Wow. The tips for McCain's VP selection pointed towards Tim Pawlenty, but today we learned that he actually picked Sarah Palin.
John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate on Friday in a startling selection on the eve of the Republican National Convention.
Brave choice. In politics, bravery is often punished harshly.
So, after the next election, the US will either have its first black president, or its first female vice president.
Be nice and don't tell McCain what happened to the last (and only) guy to pick a female running mate.
PS: Hard to argue with the slogan "Coldest state, hottest governor." I just made a totally shameless picture selection for this post.
Update: So, the candidate for changety changety change selects an insider's insider, while the old establishment man selects... well, change!
Update 2: Allah: "What an unbelievable head fake by McCain, perfectly executed to build suspense and knock The One off the front page this morning. Mind-blowing."
Update 3: Differing opinions from the Volokh Conspiracy. David Post:
Why It's (probably) Stupid. It's probably stupid because it will gain McCain little and may lose him a great deal. Nobody can possibly know, at this point, how she will perform on the stage she is about to enter onto -- debates with 100 million viewers, a daily crush of reporters, speech after speech after speech, where one bad gaffe puts you in the dustbin of history forever. It's unspeakable pressure, she's never faced anything like it, and I'd happily put money on the following: she will make at least one serious gaffe over the next two months. Plus, I don't care how carefully vetted she's been by the McCain campaign -- I think it's close to even money that 10,000 reporters and bloggers who will now descend upon Alaska (at least virtually) will find something less than savory.
Jonathan Adler:
Sure, Sarah Palin was a "hockey mom" before her entry into politics, but Barack Obama has never held a single full-time job for more than three years (and does not have many substantive achievements in any of them). When Palin entered politics, she successfully challenged the corrupt old guard of the Alaska Republican party. When Obama entered politics, he played by the rules of the Chicago machine. So, if experience is what matters (and we ignore the fact that John McCain is the one at the top of the ticket), is it really clear that we'd rather have Obama across the table from Putin than Palin?
As I said, a "brave" choice, for good and bad.
6:12:20 PM 
|
