Republican Veep Selection

Sen. John McCain tapped Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate, no puns intended. After reviewing her background, I have to say that this was an incredible choice. Incredibly poor. I'm trying to isolate what it is about her that brings any strength to his ticket. Alaska usually goes red, so there's nothing to "bring in" there. She's a life-long member of the NRA, but so is half of the Republican party, so no gains there. She won "Miss Congeniality" in the Miss Alaska contest of 1984. Um, really?

She was on the city council of her hometown, population 5,469, for four years. Then she got elected mayor for two terms. Apparently, her first task as mayor was to place a gag order on the chief of police, public works, and the local librarian. No one could talk to the press without first consulting her. In a town of five thousand, I assume this means that some of them couldn't say "Hi" to their neighbors without squaring it with the mayor first.

After term limits ended her mayoral career, she tried and failed to get the vote for Lt. Governor. Four years later, she tried and won the governorship. She hasn't finished her first term there, but she has managed to rack up an investigation as to whether she strong-armed, a Public Safety Commissioner to fire her ex-brother-in-law from the state troopers. She allegedly dismissed the Commissioner when he refused to fire the trooper.

Along with Sen. McCain's famous temper and grudge list, I think the new motto for the Republican ticket should be "Never Forget, Never Forgive".

Sen. Obama, on the other hand, has presided over the Harvard Law Review, served eight years in the Illinois State Senate, and four years in the U.S. Senate. Since Chicago has four times the population of the entire state of Alaska, I believe that Sen. Obama has served the interests of a far greater populace than Gov. Palin.

Let's look a tad bit closer at the good Governor, since we're discussing her experience. She's a five-time mother. Her youngest is 4-months-old and, unfortunately, has Down's Syndrome. Caring for differently-abled children takes a lot of energy and time. Is she going to have the time to perform her duties as V.P.? Is she going to have the time to even campaign for it? Perhaps her 17-year-old daughter, just starting her senior year in high school, could help out with the infant. Except that she is 5 months pregnant herself and might have her hands full.

What's left that the Governor brings to the table? The only thing I see left is her gender. Maybe McCain felt he needed a woman on the ticket to bring in Hillary's supporters. But, as I heard on some morning show today, Hillary was a woman who was strong on issues and had a solid track record. This is not to say that there was a woman-sized-hole open on the ticket and any woman could fill it. There was an incredibly-strong-and-popular-Clinton-sized hole to be filled.

So, the Republican ticket wants to put a rather inexperienced 1-term governor, with infant children and grandchildren into the position of being 1 heartbeat, 1 stroke, 1 coronary, 1 cheeseburger away from being the President. And McCain says that he was fully aware of the upcoming grandbaby and it did not affect his decision on the affair. Again, not-so-great judgment being displayed by the Senator from Arizona.