Republican John McCain's choice of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin for his VP nominee calls into question his Presidential judgment. The choice also calls into question his talking points of "putting the country first," "experience," & "ready to lead." On top of that it actually greatly contradicts his reputation as a so called "maverick."

It now appears clear that McCain's choice of Palin was a rash decision made only after his first choice of Joe Lieberman was shot down by the far right wing of the Republican party. The McCain campaign did not properly look into Palin's background. And in fact McCain had met Palin only one time before he invited her to be his VP.

Considering the importance of a the Vice Presidential position (9 times in our nation's history the Vice President has had to fill in and become President) this lack of due diligence in selecting his VP is a substantial example of McCain's lack of judgment.

While the McCain campaign has talked endlessly of "putting the country first," the fact is that by selecting Sarah Palin entirely for political reasons, he has done anything but that. The #1 criteria for a VP should be that he or she can fill in and become President at any moment. Sarah Palin clearly fails that criteria.

The McCain campaign has also been making the case against Barack Obama largely based on what they call his lack of experience. They have questioned whether Obama is "ready to lead" over and over again. How can they make this argument against Barack Obama (and his three years of experience on the foreign relations committee) when Palin has absolutely no foreign policy experience at all.

The McCain campaign has thrown away their best arguments against Barack Obama with their choice of Palin and furthermore they've shown what a sham their arguments were in the first place. They obviously didn't believe them or they wouldn't have chosen someone with no experience to be one 72 year old heartbeat away from the Presidency.

The McCain campaign has tried to spin this selection as proof that McCain is a "maverick" but the fact is this choice shows the opposite. It shows that McCain is in the back pocket of the same far right part of the Republican party that got George W. Bush elected. This was a choice to placate the "religious right" social conservatives who do not really trust McCain.

McCain's first choice was Joe Lieberman. McCain wanted to try to appeal to moderates with Lieberman as his VP but the social conservatives in his party shot down that selection and said there would be a fight at the convention if he chose Lieberman. McCain backed down from that fight and chose Palin who belongs to a church whose pastor said in 2004 that anyone who criticizes George W. Bush is going to hell.

The McCain campaign has tried to spin Palin into being some kind of "reformer" but that image simply doesn't fit in with her real record. Palin is someone who has abused her power in a fashion very similar to Dick Cheney ("TrooperGate" & threatening to fire a librarian for not cooperating with her in trying to burn books.) Palin is a politician who was for the "Bridge To Nowhere" before she was against it. Palin is someone who asked for many millions of dollars in earmarks (McCain's enemy) as a Mayor of a small town and as Governor of Alaska.

"Trying to burn books." Did that "Fahrenheit 451-esque" line catch your attention? I'm hoping that you are as for the fist amendment as I am and will be as shocked as I was to learn that Sarah Palin inquired with the local librarian when she was Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska about burning some books. When the librarian refused to cooperate, Palin threatened to have her fired. Not only is Palin a far right wing religious nut but she's a far right wing religious nut who is quick to abuse her power.

To get an idea of just how far right wing Sarah Palin is consider these positions: Palin is for teaching creationism in public schools. Palin is anti-choice even in cases of incest & rape. Palin believes the war in Iraq is "God's Will" and uses the same term to describe the Alaskan Pipeline. Palin does not even believe the scientific fact that Global Warming is closely associated with human activity. Palin believes in the idea of "abstinence" in place of sexual education.

So it's not only that Palin is grossly under qualified to be Vice President it's also that her positions are far to the right of mainstream Americans.