Sarah Palin Choice Shows McCain's Lack Of Judgment
Author: Marvin J Markus

John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for his VP nominee
calls into serious question his judgment. It also calls
into question his talking points of "putting the country
first," "experience," & "ready to lead." On top of that it
actually greatly contradicts his reputation as a so called
"maverick."

It now appears clear that McCain's choice of Palin was a
rash decision made only after his first choice of Joe
Lieberman was shot down by the far right wing of the
Republican party. The McCain campaign did not properly look
into Palin's background. And in fact McCain had met Palin
only one time before he invited her to be his VP.

Considering the importance of a the Vice Presidential
position (9 times in our nation's history the Vice
President has had to fill in and become President) this
lack of due diligence in selecting his VP is a substantial
example of McCain's lack of judgment.

While the McCain campaign has talked endlessly of "putting
the country first," the fact is that by selecting Sarah
Palin entirely for political reasons, he has done anything
but that. The #1 criteria for a VP should be that he or she
can fill in and become President at any moment. Sarah Palin
clearly fails that criteria.

The McCain campaign has also been making the case against
Barack Obama largely based on what they call his lack of
experience. They have questioned whether Obama is "ready to
lead" over and over again. How can they make this argument
against Barack Obama (and his three years of experience on
the foreign relations committee) when Palin has absolutely
no foreign policy experience at all.

The McCain campaign has thrown away their biggest arguments
against the Obama campaign with their choice of Palin and
furthermore they've shown what a sham their arguments were
in the first place. They obviously didn't believe them or
they wouldn't have chosen someone with no experience to be
one 72 year old heartbeat away from the Presidency.

The McCain campaign has tried to spin this selection as
proof that McCain is a "maverick" but the fact is this
choice shows the opposite. It shows that McCain is in the
back pocket of the same far right part of the Republican
party that got George W. Bush elected. This was a choice to
placate the "religious right" social conservatives who do
not trust McCain.

McCain's first choice was Joe Lieberman. McCain wanted to
try to appeal to moderates with Lieberman as his VP but the
social conservatives in his party shot down that selection
and said there would be a fight at the convention if he
chose Lieberman. McCain backed down from that fight and
chose Palin who belongs to a church whose pastor said in
2004 that anyone who criticizes George W. Bush is going to
hell.

The McCain campaign has tried to spin Palin into being some
kind of "reformer" but that image simply doesn't fit in
with her real record. Palin is someone who has abused her
power in a fashion very similar to Dick Cheney
("TrooperGate" & threatening to fire a librarian for not
cooperating with her in trying to burn books.) Palin is
someone who was for the "Bridge To Nowhere" before she was
against it. Palin is someone who asked for many millions of
dollars in earmarks as a Mayor of a small town and as
Governor of Alaska.

"Trying to burn books." Did that line catch your attention?
I'm hoping that you are as for the fist amendment as I am
and will be as shocked as I was to learn that Sarah Palin
inquired with the local librarian when she was Mayor of
Wasilla, Alaska about burning some books. When the
librarian refused to cooperate, Palin threatened to have
her fired. Not only is Palin a far right wing religious nut
but she's a far right wing religious nut who is not afraid
to abuse her power.

To get an idea of how far right wing Sarah Palin is
consider these positions: Palin is for teaching creationism
in schools. Palin is anti-choice even in cases of incest &
rape. Palin believes the war in Iraq is "God's Will" and
uses the same term to describe the Alaskan Pipeline. Palin
does not believe that Global Warming is associated with
human activity. Palin believes in the idea of "abstinence"
in place of sexual education.

So it's not only that Palin is grossly under qualified to
be Vice President it's also that her positions are far to
the right of mainstream Americans.


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