Country First?

John McCain might die.

He is 72 and a four time cancer survivor.

There is a real chance he could be incapacitated in some manner causing (gulp!) Sarah Palin to become acting President of the United States.

Or as the job is otherwise known - THE MOST POWERFUL PERSON IN THE FREE WORLD.

As I've been reading, listening, watching and learning about Governor Palin this prospect becomes increasingly frightening.

It is also becomes increasingly obvious that McCain made a nakedly political choice when he picked Palin to be his running mate.

Because Palin is a an early Christmas gift to the hard right, bible-thumping, rapture-believing section of the GOP.

They love that she thinks Iraq is a mission from God (what is she, a Blues Brother?) and that she wants a woman who is raped and becomes pregnant to be forced to carry her rapist's child in her belly for 9 months.

They don't care that she is clearly not up to speed on national or international issues. They don't care that in a crashing economy she doesn't realize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are public institutions. They just care that she is waaay into automatic weapons and rape-spawned fetuses.

So much for putting country first, John. This time country finished a few laps behind winning.

If McCain wanted to pick a woman he could have picked Kay Bailey Hutchison or Olympia Snow or Condoleeza Rice. All women who are much more qualified than Palin.

But he didn't.

I find it ironic that for the last 4 months McCain has been saying Obama is "not ready to lead" over and over and over.

But now he nominates a woman who has a resume thinner than Kate Moss.

So for the last 4 months McCain's campaign either didn't mean what they said or they were lying.

How can I tell the Palin pick wouldn't hold up to serious scrutiny you may ask?

Simple. Watch the way the McCain campaign is handling her.

They are in the process of managing Palin's rollout with the kind of thoughtfulness you wish they had put into the decision to go to war in Iraq.

She has been cut off from the kind of press conferences, Sunday morning talk-show appearances and other interviews that all candidates for Veep have been subjected to since the advent of Television.

She has agreed to only two interviews. Two! How many has Biden done? Hell Obama eveen went on the O'Reilly Factor! Do you think Palin or McCain will go on Countdown with Keith Olbermann any time soon?

Hell no.

Palin has been so shut off from any kind of spontaneous media contact you'd think she was a member of a jury in a high-profile murder case instead of a candidate for Vice President.

So why do it? Why would the McCain camp need to protect her from the media if she was truly qualified? Why would they keep her behind a curtain of silence and safety if she knew her stuff?

The answer is she has been sequestered because she knows jack-shit about national issues.

Think about it.

That's why the Charlie Gibson interview took place over a series of days in Palin's hometown.

Because they wanted to turn what should have been an in-depth discussion of policy into a "personality profile".

My God, what would happen if she had to go on Meet the Press or Face the Nation?

She would look like a fool. She came across as a fool half the time when Gibson lobbed her softballs.

Actually Gibson did better than I thought he would. I give him a B minus.

Highlights of the piece included her not knowing what the Bush Doctrine was and segueing the question about her national security credentials into a diatribe about how she knows energy.

Yeah, news flash. It's not hard to be an energy expert in Alaska since the oil is everywhere and also state-owned.

What that has to do with the Iraq war, Iranian nuclear ambitions or a resurgent Russia I'm not sure but it's the answer she gave.

Also she repeated the ridiculous line that she has foreign policy cred because "Alaska is close to Russia." In fact according to her you can "see Russian territory" from Alaska.

Awesome. I can see a bathroom from where I'm sitting right now. Does that make me a proctologist?

When she said that I simultaneously laughed, wept, then screamed "you stupid whore" at the top of my lungs and threw a bunch of shit at the TV.

So you can't say she's not an inspiring speaker!

Folks, it may be a travesty and a perversion of the democratic process, but for now the Gibson interview will have to stand as Palin's audition with the American people.

Because that's all we're going to get. One tiny interview with the woman who wants to be THE MOST POWERFUL PERSON IN THE FREE WORLD.

Oh, I forgot! She'll be talking soon with Sean Hannity. I'm sure that will be a tough set of questions.

Let's play a drinking game with the Hannity interview. Every time he mentions how she's been subjected to sexism or unfair treatment by the media you have to take a shot.

I imagine you'll be drunker than Winston Churchill before the interview is 5 minutes old.

You know, if she didn't want to be "subjected to unfair treatment" she could always GO ON A SUNDAY MORNING TALK SHOW or, Heaven forbid, TALK OFTEN AND OPENLY WITH THE MEDIA.

But that ain't gonna happen.

Because she isn't up to the task of talking openly to the media without looking like a completely unqualified and uninformed PTA mom who wants to be THE MOST POWERFUL PERSON IN THE FREE WORLD.

So much for country first, McCain.

As Obama said, I guess you'd "rather lose your integrity than lose an election."