Charlie_Brennan's Blog

Bold. Surprising. Daring. Those are adjectives being ascribed to Arizona Sen. John McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Bold, surprising and daring would also be the right description, were I to decide to wear a dress. But that wouldn’t mean it’s a good idea.

I’m never afraid to steal good material, and in this case I’m stealing from Metro State College political science professor Norman Provizer, in saying that Wikipedia is going to crash today with all the people logging on to find out who this woman is.

Mother of five, check. “Gun-toting” (CNN’s words) member of the NRA, check. Former city council and mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Check. First female governor of that state. Check. Forty-four years old, and celebrating her 20th wedding anniversary to a union-card-carrying commercial fisherman, check, check, and check.

That, right there, is more than two out of one hundred people walking down the 16th Street Mall could have told you about Palin prior to about 10 a.m. Friday.

But that’s not the heart of my reason for thinking this is a questionable pick for the Republicans.

It is impossible for me to imagine McCain would select someone with such a slim resume under any circumstances that didn’t include the Democrats having an African-American heading up their ticket.

This move by McCain seems 100-percent responsive to the Democrats’ historic nomination of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. It’s a defensive, parrying move, a counter. And, that, alone doesn’t mean this is a mistake by McCain, who is in a race so close that neither side can afford more than about two between now and Nov. 4.

“Politics is always a dance, and rarely do you have the opportunity just to dance alone,” said Norman Provizer, political science professor at Metro State College.

“You always have to figure out what your partner in the campaign is doing, and that’s part of it. I think there was this idea of, how can we do something different, get attention?

Simply put, the other guy runs an African-American at the top of the ticket, and ruffles some female feathers at the same time by rejecting a highly credible woman? How do you counter? Simple; pick a young woman to pair with your elderly white standard bearer. It’s simple political math.

But, this woman? Palin is staunchly pro-life. How many jilted Hillary supporters are you going to pick up with this kind of selection? One commentator earlier today – I’d give credit if I knew where it was due – labeled here “Dan Quayle with a ponytail.”

At least this would seem to ensure Alaska’s measly three votes in the Electoral College – balancing nicely with the three that Sen. Joe Biden should deliver from Delaware. So, clearly, this choice was not about delivering a key battleground state.

In an interview not that long ago, Palin was rather dismissive about the role of the vice president, showing that she hasn’t been paying much attention to the man who has spent the past eight years turning it into something more substantial than the presidency – providing you’ve got the right guy in the Oval Office.

According to Politico.com, in an interview just a month ago on CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company,” Palin dismissed speculation – what little there was at the time – that she might get the nod, saying, “As for that VP talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?

“I’m used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we’re trying to accomplish up here…” It has been quite some time since I’ve heard the second-highest post in the land discussed in terms of whether or not it will be good for Alaskans.

U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, from Colorado’s 4th CD, told me today she can’t wait to seen Palin go toe-to-toe in a debate with Biden- a longtime fixture and chair on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. I can’t either, but I think Musgrave and I mean it different ways.

Republican political consultant Katy Atkinson said to me that the seeming experience mismatch between Palin and Biden doesn’t matter.

“People are voting for people at the top of the ticket,” not the number-two slot. “Just like Joe Biden's experience in foreign affairs does not solve Barack Obama's problem, Sarah Palin's lack of experience in foreign affairs, I don’t think it creates a new problem for John McCain, because people will vote on the top of the ticket.”

Look. I’m tired. Everyone around here, at the end of the Week that Was, is tired. It may be, after I catch up on my sleep, that I come to understand the wisdom of this pick much more clearly. Maybe I’ll get it perfectly clearly when we see the results of this very interesting battle the night of Nov. 4 (providing our vote count doesn’t take several weeks, again).

But for now, I’m still picking my jaw up off the floor.

Even without John McCain’s other new running mate, Hurricane Gustav, the days ahead should be very interesting.