- I really do not think that Sarah Palin is about winning the White House in 2008. McCain and his campaign have displayed plenty of unbridled arrogance before; they really don't think that Palin's presence on the ticket will change the result this time around. Instead, I think Palin's selection meets a combination of three other objectives:
- Setting Palin up (personally) as the lead for the "next generation" of nationally known Republicans, for either 2012 or 2016, along with
- Not setting up any of McCain's longtime adversaries among the Inner Party for either 2012 or 2016.
- From a more strategic perspective, though, Sarah Palin is more likely to affect the Senate than the presidential election. If the so-called "base" turns out to support Palin in the general election, it will also presumably vote for right-wing candidates for the Senate. The goal here is "Don't let the commie infidels count to 60!", which will be extremely interesting if they get to 59 plus Lieberman...
- On the Ugly American front, the parties are zero to zero at present. Which is to say, not one of the four big-ticket candidates claims to speak anything other than 'murikan.1 Yeah, after the last eight years that's going to go over really well. Some "elite" this is turning out to be.
Where is Screaming Lord Sutch when we need him? OK, pushing up daisies, but still... there's definitely nobody from the Sensible Party running in this election, and how can we have a bunch of loonies running for the highest office in the land2 without the party leader?
- By contrast, among the remoras and me, we can at least puzzle our way through newspapers and/or carry on a short conversation with an immigrant waiter — and often better than that — in seven different languages, and one more by the end of the academic year.
- Technically, I suppose not; both the Chief Justice's chambers and the House and Senate floors are at a higher elevation than any point in the White House. To hell with this "first among equals" crap, though.