Ok. I'm starting to get it. We need to forget Palin, focus on McCain. There is more than enough rope to hang Palin out there and the mainstream media is groping their way towards doing so daily. They will soon tire of their shiny new toy and wonder what else she's good for. I'm smiling at the thought.
But I confess I was overjoyed to come across this Economist piece. It actually brought tears to my eyes. I like The Economist because, although it's a tad centrist for my taste, it always seems very well-reasoned and very well-written.
Follow me below the fold for some highlights and analysis.
The moose in the room, of course, is her lack of experience. When Geraldine Ferraro was picked as Walter Mondale’s running-mate, she had served in the House for three terms. Even the hapless Dan Quayle, George Bush senior’s sidekick, had served in the House and Senate for 12 years. Mrs Palin, who has been the governor of a state with a population of 670,000 for less than two years, is the most inexperienced candidate for a mainstream party in modern history.
She was poorly vetted and is a kook:
Mr McCain had met Mrs Palin only once, for a 15-minute chat at the National Governors’ Association meeting, before summoning her to his ranch for her final interview. The New York Times claims that his team arrived in Alaska only on August 28th, a day before the announcement. As a result, his advisers seem to have been gobsmacked by the Palin show that is now playing on the national stage. She has links to the wacky Alaska Independence Party, which wants to secede from the Union. She is on record disagreeing with Mr McCain on global warming, among other issues. The contrast with Mr Obama’s choice of the highly experienced and much-vetted Joe Biden is striking.
And another great talking point about how McCain is repeating Bush's mistakes:
The Palin appointment is yet more proof of the way that abortion still distorts American politics. This is as true on the left as on the right. But the Republicans seem to have gone furthest in subordinating considerations of competence and merit to pro-life purity. One of the biggest problems with the Bush administration is that it appointed so many incompetents because they were sound on Roe v Wade. Mrs Palin’s elevation suggests that, far from breaking with Mr Bush, Mr McCain is repeating his mistakes.
I think this last point is great and I haven't heard anyone make it. Just today, I saw Fundamentalist Tony Perkings on CNN warning, rather ominously for McCain, that if McCain does not embrace the faith, he may lose the Palin bump. The Right wing has him by the cojones, and once that is made clear, it can make a lot of people very uncomfortable with voting for him.
Barack or bust!