Davos Newbies

Yikes. If US Weekly is laying into Sarah Palin, it really is all over bar the shouting. I’ve long held to the political science truism that vice-president picks don’t have much influence on people’s votes, but there are always exceptions.

As many observers are noting, the issue isn’t so much Palin as McCain’s utterly bizarre lack of preparation and judgment. When we select members of my sons’ school’s board of directors, we do more vetting than McCain did. And we certainly make certain that we’ve met the people more than once.

So where does McCain go from here? I wouldn’t be shocked by an announcement in the next week or so that Sarah Palin decided to withdraw her own candidacy because of the “unwarranted intrusions” into her family’s private life. Of course that would throw McCain’s inadequate, impulsive decision into even harsher relief, but one can imagine the spin machine going into action against “Democratic smear campaigns”. And McCain could actually pick someone who was credible.

The great likelihood, of course, is that the Republicans will stumble on with McCain-Palin. Hallelujah.

Blood and Treasure reacts to the reports of Sarah Palin’s membership in the Alaskan Independence Party:

And let’s not forget that the US would be a lot less trouble to everyone else if it split up into small, eccentric countries, each whittling on its own stump. Interesting wars, too.