Sarah Palin, President of the United States of America

Terrifying isn't it, to contemplate Sarah Palin as president? Think about it: no abortions even if you have been raped, drilling in everyone's backyard, creationism being taught alongside evolution, and, with the middle east ready to boil over, Russia and its former satellites ready to explode, and John McCain unable to tell a Sunni from a Shiite, Palin comes forward with...her experience as head of the PTA. Sounds like the Philip Roth book that envisions what would have happened in the US had the Nazis won WW II.

John McCain isn't independent or a maverick but rather desperate, irresponsible, and assinine.

So what might the consumptive nominee of the Republican party been thinking?

Certainly not that he would attract Hillary Clinton supporters with the Palin pick. If any of these folks could now vote for McCain because of Palin then they certainly could have had no idea who or what they were voting for when they cast a ballot for Clinton. No one supporting Clinton or Clinton's ideas could even remotely consider supporting McCain/Palin. Although Palin has been cynically invoking Clinton's name on the campaign trail in a shameless play for Clinton voters, she shares nothing in common with Clinton other than that she has a vagina. In fact, when all is said and done McCain may well have done more than anyone could have conceived to deliver Clinton supporters to Obama.

Could it then have been Palin's experience? Heading up the PTA, acting as mayor of an Inuit village, or even governing Alaska just isn't enough to seriously consider someone for a position but one step removed from the Presidency. John McCain the alleged patriot, the man who supposedly loves this country just made crystal clear that he doesn't give a damn about anything other than getting elected. That he thought choosing Palin was the way to do this also underlines his complete and utter lack of judgement. If there was any question before that McCain was a hairtrigger martinet with nothing but silly putty between his ears, his choice of Palin, who Paul Begala rightly said is several pounds shy of being a lightweight, should put an end to all that.

Americans are a funny lot though and it is certainly possible that enough of them will be swayed by McCain's follies and Palin's frontier libertarianism or buy the goods hocked by the pundits--that McCain has found his maverick groove again, that he has great political instincts, that his choice of Palin is a game changer, and all the other tired bs that the press receives from McCain's staff and promptly publishes, no questions asked.

Here's hoping that in November voters will apply the only the sex education strategy Palin would support as governor of the Moose state (abstinence), and respond to her and the ghastly grandpa's vulgar entreaties with a resounding, no.