Blogged by Brad Friedman from the road…<\/i><\/p>\n
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It’s only Monday. John McCain announced his selection of Sarah Palin as his VP on Friday. Given that we’ve had a hurricane, the wrap of one convention, the beginning of another, and all of it over a Labor Day weekend, it’s amazing how many questions about Palin — and McCain’s judgment in selecting her — have come to light in just the past four days.<\/p>\n
Were it not for the near-total lock on the media by the right wing, I can’t see how she’d possibly make it through another week, much less the General Election. Even with<\/i> that lock, I still don’t see how she ultimately survives at this rate.<\/p>\n
(Though Dem partisans might be careful what they wish for, as a second shot at it will almost certainly<\/i> bring a more sensible, and palatable, pick.)<\/p>\n
The most salacious of the concerns (so far) came today, as 1) the admission<\/a> that Palin’s unwed teenage daughter is pregnant and 2) she’s now lawyering up<\/a> in Alaska to fight the “TrooperGate”<\/a> investigation.<\/p>\n And then there are all the other concerns and questions, becoming legion by the hour. The mountain of revelations has led conservative<\/i> Andrew Sullivan to declare<\/a>, in regard to McCain’s arguably most important decision of the campaign: “McCain is more incompetent as an executive than Bush.”<\/p>\n <\/span>Obama partisan John Aravosis notes<\/a> that McCain had six months to the make this decision, “longer to consider that choice than any other presidential candidate in history.” Yet tomorrow’s New York Times<\/i> reveals<\/a> that after McCain’s first choices of Lieberman and Ridge were nixed by the wingnuts, he caved to them, and hastily installed Palin with virtually no vetting whatsoever. Add that to what’s already known<\/a> about McCain’s flubbed roll-out of Palin (she was in favor of the “Bridge to Nowhere” before she was against it, she raised taxes even though they said she was a tax-cutter, etc.) and this Veep nomination is clearly in trouble<\/p>\n And if all of the above wasn’t disaster enough for both Palin, and more importantly, McCain, there are the more routine questions of her actual positions<\/i> and qualifications<\/i>. You know, the stuff that’s normally important to someone nominated to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.<\/p>\n Take a look at this painful drubbing that McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds took from CNN’s Campell Brown, of all people (she leans consistently right, and is married to diehard Bush Admin loyalist Dan Senor — a point the network, to my knowledge, and its continuing shame, rarely, if ever, discloses) on the topic of Palin’s foreign affairs experience…or utter lack thereof.<\/p>\n