Consider first Kathleen Parker’s recent and unprecedented call for Ms. Palin to withdraw her candidacy gracefully despite having written with unbounded enthusiasm of Ms. Palin’s candidacy just a few weeks ago: “ [Palin is] a "perfect storm of God, Mom and apple pie."

Then observe how many prominent conservatives like David Frum and David Brooks have now concluded that Governor Palin is not ready to be vice president.  Add to them Sean Hannity and other pundits.  Even the ethically-challenged George Will (who abused his press credentials by passing Jimmy Carter’s debate prep notebook to Reagan’s team) recently admitted that Governor Palin lacks the gravitas and policy knowledge to be a serious candidate for VP.

We also may assume that any astute political operative would require no more than a few moments of conversation with Ms. Palin to conclude what the interviews Palin granted to Charlie Gibson, Sean Hannity and Katie Couric so clearly demonstrated.

Wouldn’t it seem reasonable that John McCain and his team could also have discovered these deficiencies with just a few interviews?  Of course they could have. And yes, they must have done.  So why does Sarah Palin work—for now--as McCain’s VP candidate?

Here’s why Sarah Palin has been placed in this unenviable position: John McCain, the ultimate backroom schemer, knew that the Republican National Convention would never ratify his first choice for VP, so he cleverly offered the Republican National Convention a diversionary move, knowing that Sarah Palen will be forced to withdraw—probably just before Thursday’s Vice-Presidential debate—probably to spend more time her with family’s affairs, freeing John McCain to smile proudly and announce her replacement:  Senator Joe Lieberman!

Bingo! No time for another convention. Election’s just a month away. Joe Lieberman for VP!!!  Sarah Who?