Palin as McCain's Running Mate

John McCain surprised observers by picking little-known Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. McCain is clearly attempting to shake up the race by simultaneously appealing to the right-wing base (Palin is a strongly pro-life NRA member who believes global warming is a hoax) and also to women voters. She may also burnish McCain's "maverick" image as she successfully challenged the corrupt Alaska GOP political machine in winning the governorship. However, picking someone with almost no experience with national or foreign policy issues has drawn a skeptical response from mainstream media pundits struggling to appear neutral.

Mark Halperin of Time:

John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate will either turn out to be a brilliant way for the Republican to scramble the race in his favor — or a disastrous pick that is cast as a desperate act.

On the face of it, McCain has failed the ultimate test that any presidential candidate must face in picking a running mate: selecting someone who is unambiguously qualified to be president.

Even Ron Fournier, the AP reporter who flirted with joining the McCain campaign and has been very critical of Barack Obama questioned the pick.

If Obama is an empty suit, as McCain has suggested, is Palin suited for the Oval Office herself? She is younger and less experienced than the first-term Illinois senator, and brings an ethical shadow to the ticket. A governor for just 20 months, she was two-term mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of 6,500 where the biggest issue is controlling growth and the biggest civic worry is whether there will be enough snow for the Iditarod dog-mushing race.

The "ethical shadow" Fournier refers to is the allegation that Palin used her power as governor to pressure Walter Monegan, the head of the Alaska Department of Public Safety, to fire her brother-in-law, an Alaska highway patrolman embroiled in a nasty divorce and custody dispute with Palin's sister. Monegan refused and was then suddenly fired. A state investigation is ongoing and cannot be good news for the McCain campaign.

Bloggers on both sides express similar skepticism. Matthew Yglesias of ThinkProgress confirms that McCain had met Palin exactly twice before selecting her.

Josh Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo:

I noted below that Palin comes in with bubbling scandal in her home state. And with her choice, McCain, with one stroke, undercuts the best argument of his campaign: Obama's purported lack of experience for the job.

Along with experience, the intertwined claim of superior judgment has been McCain's central argument for his candidacy. I've heard dozens of prominent Republicans making this argument over recent weeks. I'd be very curious to hear their off the record thoughts on McCain's job at this moment. What does this say about John McCain's judgment? Steadiness in key decision-making moments?

Some conservatives have already gone on the record. Ramesh Ponnuru of The Corner at the National Review:

Palin has been governor for about two minutes. Thanks to McCain’s decision, Palin could be commander-in-chief next year. That may strike people as a reckless choice; it strikes me that way. And McCain's age raised the stakes on this issue.

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum sums it up:

It's a wild gamble, undertaken by our oldest ever first-time candidate for president in hopes of changing the board of this election campaign. Maybe it will work. But maybe (and at least as likely) it will reinforce a theme that I'd be pounding home if I were the Obama campaign: that it's John McCain for all his white hair who represents the risky choice, while it is Barack Obama who offers cautious, steady, predictable governance.

--Ballard Burgher