McCain Would Rather Win an Election Than Pick a Qualified Running Mate

A 72-year-old man with a history of health problems has to consider the possibility that his vice president might actually have to govern. He's not thinking about you or me. John McCain is thinking about John McCain.
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She's never actually used the word Shiite in a sentence before. She's never had to. She's never given any thought whatsoever to nuclear proliferation. She's never had to. She's never thought about Israel, Russia, Korea, or Iran. She's never even thought about Mexico. So, what HAS she thought about? I mean, what has she thought about that's going to directly affect you and me if (yes, God forbid) she has to slip into the role of the most powerful leader on the face of the planet? Well, we know she's given a lot of thought to your uterus. Hell, I think about your uterus all the time and nobody should ever elect me to any office.

I was reading my friend Dan Senor's piece in the Wall Street Journal today, in which he takes Biden to task for his once staunch position on the splitting up of Iraq. It's a smart argument Dan makes -- and I'm not his audience, believe me. I'm so lefty I'd consider going gay if I could date Obama (oh, you bet I drank the Koolaid and I've been all fuzzy ever since).

So I'm reading Dan's excellent article and I'm hating its well reasoned argument - how Biden was wrong about Iraq and why he's mysteriously dropped that position, etc - and I'm realizing something that put a smile on my face. There is not a fireball's chance in Alaska that Sarah Palin could make that argument in a debate with Joe Biden. She lacks the gravitas, she lacks the knowledge, she lacks the experience. If she were a news anchor we'd say she reeks of local.

But most importantly, what does that say about John McCain? He has now destroyed his two favorite arguments against Obama. Experience was a pretty good argument. Yesterday. But the more offensive and controversial argument is the one that inspired the McCain campaign's clumsy, communist-era slogan - "Country First." Aside from sounding like the name of a midwestern savings-and-loan, the phrase is an obvious reference to McCain's mantra that Obama "would rather win an election than win a war. " He has repeatedly challenged Obama's motives, his character, his judgment and his patriotism. Sarah Palin is the glass house inside of which McCain will now have to throw those stones. Because, what does it say about a man who chooses someone so grossly unqualified as his running mate for the highest office in the land simply because she might - might - get the Hillary vote? What does it say for his opinion of those very women he hopes to enlist?

Does John McCain think about actually governing? Or is he merely focused on winning? Because a man of 72 years old with a history of health problems has to consider the possibility that his Vice President might actually have to govern. No, he's not thinking about that. He's not thinking about you or me. John McCain is thinking about John McCain. And his running mate is thinking about next year's salmon run. And your uterus.

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