A League Of Her Own

McCain’s campaign slogan — well, one of them, anyway — is “Country First”. Perhaps putting “Country First” for McCain’s running mate should be “Family First”, as in bail on the ticket in order to spend more time with the new born.

I’m not being rude. I’m being honest. In recent interviews (from the grand total of three that there have been!) Palan has uttered such nonsence as:

“Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.” (interview with Sean Hannity)

“I’m not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who’s more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who’s actually done it?” (interview with Katie Couric)

It has lead more than one reporter, blogger and columnist to say things like, “If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.” (Kathleen Parker, conservative columnist)

“I’ve never met him before,” says Palin, referring to Joe Biden, her Democratic counterpart. “But I’ve been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, second grade.”

Palin, who is 44, shows her skill with glib, scripted, answers but, as has been the case so often in the days since she hit the national stage, is somewhat lacking when it comes to substance. She would have been eight years old when Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 at the age of 29. John McCain was then 36 and would first be elected to Congress ten years later. That Palin would have heard anything about Joe Biden during her years in Alaska is a testament to his exposure in the national, and world, political arena.

She’s got guts. I’ll give her that. But does she have the guts to withdraw from a failing ticket and give McCain one final shot at the prize? If she makes it to the debate on Thursday it will be interesting to see how she fares without a speech writer and a tele-prompter. I hope she was good at cramming for exams. She may be a lipstick-toting hockey mom but this is in the big leagues — and she’s way out of her league!