Caution: Do Not Drink Your Own Kool-Aid

OK, I understand the Republican strategy. Nominate a right-wing wacko who doesn't believe in sex education, evolution, gravity, or separation of church and state. Doing so fires up the nutcase base, generating tons of money that can be spent on advertising and improve turnout from that base. Moderate Republicans have learned that the extreme conservative rhetoric is just that, rhetoric, and will not actually result in any action once the nominee is in office. The far-right social conservatives are too stupid to notice that despite their undying financial and voting support for the Republican party, Harry Potter novels are still not banned and local school boards mostly continue to teach actual science.

So I understand McCain's decision to make Palin his running mate. It's the Rovian game plan, and it's worked in the past. I'm disappointed, like all independent voters must be. We liked the John McCain who stood up to the "agents of intolerance." But it's not his first flip-flop, and the straight talking ship has long since sailed.

But if we accept that naming a social arch-conservative made sense from a fund-raising and nut-job turn-out perspective, the question is, Why Palin? I started to think who I would have named to serve that function, and the more I thought of it, the more I realized that Obama is lucky that McCain didn't do so. Because the far more daunting challenge for Obama would have been a McCain-Huckabee ticket.

Yes, Huckabee. The man is a great speaker, his appearances on Colbert were great (with potential for attracking the youth vote), he has lots of experience, and most importantly, after running for President for a year, there can't be much if any uncovered dirt. He's been properly vetted by the media already, eliminating the Palin-like drip drip drip of embarrasing revelations that distract from getting a message out. Don't get me wrong, I think the guy is certifiably insane, but he would be a much better VP candidate than Palin.

So why Palin? I can't think of a single advantage she has over Huckabee. The only rational explanation is that McCain swallowed some of the Fox "News" Kool-Aid and came to believe that there's a large number of women who supported Hillary who are just dying to switch parties if only he'd name an unqualified anti-choice woman under an ethics investigation as his running mate. You know, the women who think that being pregnant at 17, as long as you're going to get married, is a fine goal in life for their daughters.

Now, the reality is that the number of such women who would switch from backing Hillary to voting for a McCain-Palin ticket is about the same number of people who won't be voting for Obama because of his refusal to name Dennis Kucinich as his running mate. Suggesting that women voters will vote for a female candidate regardless of how much they disagree with her positions is an insult to women.

So I can only conclude that McCain spent too much time watching Sean Hannity et al repeat anecdotes about individual women upset at Obama and fell for the agitprop. Drinking the Kool-Aid as it were. Either that, or the concept of women having the right to vote is so new to him that he thought they would vote for any shiny bauble he put in front of them. McCain would be better served if he telegraphed the butlers at his houses, however many of them there are, and told them to change the station of the televisions to something other than Fox "News."