Mr. McCain's selection of an inexperienced and relatively unknown figure was unsettling, and the campaign's decision to keep her sequestered from serious interchanges with reporters and voters serves only to deepen the unease. Mr. McCain is entitled to choose the person he thinks would be best for the job. He is not entitled to keep the public from being able to make an informed assessment of that judgment. Ms. Palin's speech-making skills are impressive, but the more she repeats the same stump speech lines, the queasier we get. Nor have her answers to the gentle questioning she has encountered provided any confidence that Ms. Palin has a grasp of the issues.
Queasiness, indeed: it was obvious at the outset that this was a simple demographic-based selection: but the campaign is obviously terrified of what Palin would do to their chances if the media were allowed to challenge her. This does not bode well for the impact on this country (and the rest of the world, for that matter) should Palin rise to the office of President.
I'm becoming a one-note trumpet, I know: but I haven't had such an uneasy feeling about a candidate since I first became eligible to vote. I guess I wouldn't object to her so strenuously if McCain had a better health history: but there is a significant chance that McCain will die before serving out his term. And the idea that someone who isn't even familiar with the Bush Doctrine, perhaps the single biggest watershed change in American foreign policy since the Teddy Roosevelt administration, might wind up commanding our military and determining the course of global politics, should make everyone queasy.
Imagine that Dan Quayle had become president (disclosure: I voted for H, and still think history gave him a raw deal). Think about it. President Quayle. Now make him a naive yokel who has had zero exposure to the rough and tumble of national politics.
Bit of a gut check, no?
Update: added a link to the WaPo source article.
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