As Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has fewer constituents than the Mayor of Memphis, TN. If Alaska were a county, it would be the 86th largest in the country, slightly ahead of Snohomish County, WA.
Before her 1.5 years as governor, during which the state’s unemployment rate has risen, Palin was Mayor of Wasllia (pop. 9000), and before that a member of the Wasilia City Council. She also had a brief appointment to a state board. That’s it. That’s all. No private-sector experience except running a fishing boat with her husband and doing sports reporting for a local TV station. She’s a champion snowmobile racer, though.
She says she smoked marijuana “when it was legal in Alaska,” but didn’t like it. (Perhaps no one told her that it was illegal in the United States, and that she was violating federal law.)
Could McCain have possibly made a more un-serious choice? Esepcially given his age and health problems? Think about the former Mayor of Wassilia confronting Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. Think about it hard.
Now none of this is any reproach to Palin. She is no more responsible for McCain’s choice of her than Incitatus was responsible for the plan of his rider, Caligula, to make him Consul of Rome.
This isn’t “shattering the glass ceiling;” this is an insult to all the Republican women who had some actual qualifications for the job, and for that matter to all women: McCain is making a joke of women’s aspiration to high office.
McCain’s willingness to put Palin one not-very-reliable heartbeat from the Presidency tells you all you need to know about his fitness for office.
Update Wait, there’s more:
Palin shares the Republican respect for science, and for truth-telling. She’s even in favor of teaching Intelligent Design in the schools.
“Quincy Adams” writes:
Amazing — totally irresponsible. McCain must think he’s immortal in addition to infallible Seriously, I think it says he couldn’t stand to run with another adult who actually knows anything. Maybe he wanted someone who wouldn’t outshine his academic record. The woman has a BA in journalism with a minor in politics.
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Yep. First-rate people hire first-rate people. Second-rate people hire third-rate people.
Second update
Here’s Sarah Palin playing footsie with Glenn Beck. They’re outraged because the law protects polar bears.