THE POLITICS OF CONFUSION

The question is why did John McCain do it? Yes, I know to shore up the conservative base, but didn't he ever consider the person he was putting on his ticket? Say what you want, spin it however you are comfortable, but Sara Palin is as out of her league as a little Leager joining the majors. In the debate of her life she was a child. A child who does not understand what she is saying. The teleprompter, the pumped up information, the smiles, the winks, the folksy idioms all were a cover for the fact she has risen way beyond her level of competence. She went from the back of the bus to the driver and she is not a good driver. Forget that she wouldn't answer any of the questions. Forget that she babbled on about energy like some automatron who didn't have the foggiest idea what she was saying, forget that on every rebuttal point she hit the tired old fear buttons of raising taxes and some misguided patriotism---the real issue is that she just didn't get it. She didn't understand why she was there. She had no clear idea of what she wanted to say, what she was supposed to get across--all she could do was fall back on epigrams and campaign slogans. Sara Palin is a beautiful woman who has played her looks to their logical limit; a telegenic bet that someone who looks good on television can really persuade people she can do the job. It worked at the convention. There was old John and there was beautiful young Sara. It made people forget about McCains foibles. But that only works when the audience is rigged. It only works when the house is willing to go along. Sara does not have the knowlege or experience to be Vice President, but what is most alarming, is that she doesn't have the intellect. She played her looks and charisma to become a mayor and then a govenor of a forgotten state, but you cannot do that on the national stage. You have to have a mind that will allow you to take information and produce a thesis--an ability to think not only independently, but clearly, with the insight and prescience of a leader. Anyone watching the debate, Republican or Democrat, saw not only the ramblings of a confused mind, but a frightened woman who knows she's over her head and probably just wants to catch the next plane back to Alaska.