Sarah Palin: Clearly Unqualified

The San Jose Mercury has a good editorial that looks at how totally unqualified John McSenile's choice for the VP slot, Sarah Palin, is by any objective criteria. It increasingly appears that McSenile had two reasons for selecting Palin: (1) she's a darling of the Kool-Aid drinking element of the Christo-fascists who control the GOP and (2) he thinks that independent and Democrat women voters are morons and that they will vote for the ticket with a woman on the ticket regardless of the fact that Palin's views are heresy to so many of them. In short, McCain has insulted the intelligence of most women voters. By the way, San Jose has a population one and a half times that of the State of Alaska. Here are some highlights from the editorial:

*

Twelve hours after Democrats ended their national convention in Denver . . . . with John McCain stole back the spotlight and some of their thunder. But his wild-card choice of the unknown and untested Sarah Palin as his vice president will backfire if voters see through it. Picking an obscure first-term small-state governor was bold, and it may prove to be shrewd. But for the sake of the country should McCain win, it was unwise.

*

The solidly anti-abortion mother of five may please the social conservatives who had doubts about McCain. And Palin made it clear that she will go right after women voters still loyal to Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton, even though she lacks Clinton's depth and knowledge, and disagrees with her on nearly everything.

*

[H]er selection mocks a primary argument for McCain's candidacy, that foreign threats demand a seasoned, serious commander in chief. In potentially putting her in a position to become president at a moment's notice, it brings attention to his health and his age. It calls his judgment into question. Palin may have small-town spunk and kitchen-table common sense, but she's patently unqualified for the office.

*

Republicans will argue that Palin is no less experienced than Obama. That's ridiculous. In the Senate, in organizing a stunningly successful national campaign and through 18 months of hard campaigning for the nomination, Obama proved to be as capable, articulate and knowledgeable as anyone in Congress — and certainly the equal of McCain.

*

McCain may talk about bipartisanship, but he has made most of President Bush's policies his own, and he has an old warrior's Cold War view of the world. Many of Palin's positions, such as favoring oil drilling in sensitive wilderness areas and teaching creationism in schools, are even more regressive.