Where John McCain Went Wrong

So... Back in 2000 when John McCain ran in the primary presidential elections (losing to George W. Bush), he was regarded as a more liberal Republican candidate. Today, he considers himself a "maverick" and brags about his bipartisan political involvements all the time. However, he has voted with his party 88.1% of the time during the current Congress (www.washingtonpost.com), and is clearly much more of a Republican than some line-crossing, feather-ruffling maverick.

I seriously think McCain is SO staunchly conservative that he was unable to even feign bipartisanship by choosing an appealing vice presidential running mate. Sure, the choice of a female running mate was very smart on his part; disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters could still see a female in the White House AND they would get to vote against Obama, the man who beat Clinton in the primaries. But the fatal flaw in this shoddy design was choosing Sarah Palin...

I am a woman, I'm very supportive of equal rights, and I support the idea of electing a female president someday; however, I was less than impressed by Hillary Clinton this year. I had pretty much decided that if the general election was between Clinton and McCain, I would probably vote for McCain. Luckily, the right Democratic candidate was elected, and I'm so excited for voting for a candidate who I actually like, rather than one who is the "lesser of two evils" (which is what McCain would have been against Clinton, and which is unfortunately what John Kerry was in the first election I was able to vote in). My point here is this: I considered giving McCain my vote, that was the amount of faith I was willing to put into that man... But after choosing Sarah Palin as the VP delegate, McCain secured his spot in my ranks as a lunatic.

I digressed a little bit... But the point I wanted to make is that I'm a woman and I would NEVER send Sarah Palin into the White House - especially as the VP to a man who statistically has less than 1/3 chance in living through 2 presidential terms (2/3 HEALTHY men will die between the ages of 72 and 80, and with past medical issues and high occupational stress, McCain's chances keep getting smaller and smaller... This is just science, I'm not trying to be macabre, just stating the facts). Sarah Palin has publically acknowledged that she doesn't REALLY know what the vice presidency entails, but I hope to God she and everyone else takes into consideration that she will be the president if McCain is elected president and dies in office. THE PRESIDENT?!

From her behavior in interviews, debates, and her utter lack of experience/knowledge/political ability, I think she's made McCain's decision-making process pretty damn clear and has shown what she's really doing on the Republican ticket:

• She's relatively attractive (until she speaks), appealing to the shallow/generally uninformed swing voters.
• She's a woman, appealing to angry Clinton supporters.
• She's from a small town, appealing to Main Street Americans who want their government to better understand them.

That's about all I can credit her with... Notice nothing there has to do with political prowess or experience. McCain is trying so damn hard to appeal to the swing vote that he's gone completely off the deep end with this GEM of a choice.

Final note: Sarah Palin is from Wasilla, Alaska - a town with a population of 7028 (www.cityofwasilla.com). The Facebook group "I Have More Foreign Policy Experience than Sarah Palin" has 213,291 (and counting) members. That's more than 30 Wasillas...