Desperation, thy name is Sarah Palin

I'm sure Sarah Palin is a nice enough lady (the photo is her official state portrait), even if she was under-qualified when the folks of Alaska, numbering roughly one-third as many people as I am within ten miles of at this moment here in Denver, decided eye candy beats corrupt politico when one is choosing who to schmooze the big oil companies who contribute, through taxes and usage fees and whatever else the state has come up with, a huge percentage of the state's budget.

Denver's mayor has a far more-challenging job than does Sarah Palin, and he got there without first pre-qualifying by winning any beauty contests. That's not a cheap shot, just a fact. The lady has the following experience:

high-school point guard

two times voted Miss Wasilla

two terms on the city council, also Wasilla (population about 8,000)

two terms as mayor, Wasilla

governor for two years of the state containing Wasilla, two largest cities of which are each smaller than Omaha--heck, the two of them together don't match Omaha's population--and lots of really pretty wilderness and less-attractive oil fields and pipelines

If there were bonus points for the number of square miles over which one holds dominion, then Mrs Palin would have a big leg up over, in particular, Joe Biden. After all, Delaware would fit inside Alaska approximately eleventy-two times. That means she is at least that much better for the VP job than he would be, right? Oh, wait. He is a United States Senator, meaning he helps govern the entire country. Never mind.

My theory is simple: the Republicans are so desperate at this point that they decided to think outside the box. If necessity is the mother of invention, the folks advising McCain have proven that desperation is the daddy of insanity. There's thinking outside the box, and then there is thinking outside the brain.

If anyone has any doubt about how close the election will be, this decision by the McCain campaign surely tells us all how much they believe in their chances. They clearly believe they have no hope. I cannot come up with anything more logical than, "we have no chance at all, so let's do something that will make us seem accepting of
women." They have no issue with putting someone with literally zero national leadership experience in the job where one's chief duty is to verify that the president is still alive each day because they know there is roughly [wild calculator noises] .00001% chance of her actually becoming vice president.

I don't for a moment wish to beat up on Sarah Palin. In fact, I honor her and her husband for their efforts in raising so large a family and accepting a child with the challenges Trig will face, their baby born this year with Down Syndrome. At the same time, I don't want her having anything to do with running my country.