McCain Picks Palin

By Cernig

John McCain has picked Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as his running mate - which at least is interesting. But how is he going to justify attacking Obama on his inexperience now? Palin, if McCain wins, would be the VP to an old man. The chances of her becoming President would, I have to say, be rather higher than those of Joe Biden. There's nothing at all in Palin's record to suggest she has the experience to run America or to be Commander in Chief.

She's not even sure what the VP does (h/t Kos)

In an interview just a month ago, she dissed the job, saying it didn�t seem �productive.�

... Larry Kudlow of CNBC�s �Kudlow & Co.� asked her about the possibility of becoming McCain's ticket mate.

Palin replied: �As for that VP talk all the time, I�ll tell you, I still can�t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I�m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we�re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question.�

She'll keep a lot of the base happy. She prefers oil to polar bears, is pro-life in a way that practises what she preaches (I can respect that even while disagreeing) and is a lifelong member of the NRA. She's cozy with Big Oil but not too cozy with it - and Ted Stevens will not be a happy man today. She's systematically dismantled his network of cronies and pork-barrel projects in Alaska. Kudos to her for that. In that respect, at least, she's going to give McSame some "maverick" cred now that he's turning out to be a shill for lobbyists after all. She's sorta McCain's conservative version of Obama. She's Change he can tout against Obama's. Maybe not so much change Alaskans fully believe in, though - her share of the vote dropped  by 7.6% in 2006.

But she also has a couple of problems for the base. She's been very "nanny-state" in some of her dealings in Alaska, especially a failed attempt to keep a big Alaskan state-owned dairy open after it became hopelessly uncompetitive and her insistence on raising the State's share of oil revenues as a form of windfall tax then passing it on to citizens in windfall payments. Now, where have I heard that idea recently? Oh, and she and her oil-industry husband eloped - so much for the traditional base's view of marriage.

Then there's the scandal involving her firing Commissioner of Public Safety because he refused to fire a State Trooper who is involved in a custody battle with her sister. Hmmm. We'll see if more on that appears now that she's in the national limelight. However, a cop who allegedly beats his wife isn't a sympathetic figure unless its to the more hardcore misogynist GOPers.

And lastly - what is it about McCain and ex-beauty queens? She was runner up in the '84 Miss Alaska contest. Watch out Cindy - you know from experience your man has a wandering eye.