Hero No More

I've seen any number of conservative shills try to make lemonade out of the catastrophically irresponsible selection of Sarah Palin as a running mate by John McCain, by casting it as a gutsy move, doing what Obama didn't have the courage to do--putting a woman on the ticket.

Bullshit. There's nothing ballsy about the selection of Sarah Palin. Quite the opposite. It was rank cowardice.

By all accounts, McCain was looking at a number of Midwestern GOP governors for the VP slot. But he was particularly inclined to tap indpendent Joe Lieberman. But as Lieberman--a bold, courageous and potentially game-changing choice--seemed more possible, religious conservatives and none other than Karl Rove began the arm-twisting. There was talk of a floor fight.

And so McCain relented, and went down yet another notch in my estimation. Then he descended even further when, in a desperate and flagrant pander, he tapped a dangerously unprepared neophyte to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

So it boils down to this:

The Hanoi Hilton couldn't break John McCain.

But Karl Rove did.