Last night, I went to bed thinking that McCain would pick one of the two most logical choices for his running mate. Tim Pawlenty, a proven conservative and semi-popular governor of a swing state, or Mitt Romney, a man who claims he's a conservative even though he never governed as one in a state which can't stand him anymore. This morning, when I awoke, I was so pissed off I shouted "Why not Sebelius! We've just lost this ****ing thing!"
Then I thought about what Palin's selection meant several minutes later. For a candidate who pummeled his opponent for being inexperienced, McCain certainly has to put his foot in his mouth now that he has selected someone with only twenty months of experience under her belt as governor. And while he selected a governor as his running mate, he selected the governor of one of the most irrelevant states in the country, a state McCain was almost guaranteed to win anyway (despite how close the polls are there). AND, to top it all off, he picks a governor who is caught up in a corruption scandal on her own, which reeks of the politics Obama spoke out against last night.
So, what does Palin's selection mean? Quite simple: McCain selected her ONLY because she is a young, fairly attractive woman. That is the only reason. There are dozens of other women he could have selected who share similar values as he does. Hutchison, Snowe, Collins, Dole, Rice... but he selected the young one, the inexperienced one, in an attempt to not only get middle aged women to vote for him, but to siphon youth voters into his column as well.
I thought history might have taught John McCain a lesson or two about picking a running mate solely based on gender. The last time that happened, the candidate was not only unqualified for the job, but she herself was involved in quite the scandal. And while she was selected solely because she was a woman, that did not help the ticket at all. People voted for the incumbent president, based on national mood, and the state of the nation at the time. They voted for security, economics, and good feeling. This time, the national mood will also determine this election. Not race, and not gender. I believe this is the biggest blunder in VP politics in twenty-four years.
I applaud McCain for being a trailblazer, I guess. Good luck to
McCain/ Ferraro 2.0 
:heart:
