(I realize from the jump start that this post is going to be controversial. Even so, I am going to exercise my right to freedom of speech, and express my own thoughts. You are also encouraged to express yours in the comment section.) 

I don’t think it was surprising that McCain chose a female as his running mate.  After all, he was well aware that there was a close race between Obama and Hillary, and McCain was hoping to attract all of those disappointed Democrats who wanted Hillary to join forces with him. 

What is shocking is that of all the females he could have chosen as his running mate, he chose Palin.  After all his bashing comments about Obama and his “inexperience,” McCain chooses someone who is extremely inexperienced and unknown.  The Governor of Alaska.  Alaska has a population of about 670,000.  And if it were not for the shameless antics of it’s congressional delegation, most of us in the lower 48 states would not think of Alaska more than a couple times a year.

So what else do we know of Palin?  Not much!  We know the following:

  • She was a hockey mom.
  • She was in the PTA.
  • She attempted to impose her personal literary values on the public library in Wasilla, AK.
  • She did support the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere.”
  • She did have a non-trivial opinion about the war in Iraq.
  • She did seek to dismiss a state employee for improper reasons.
  • She wants to take the polar bear off the endangered species list.
  • She wants to take women’s rights back to the stone ages, so that we have teenagers dying in a back alley somewhere from using coat hangers for self inflicted abortions.
  • She does not believe that humans have done a thing to cause global warming.
  • McCain offered the veep slot after just one substantive meeting with her — a stunning way to make the most important decision of your life, after selecting your spouse! And speaking of marriage, would anyone in their right mind propose on the first date? No! But he offers her this crucial position based on some mild staff vetting and then just one meeting?
  • The conservative Christian right did the same thing as McCain and has fallen head-over-heels in love with her virtually overnight. Why? Because they do not like McCain, are not happy with what the Bush presidency devolved into, and most importantly, they want very much to believe in someone. ANYONE.

In a nutshell, McCain was grasping for straws, and obviously did not give a lot of thought when choosing someone to fill such an important position.  I think that alone says a great deal about McCain in and of itself. If McCain were to win this election, and something were to happen to him, would you want Palin as your President?  Who in their right mind would vote for this pair?

McCain may have dressed up his campaign by choosing a pretty, fresh, female face as his running mate, but it does nothing to change the fact that he is incapable of turning this country around and making the changes that are necessary to get our country back on her feet, restore her dignity, and re-gain the respect she once knew the world over. McCain has stated himself that he has been President Bush’s “yes man” by backing him in all of his decisions “90 percent of the time.”  Do we really need 4 more years of the same old thing?  Can we afford it?

Obama was not making a direct insult to the beautiful Palin when he made the statement that putting lipstick on a pig still makes it a pig. He was merely stating that just because you pick a beautiful woman as your running mate does not change what you stand for, or make you the right man for the job.  Obama’s other comment in reference to the same thing went unannounced over the media, when he stated:

“You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It’s still gonna stink.”