So sayeth the NY Times, so let it be.
Okay. There are Republican pundits who may not like this (I’m thinking speicifically of Charles Krauthamer, who at the last moment was saying that he really hoped the McCain camp played it safe.
But I actually think it’s a rather good move. Actually, tactically, bearing in mind that there aren’t that many days to the convention after the RNC, it’s a brilliant move, but strategically a little forced.
I was introduce to Sarah Palin the same time you met her, when she walked onstage and said she’d be a VP.
However, the McCain camp counters this “candidate-out-of-nowhere” with the quite correct “well, you picked a president out of nowhere…”. It’s a direct countermove, and it makes the debates interesting. I mean, the woman is governor of Alaska. And it also puts a governor on the ticket. Governors often do much better than Senators (rightly so, methinks).
It also took all the wind out of Obama’s speech. And McCain managed to keep it secret, so it did so. Utterly. Everyone’s talking about the Palin pick and barely anyone’s talking about Obama’s speech (which I found to be a rather boring Democratic laundry list that paid little attention to the historic moment and thus fell short).
So, right now, advantage McCain, whatever the hell the current polls say. That is, unless Palin backfires and turns out to be a total idiot. I have as much idea if that’s going to happen as you do. It’s the moment everybody’s waiting for. Is she an idiot or not?
Dunno. However, nice tactical move by McCain.
