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 I’m sorry, but where exactly does one begin? It has been less than 24 hours since John Sidney, in what can only be described as an Alzheimer’s moment, selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. Already the comics are having a field day, and indeed so are most of the mainstream media. This is just awful and proof once more that John McSame is  utterly out of touch with not only America but with reality. Is this one big cosmic joke played on the elderly man by his caretakers?

The Daily Show skewered her last night. Samantha Bee did a rock-solid display of how Palin is her girl, because vaginas stick together doncha know. Opening remarks by Jake Tapper this morning referred to the duo as looking like “father and daughter” to the uninitiated. The jokes just keep coming, with Palin asking “I’m waiting for someone to tell me what a VEEP does all day.” Some are now referring to her as “Quayle with a ponytail.” Others laughingly suggest that it looks more like McCain is back to chasing “skirts” again.

Bill Weir from GMA was relentless in his sarcasm. “How much time has Senator McCain spent with Gov. Palin?” No answer. “Why would Clinton backers want to vote for a woman who is against women’s right to choose, favors guns, believes that evolution is wrong?” Errr, Uhhh, well. Cuz they have vaginas too?

Here’s a rundown of what I have found so far:

  • She’s been the Governor of a state with less than 1 million people for about 20 months.
  • Before that she was the mayor of a city of less than 9,000
  • Contrary to portrayal, she is in bed with big oil.
  • She is for drilling in Anwar.
  • She was against listing the polar bear on the endangered species list and is not considered a friend by environmentalists.
  • She is against any abortion even for rape and incest, making an exception “for the life of a mother,” whatever that might mean.
  • She is a happy member of the NRA and is opposed to gun legislation.
  • She believes in creationism and wants it taught in schools.
  • She is presently under investigation for misusing her powers and ordering others to do so as well in pursuit of having her ex-brother-in-law fired. This may be much bigger than many think.
  • She has no Washington experience, and no foreign policy experience.
  • She has precious few views on most anything
  • She doesn’t believe in global warming (not convinced yet!).
  • She secured her first passport in 2007 to visit Alaskan troops in Kuwait.
  • Opposes gay rights.
  • Supported Pat Buchanan in 2000.
  • Refused to support John McCain as short a time ago as 7 months ago because of his refusal to push for Anwar drilling.

Of course, the issue of “experience” is now a dead letter for the Republicans. And they are going to face enormous criticism about this choice. As recently as August 10th, Karl Rove, unofficial but acknowledged advisor to McCain, had this to say about the possibilities of a Tim Kaine choice by Obama:

“‘With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he’s been a governor for three years, he’s been able but undistinguished. I don’t think people could really name a big, important thing that he’s done. He was mayor of the 105thlargest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it’s smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona; north Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It’s not a big town.’
–Karl Rove, August 10, ‘Face the Nation’

Working around the conservative world, I found these remarks:

Two senior Republican officials close to Mitt Romney and Tim
Pawlentysaid they had both been rudely strung along and now “feel manipulated.”

“They now know that they were used as decoys, well after McCain had decided not to pick them,” one Republican involved in the process said.

Time Magazine‘s Mark Halperin, said this:

On the face of it, McCain has failed the ultimate test that any presidential candidate must face in picking a running mate: selecting someone who is unambiguously qualified to be president.”

Even the National Review‘s most rabid neo-con, Kathyrn Jean Lopez groused in anger:

As much as I loathe Obama-Biden, I can’t in good conscience vote for a McCain-Palin ticket.  Palin has absolutely no experience in foreign affairs.  Considering both McCain’s advanced age and the state of the world today, it is essential that the veep be exceedingly qualified to assume the office of president.  I simply don’t have any confidence in Palin’s ability to deal effectively with Iran, Russia, China, etc.  I certainly will not cast a vote for Obama-Biden, but nor will I vote for McCain-Palin.  Looks like I’ll either sit this one out or vote for Bob Barr.  Why, o, why, didn’t McCain listen to Rove and just pick Romney?

Also at the National Review, Ramesh Ponnura, said this:

Inexperience. Palin has been governor for about two minutes. Thanks to McCain’s decision, Palin could be commander-in-chief next year. That may strike people as a reckless choice; it strikes me that way. And McCain’s age raised the stakes on this issue.

