Sarah, Palin and Simple

My brother (pictured here) emails the following with the subject line "I'm worried":

I'm not sure what's scarier about Sarah Palin as vice president: what she isn't (qualified, experienced, an intellectual) or what she is (pro-creationism, pro-Iraq war, pro-drilling, anti-Roe v. Wade).

I really think that's where the debate begins.

Democrats must get past the whole 'She's a woman who's stood by her (often wacky) convictions and therefore is somehow unimpeachable' thing and get serious already. For the sake of the country. For the sake of the world.

Could you imagine the outcry if she were, god-forbid, appointed to a Cabinet position with this little experience? So she's an anti-corruption maverick. So she isn't crooked? Great. Isn't that like rewarding someone for doing something any decent person should do?

That's the best we're capable of? Have we really become that cynical about human nature?

Speaking of nature, please ask Mrs. Palin about her thoughts on evolution. I'm pretty sure she's not a big fan of science.

Democrats must be able to expose this irresponsible decision for what it is. And spell out, explicitly, why this is so dangerous. It's frustrating to back a party that doesn't campaign as well but knows how to govern when the other side is slick at campaigning but a total failure at governing.

(List GOP failures here. Use both sides of page if needed.)

And that's what's so disturbing about her choice as John McCain's running mate. She wasn't selected for her future contributions to policy (or if she was, by all means, enlighten me), and she certainly has no foreign policy training to speak of. Her chief economic experience comes from co-owning a fishing business in Alaska.

She met McCain for the first time in Feb. of this year. They have had two known conversations since. McCain offered her the job on the second. They have no known personal or professional relationship. This was not an introduction of a governing partner. It was a rollout of a campaign gimmick.

And it really highlights the shortsightedness that is so representative of this current GOP. Sacrificing the safety and well-being of the country in favor of short-term power grabs. Once you win the election, then what? You're going to send her on a whirlwind tour of the world to fast-track her foreign policy chops? I wonder, is this before or after she leads a high-level delegation to North Korea to discuss that country's nuclear program? Perhaps she practices the same brand of Eye-Contact foreign policy that served Bush so well in his dealings with Putin.

I don't know. Nobody knows. And that's a problem.