There are times I wonder WTF is wrong with Americans. By any intelligent objective standared there are few reasons to support a McCain presidency now that McCain has sold his soul to the Christianists and shown himself to be reckless and cynical in making his pick for his VP running mate. In addition to looking like a Christianist nutcase, Sarah Palin lacks any serious executive experience that is one of the alleged reasons for her selection. Just because the GOP mouth pieces keep saying she has it doesn't make it so. A glance at the number of cities in the USA with populations LARGER than that of the entire state of Alaska underscores just how ridiculously McCain acted in selecting Palin as his running mate. There are nineteen (19) cities with populations larger than that of Alaska (10 have populations one and a half times or more of that of Alaska). Locally, Norfolk and Virginia Beach combined have a larger population than all of Alaska. Using McCain's insane standard, the mayor of any one of these cities is competent to be Vice President of the United States. This level of idiocy is truly worthy of the Chimperator and ought to say all that needs to be known. Here are highlights from Andrew Sullivan's take on McCain:*
What we have learned about John McCain from his selection of Sarah Palin is that he is as impulsive and reckless a decision-maker as George W. Bush. We know this not because of what we have learned about this Pentecostalist populist since she exploded on the scene last Friday morning (and God knows we have learned more than we ever wanted). We know it because of how McCain made the decision. He wanted his best friend, Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate for Al Gore. That pick would have been remarkable for its bipartisan nature, would have impressed independents, and signaled a centrist presidency centered on foreign policy. It would have been bold while not being rash.
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McCain is in charge of a party that is now, at its core, religiously motivated. Joe Lieberman, for all his political talents, is Jewish, pro-choice on abortion, gay-inclusive, and domestically liberal. McCain faced an insurrection in his party base if he picked him. Without the evangelical base, he wasn't going to win.
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So last week, McCain picked someone he had only met once before. I repeat: he picked someone he had only met once before. His vetting chief sat Palin down for a face-to-face interview the Wednesday before last. It's very hard to overstate how nutty and irresponsible this is. Would any corporate chieftain pick a number two on those grounds and not be dismissed by his board for recklessness?
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The recklessness was much more fatal in the new media world than in the old one. In the old media world, the Republicans could try to control the flow of information, browbeat the press and prevent the entire weird family background and series of scandals and rumors of quite incredible events from getting into the mainstream. But those days are over. Within minutes of the announcement, everyone reached for Google. I recommend for starters the two following stories that appeared in the Anchorage Daily News last March and April. Story 1 / Story 2
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McCain's major domestic issue in the election, moreover, is the economy and the rocky time many middle class Americans are having. . . . It would be very hard to pick a governor in America who knows less about the struggles of most Americans in the current economy.
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And Palin's edcuation? Six colleges in five years ending in a degree in sports journalism from the University of Idaho. That's the background of someone who could be president of the United States at any moment after next January. Who does John McCain think he's kidding? And what on earth was he thinking? This was a rash, impulsive, reckless pick.
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If you thought a president who went to war on flawed intelligence with no plan for the aftermath was reckless, then I have news for you. You haven't seen anything yet. Imagine the kind of decision-making McCain has just demonstrated applied to life-and-death decisions with respect to Iran and Russia. Yes, you have permission to be afraid.
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