Reactionist Politics

I'm still not sold on Sarah Palin as a pick. She may be a fine governor. She may someday be a fine governor (if you're going the route of there's not enough experience to get a good grip yet). What I don't like, more than anything else, is the rapidity of the pick - the day after the Democratic Convention ended with record ratings. I don't buy the argument that she was fully vetted, despite the revelations over the weekend that perhaps she wasn't until now (source: Talking Points Memo), or at least, not so deeply as to look into the newspaper of the town where she was mayor (source: the Huffington Post). I don't like that she was for the Bridge to nowhere before she was against it. I don't like that this pick does strip the Republican race of the experience argument, even though they will try to argue that these are apples and oranges.

The more that this drags on, the more it looks like John McCain and company reacted to the Democratic tide rather than acted to choose the best available candidate (who I think was Romney, even though I don't care for him). I think it shows a rash nature, one that is not something the President can afford to have. It shows a counterpunch mentality that works in the right situations, but not when applying for a position that requires tempered decision-making. We don't need four more years of "Bring 'em on!" We need someone who can reason a decision with the mind rather than spewing a decision from the gut.

While I'm not sold on Obama, I think the Palin decision helped him.

There is another possibility from this decision, though. The choice has given MUCH attention to the Republican candidate, who did not need a 14th trip to the Jay Leno show to get some more airtime. Perhaps this is a Harriet Miers pick. Maybe John McCain has his Samuel Alito somewhere - a pick that he otherwise wouldn't have gotten through had it not been for the horrific initial choice.

With Karl Rove involved in the process, I wouldn't put it past them.