Could McCain have possibly made a more un-serious choice? Esepcially given his age and health problems? Think about the former Mayor of Wassilia confronting Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. Think about it hard. Now none of this is any reproach to Palin. She is no more responsible for McCain’s choice of her than Incitatus was responsible for the plan of his rider, Caligula, to make him Consul of Rome. This isn’t “shattering the glass ceiling;” this is an insult to all the Republican women who had some actual qualifications for the job, and for that matter to all women: McCain is making a joke of women’s aspiration to high office. McCain’s willingness to put Palin one not-very-reliable heartbeat from the Presidency tells you all you need to know about his fitness for office.
As Kleiman also points out, if Alaska were a county, it would only rank 84th in the country in population.