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I could imagine the conversation McCain had, “if I can’t get Joe or Ridge then I’ll just pick…uh…that women in Alaska, then you can deal with it”.

(via PALIN VET DEFENDED)

Essential reading: Associated Press interviews McCain’s top vetter, who says the Alaska governor underwent a “full and complete” background check before being selected.

And/but: More essential reading: A skeptical NY Times: “Republicans close to the campaign said it was increasingly apparent that Ms. Palin had been selected as Mr. McCain’s running mate with more haste than McCain advisers initially described….”

“A Republican close to the campaign”: “They didn’t seriously consider her until four or five days from the time she was picked, before she was asked, maybe the Thursday or Friday before. This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe [Lieberman] or Ridge.”

Plus: Anchorage Daily News says “in Alaska, it was hard to find anyone who had been contacted by McCain’s campaign” as part of a Palin vet.

HALPERIN’S TAKE: The unanswered questions about Sarah Palin.

Comments to “PALIN VET DEFENDED”

dancameron says:

September 2, 2008 at 7:05 pm

I should mention I'm not “bashing” Palin, I'm bashing McCain's pick. I don't discredit her governorship and if she's good at what she does a promotion may be in order but I can't imagine her being a good VP - she doesn't even know what a VP does.

stevehahn says:

September 3, 2008 at 2:10 pm

The quote you are referring to:

“As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day? I'm used to being very productive and working real hard in an administration. We want to make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans and for the things that we're trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the U.S., before I can even start addressing that question.”

The VP's only official job description is to be president of the Senate (essentially consisting of waiting around in case there's a tie vote that needs to be broken) while waiting around in case the president dies or becomes incapacitated. Other than that, the VP's job is whatever the current president delegates to him or her. Sometimes that's virtually nothing (e.g. Truman, who was kept completely in the dark about such things as the Manhattan Project until after FDR died) or maybe a little too much (e.g. Dick Cheney, pretty much the most powerful VP ever).

I don't think it's so much that Gov. Palin “doesn't even know what a VP does” as it is that she only wants to be VP if the president she serves under is willing to give her some worthwhile things to do.

dancameron says:

September 3, 2008 at 9:09 pm

Here's video of the interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4gkPXSDtGQ

After tonight's speech I'm thinking hse's playing the attack dog well but it
was rather trashy.

stevehahn says:

September 4, 2008 at 12:34 am

Yeah, I've always said I'd like a campaign based only on issues where each candidate only talks about positive things they want to accomplish. But that just doesn't seem to be how either side is willing to play it.

I continue to be impressed by Obama's class, but the media and the rest of the Democratic party have been absolutely vicious to Sarah Palin over the last few days and it's hard to blame her for getting a few jabs in. I'd rather she do that than cry and play the victim, no one respects that.

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