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.
If the US votes those two in, the world will give up on America. That’s the end. America withdraws from history.
It’s on the verge of too mind-boggling to contemplate. McCain is beginning to make George W look good.
V superficial reporting on BBC R4 World Tonight as I listened. It was only about the daughters. Nothing about her creationism or likely energy policy.
I saw something of the same on the BBC World America’s coverage. Whatever one may think of Palin’s own views or her personal story, the important thing is what the choice shows about McCain’s frivolous approach to an important governing decision. The New York Times, somewhat to my surprise, got that exactly right on its editorial page today.