always ultimately be a criticism of John McCain, not Palin. Palin's name should never be mentioned without linking it back to John McCain and his reckless and impulsive style of making important executive decisions. Don't talk just about Palin and her wacky political views, but talk about the piss poor decision-making process McCain used to bring her on board.
Ask a question such as: do we really want to trust the world's greatest military and nuclear weapons arsenal to a man who would make a complete stranger the second most powerful person in the United States based on one lone interview and his "gut feeling?" My god, people who apply for $40,000 administrative jobs go through a more thorough vetting process than what Palin went through.
So, ultimately, the narrative should be that it really doesn't matter how incompetent Palin turned out to be. Any person who believes that important executive decisions dealing with our nation's safety and economy can and should be made without thorough deliberation and extensive fact gathering has no business being anywhere near the White House.
Palin-gate gave us a real glimpse into the mind of John McCain, and the thought of John McCain taking the 3:00 a.m. call is utterly terrifying.