He panicked. McCain that is. And his campaign. He had boxed himself in by having set today as the deadline for picking his vp, but did not anticipate that Sen. Obama would throw down the gauntlet, roll up the sleeves, and put his dukes up to smack Bush-McCain around. And in the quiet of the night, with the nervous, panicked whispers of his campaign strategists and advisers, McCain abandoned the path and choice he thought he would make.
And so the strategists and Bush-McCain groupthink have done something unthinkable. They have thrown the book out and outsmarted themselves. Truth be told, they did not have a lot of good options on the short list anyway, and the Biden choice had already made them nervous. But last night....
Last night brought the panic. And what we are watching and reading this morning doesn't suggest some brilliant sleight of hand by the McCain team. It screams panic.
Last night was a game changer. And the Bush-McCain team is drawing up plays in the dirt in the panicked huddle. And this is the guy who wants to be commander-in-chief?
UPDATE: MSNBC reporting confirmation that is Sarah Palin. Palin and panic. Both 5 letters. Guess if you look up panic in the dictionary, you can see Palin on the same page.
UPDATE 2: At 10:45, Pat Buchanan says on live television that "This is the biggest gamble in American political history."