Did they even do anything CLOSE to vetting Sarah Palin?
Yesterday, I wrote about how Sarah Palin was nothing more than a two-bit hack, given the investigation into her abuse of power as Governor, firing the Public Safety Commissioner when he wouldn't fire her ex-brother-in-law, lied about pressuring the guy to do so, and then showed keen judgment by replacing him with someone who had to resign in two weeks because of sexual harassment problems.
Seems that Palin honed this skill back as Mayor of Wasilla, where she was nearly recalled, for firing the Police Chief and Library Director for not supporting her in her 1996 race for Mayor.
Yes, that's right. Hack n' Sack Sarah didn't even try to hide it. She didn't say the Police Chief and Library Director were doing a bad job. No, she fired them for "not fully supporting her efforts to govern" (i.e., not endorsing her for Mayor).
Seriously, though, we're coming off eight years of cronyism and inept leadership in the White House, which led to everything from Heck Of a Job Brownie to the US Attorney Firing Scandal. Sarah Palin's emerging record as Mayor of Wasilla and as Governor are almost a complete mirror of that (though closer to the Mayberry scale than leader of the free world).
But it is a glimpse into the type of "leader" she is. An inept hack, in the George W. Bush mold, who was so brazen with the little power she was given that she faced citizens trying to remove her from office. Did John McCain even ask her about this, the one time he talked to her on the phone before picking her?
If John McCain wanted a woman on the ticket, there were plenty of conservative women to choose from, who have a respectable record as public officials, and who would arguably be ready to be Commander in Chief. That he chose Sarah Palin, who is nothing short of an embarrassment, speaks volumes about the kind of judgment McCain will show as President. For if he's willing to put a nearly-recalled, under-investigation inept hack one heartbeat away from the Presidency, what kind of judgment will he show when choosing Judges and Justices, Secretaries of top departments, and administrators of lead agencies?
This isn't putting Country First. It's putting Political PR first (and not even good PR at that). Sarah Palin as a VP nominee is an affront to the intelligence of every American, and a freakin' embarrassment.
Well done, John McCain. You've shown possibly even worse judgment than George W. Bush, which until now was almost an impossibly high bar to meet.
Update (x3): Some have said it's an exaggeration to say she was almost recalled. It is NOT. The very initial effort got 60 supporters. According to Alaska law, you only need 100 voter signatures to put a recall to a vote. This is in a town where only 1100 people voted in 1999, so I imagine getting petition signatures ain't easy. In any event, 60 voters represents about 5 percent of the voting population, in just the first couple of days the effort was launched. Compare this to the Gray Davis recall, which took months to get only 6 percent of the voting population, before really gaining traction. So they were only 40 people from getting a recall on the ballot after a couple of days, and given the nature of the offense, the citizens may have voted to remove her. Yes, Virginia, it was an "almost recall."
crossposted from Dailykos
