This is an extraordinarily cynical pick for multiple reasons.
McCain's primary argument for the Presidency is that Barack Obama is not ready to lead and that he is nothing more than a celebrity stuffed shirt. So what does he do, he picks as his running mate Sarah Palin, is a 44 year old, first-term governor of a state with 600,000 people primarily supported by federal funds. Putting this gently A 72 year old candidate for President connected at all to reality ought to know that his Vice President is more likely than the Vice President of a 40, 50 or 60 year old to be required to serve as Commander in Chief. Especially a 72 year old who's recovered from multiple bouts of skin cancer during his lifetime. That's not mean, that's just life. If one reads between the lines this pick means:
-McCain's has believed all along that his "experience" argument against Obama has been a red herring all along. Barack Obama obviously has enough experience given that McCain's candidate for the VP slot has less experience in a smaller local setting.
-Given the above, it is not obvious that McCain thinks this whole running for President is a big game. If the main justification for his campaign is experience vs. none, is not a justification in which believes. Then he has just admitted that he's been feeding the media, his voters his supporters and his critics a load of crap since he declared in 2007. Even I begrudgingly acknowledge that sincere voters have every right to knock Barack Obama's short resume (in years) as a potential liability. But McCain's picking of Palin for VP highlights, for me, that not only is McCain incompetent, he's insincere.
- McCain has continued the McCain tradition of surrounding himself with people he expects to dominate. Any men (McCain treats Lieberman like a lap dog) that has dared challenge Saint John instantly becomes a mortal enemy. In regards to women, take a look in McCain's life, you notice any women who he treats as a peer? From the outside it seems that the women in his life obviously love him dearly, but on the surface, I don't see too many of those women challenging him on his b.s. like I know Michelle challenges Barack, or Hillary challenged Bill (and vice versa?) Or, maybe I'm wrong and he expects the first term governor from Alaska with no foreign policy experience AT ALL to fill-him in on the intricacies of the Georgia-Russia-South Ossetia relationship? Or maybe he expects her to nudge him in the right direction when funding for USAID doesn't jive with the commitment to redevelopment made by the State Department?
Now, I don't know much about her, so I will not say that she is unqualified. I will listen to what she has to say and how she says it and judge though my filter, but on its merits. And at the end, Palin may very well turn out to be a brilliant politician and statesperson and not the blatant pander to disaffected Clinton voters that I perceive her to be. But again, I'm not the one running around talking about who has and hasn't passed their "Commander in Chief" thresholds.
John McCain - the devil has called, and he says you can have your soul back!
(**the book - http://www.amazon.com/... - it's phenomenal reading).