McCain's Palin-Pick Process Reveals His Incompetence

Regardless of what you think of John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, it has become clear that his campaign blew the Palin vetting and selection process...and that McCain himself made a last-minute impulse decision designed to appease critics within the party who objected to his preferred choices: Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge.

If nothing else, this story nukes the McCain-the-Maverick tale that got people excited last Friday. On the contrary: It makes McCain look wimpy, unable to stand up even to those within his own party.

Just as bad, it makes McCain look incompetent. The NYT suggests that the Palin choice was so last-minute that the campaign had no time to conduct more than the most cursory vetting process. This after the candidate had more than four leisurely months in which to conduct a careful search. Prior to her nomination, Palin was interviewed once, by a McCain lawyer, and then had one in-person meeting with McCain, who immediately offered her the job:

The concern here isn't Palin's pregnant daughter or own personal Troopergate--these issues just aren't issues (at least not yet). In fact, the concern isn't Palin at all. It's McCain. If this is the way the "experienced" candidate makes crucial, high-pressure decisions, experience counts for a lot less than McCain says it does.

See Also: Why McCain's "America's Hottest Governor" Pick Is Brilliant

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Comments

[peterg76]

"[I]t makes McCain look incompetent" Anyone who didn't already think McCain was incompetent - in the legal substitute decision-making sense, to say nothing of qualifications for president - is probably not going to be swayed by this latest example.

[SimplyBilly]

I'm starting to think that McCain did it on purpose as a screw you to the orders that he had to take from the Right Wing.

[Jon Raymond - Huffpost Blogger]

Considering the media inundation of Palin and her daughter's private lives, this was a genius choice by McCain. The media is dragging this poor innocent family through the mud with their barrage on them. How do you think voters are going to react? They will sympathize with Palin and vilify any perceived opponents, in this case, the Democrats. they won't blame the real culprits - the media. they will ignore the real issues, like Palin's incredible lack of qualifications to be a world class leader. McCain couldn't hope for more. Now neither he nor Palin have to bother with the real issues. Instead they just let the media play out their muckraking of Palin. Any real attention to the issues is overshadowed by this.