Oh you know

I'm not a big fan of Andrew Sullivan, although we do have a few things in common.  We both voted for Kerry and Obama, and we both enjoy sex without condoms.  Of course, he likes men and I don't usually advertise my predelictions on the internet, although I suppose I just did with this blog post so maybe he and I are more alike than I thought.  

Anyway, Sullivan has a piece today which really neatly crystallized the Sarah Palin experience for me; he argues that the Palin pick was so absurd that he couldn't believe the media didn't just call shenanigan's on it right when it was rolled out:  

  "The impulsive, unvetted selection of a total unknown, with no knowledge of or interest in the wider world, as a replacement president remains one of the most disturbing events in modern American history. That the press felt required to maintain a facade of normalcy for two months - and not to declare the whole thing a farce from start to finish - is a sign of their total loss of nerve. That the Palin absurdity should follow the two-term presidency of another individual utterly out of his depth in national government is particularly troubling. 46 percent of Americans voted for the possibility of this blank slate as president because she somehow echoed their own sense of religious or cultural "identity". Until we figure out how this happened, we will not be able to prevent it from happening again. And we have to find a way to prevent this from recurring."

I love this analysis.   Now the media certainly gave her a honeymoon and then went after a bit, especially on the late night shows and the blogosphere, but should they have ever let up?  This was a person who should have never left the drawing board, one of those names that was bandied about at 3 in the morning in the McCain War Room.   So here Palin is on this whirlwind image makeover tour, decrying her treatment in the press, but in reality the press was too soft on her.  Obama and McCain got vetted for a year and a half, Biden for a year in the 2008 primaries and for 35 years before that, and Palin gets a meeting with McCain and then is supposed to get deference from the media and the American people.

Yes, the electorate is supposed to care about issues, and for the most part, we do.  Average voters don't care about expensive suits or whether or not you shoot wolves for helicopters.  They care about the economy and the war.  Bush won reelection in 2004 on issues (albeit issues draped in fear).  He won reelection because he convinced the American public he was stronger than Kerry on the issue that matter most to the voters: the War.    Four years go by, and the electorate realizes that competence might be an important piece of the job of President.

Palin was an embarrassment to John McCain and the Republican Party.  She was an embarrassment to those who juiced her for six months before her nomination, she was an embarrassment to herself.  But moreover she was an embarrasment to the American people; those who voted for her and John McCain and those who voted against them.  After incompetence of incredible proportions, Sarah Palin is an actual choice for us?