Tokenism. Can anyone say with a straight face that Palin would have gotten picked if she were a man?

This remark by Noah Millman is so absurd it begs the question: why did he pick her then?

I realize, of course, that she’s totally unqualified to be President at this point in time. If McCain were to die in February 2009, I hope Palin would have the good sense to appoint someone who is more ready to be President to be her Vice President, on the understanding that she would then resign and be appointed Vice President by her successor. (Lest anyone say that this is an absurd, unconstitutional or undemocratic scenario, recognize that this is pretty much what would happen in a Parliamentary system where, if the head of government dies, a successor is chosen by the party.) Palin is absolutely not ready to be President now, but that is a problem that is very easily dealt with if she is and the governing party want to do so.

As Ezra Klein points out, this suggests she was brought on as an intern for on the job training? What does this say about McCain’s judgment and his claim that he would seek the “most qualified” person to be president?

Gail Collins writing for the NYTimes had this to say tongue in cheek of course:

McCain does not believe in pandering to identity politics. He was looking for someone who was well prepared to fight against international Islamic extremism, the transcendent issue of our time. And in the end he decided that in good conscience, he was not going to settle for anyone who had not been commander of a state national guard for at least a year and a half. He put down his foot!

John Cole at Balloon-Juice put it this way:

It seems so transparently cynical, so deeply poll-driven and focus-grouped, and so manifestly just a bone to the wingnut pro-life base and the 8 PUMA holdouts, that I really can’t treat this pick seriously.

Even Alaska weighed in in the negative:

State Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican from Palin’s hometown of Wasilla: “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?”

The Daily News-Miner in Fairbanks: ” She has never publicly demonstrated the kind of interest, much less expertise, in federal issues and foreign affairs that should mark a candidate for the second-highest office in the land…. Most people would acknowledge that, regardless of her charm and good intentions, Palin is not ready for the top job. McCain seems to have put his political interests ahead of the nation’s when he created the possibility that she might fill it.”

Scholars also speak up:

“. . .[I]n the words of Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University law professor and scholar of the vice presidency. “Being governor of a small state for less than two years is not consistent with the normal criteria for determining who’s of presidential caliber,” said Goldstein.

“I think she is the most inexperienced person on a major party ticket in modern history,” said presidential historian Matthew Dallek. “The fact that he would have to go to somebody who is clearly unqualified to be president makes Obama look like an elder statesman.”

At the Nation, William Greider pondered this:

The early returns I am hearing from people suggest that McCain’s gambit may prove to be a home run (mixing my sports metaphors) for Obama. One young friend first heard the news from his mother who called to say, okay, she was switching to Obama. For months, she had rooted for Hillary and insisted Obama was too wet behind the ears. “You can stop arguing with your mother,” she said.

The New Republic also decried this arrogant choice:

It may be John McCain’s birthday, but it seems like he’s the one giving out gifts today. The selection of Palin doesn’t simply, as others have pointed out, undermine the notion that Obama is too inexperienced to be president; it gives Obama the chance to actually take the edge on national security while making John McCain’s age a central issue of the campaign.

The Politico has an excellent article on what this choice says about McCain. Go and read it. It’s good and you need to.

Another good article is at Hullabaloowhich documents a good deal of Palin’s positions and looks more deeply into her ethics problems.

Bottom line: I think McCain is a fool. I think he is a misogynistic fool. I think he is a Alzheimer’s plagued, misogynistic fool. I’m insulted beyond belief. does he really think that he can woo me to vote for him because this woman has a vagina? Does he care so little about the dangerous times we live in that he will risk it all to win a campaign? Something he tried to vilify Obama over?

I think this may go down as the most impressive blunder in any campaign in history. And it’s well deserved in my opinion. Boy is this more of the same. Is there seriously something that Republicans keep eating and drinking that makes them stupid? At least one journalist wondered if by November she would even still be on the ticket? One can but wonder at the McCain campaign gone mad. Karl Rove must be packing his suitcase about now and looking for an exit strategy to keep what’s left of his tattered reputation intact.

**Feel free to steal as much as you wish to make the case to friends, family, or blogging readerships. I’d of course be happy for a linky but no matter. This is way to important.