Country First

John McCain has made "Country First" the rallying slogan of his campaign. He has explicitly attacked Barack Obama for preferring to "lose a war than lose a campaign" and for placing his personal ambition above the nation's safety. According to McCain, this is a perilous time for the nation, one rife with grave national security threats. The next president will have to deal with (likely) troop withdrawal from Iraq, continued prosecution of the global war on terror in Afghanistan (and, likely, elsewhere), an unstable Pakistan, the growing threat of Iran, an increasingly frisky and testy Russia, and, of course, the continued rise of China. Scary stuff requirng a strong national security and foreign policy president. How, then, do we square that with McCain's selection of Alaska governor Sarah Palin to be his vice president, one 72-year old heartbeat from being the most powerful person in the world?

The answer is we don't.

McCain's selection of Palin is completely indefensible, reckless, impulsive, and, ultimately, dangerous. Fundamentally, this is all about McCain's judgment. Palin has been governor of Alaska, one of the smallest (by population) states in the country for a little over a year and a half. Prior to that she served as mayor of a town of approximately 6,500 residents. She has no expressed foreign policy position. Worse, she has previously exhibited zero interest in foreign policy issues. Likewise, she has shown scant interest in national domestic policy. This is the person that McCain thinks is best suited to tackle the thicket of national security issues we face? Really? The proposition is patently laughable, made all the more so by lame attempts to argue that Alaska's proximity to Russia and her titular command of the Alaska National Guard somehow qualify as relevant and powerful foreign policy qualifications.

This laughable proposition is made terrifying by the very legitimate concerns about McCain's age. He's a 72-year old cancer survivor who lost five and a half years as a POW (had you heard he was a POW? He never speaks of it). If elected, he would be the oldest first term president in history. It is not unreasonable to worry that he might not make it through his first term. Therefore, McCain's VP is especially important. That he saw fit to select someone so bereft of suitable experience, or even interest in issues of importance, speaks volumes about McCain's arrogance and poor judgment.

Frankly, there is so much to this pick that offends and I'm in danger of turning this into a rambling, rant-y, mess. So, time for fun with bullets!

- Pro creationism in public schools
- Thinks the most important thing about the Iraq war and the Surge is that our leaders are following "God's plan."
- Abuse of power: Troopergate, fired a slew of public officials when she became mayor of her hometown because she could tell that they weren't sufficiently "loyal."
- Tried to fire the public librarian because she wouldn't censor books Palin found offensive.
- Lied about her courageous fight against the pork-bellied "Bridge to Nowhere"

There are many more of these kinds of fun tidbits. To reiterate, lest the point be lost, this is not to rail against Palin. This is to rail against McCain and his complete lack of judgment. It's abundantly clear that he didn't properly vet her and that he had no clue who this person was prior to picking her. He closed his eyes, blew on the dice, and hoped he rolled a seven. Clearly, however, he crapped out.