An Astonishingly Arrogant VP Selection

The New Republic: McCain's Palin Pick Gives Obama An Opportunity To Take The Edge On National Security

(The New Republic)  This column was written by Peter Scoblic.

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It may be John McCain's birthday, but it seems like he's the one giving out gifts today. The selection of Palin doesn't simply, as others have pointed out, undermine the notion that Obama is too inexperienced to be president; it gives Obama the chance to actually take the edge on national security while making John McCain's age a central issue of the campaign.

Whatever the political calculations involved in picking a veep, the most important qualification for the vice presidency is the ability to assume the presidency in a crisis. Given that of the last 12 presidents, three have either died or resigned, this is hardly a hypothetical consideration--in fact, given that McCain is 72, it is a very real consideration. Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Gerald Ford all faced multiple foreign policy crises immediately upon assuming office, whether it was the onset of the Cold War, the North's invasion of South Korea, the Vietnam War, or the withering of détente and the resulting increase in nuclear tension with the Soviet Union. The next president will have to finish the denuclearization of North Korea; prevent the nuclearization of Iran; organize a departure from Iraq that maintains some level of stability; defeat a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan; establish, nurture, and make the most of a relationship with Pakistan's new leaders; and confront a revanchist Russia while preserving and enhancing its cooperation on nonproliferation and climate change--to say nothing of working with India, China, or our allies.

Could Sarah Palin conceivably manage this task? Her tenure as a small-town mayor and Alaska governor has given her no foreign policy experience whatsoever. True, Obama has little foreign policy experience either, as McCain and others have pointed out again and again. But during his time in national office he has demonstrated a clear commitment to the most pressing issues in American foreign policy. Take nuclear proliferation. Early in his tenure on the Foreign Relations Committee, Obama joined Richard Lugar's efforts to secure weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. Obama's first trip abroad as senator was to Russia and Ukraine to learn more about those efforts firsthand. In 2007, he cosponsored legislation with Senator Chuck Hagel calling for ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and negotiation of a fissile material cut-off treaty. And he was the first major presidential candidate to embrace the steps laid out in 2007 by Sam Nunn, Bill Perry, George Shultz, and Henry Kissinger through which the United States would fight nuclear terrorism, reinvigorate the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and ultimately eliminate nuclear weapons.

Perhaps more important than the experience they embodied, these efforts demonstrate that Obama has a worldview. Obama recognizes the greatness and uniqueness of the United States, but he does not translate that exceptionalism into dominance or isolationism as conservatives often have. Instead, he sees it as the basis for U.S. leadership. He has laid out that worldview in myriad speeches and articles, and he has surrounded himself with pragmatists who have a record of translating that understanding of America's role into concrete gains for our national security. By contrast, there is no indication that Palin has even shades of a foreign policy worldview; a Nexis search doesn't turn up a single article that she has written on international affairs.

McCain undoubtedly thinks he has his national security bases covered; picking Palin shows that, unlike Obama, he doesn't need an eminence grise like Biden to add heft to his ticket. But surely McCain recognizes that Palin may have to fill his shoes someday. By choosing her anyway, he has demonstrated hubris well beyond anything Obama has displayed on his most arrogant day: a belief that he can master unforeseen circumstances, physical and otherwise, that are well beyond his control. This is insulting and dangerous and suggests that McCain may want to think twice before accusing Obama of putting his personal ambition ahead of the national interest.

No doubt Michelle is right that the Obama-Biden team will have to be careful attacking Palin's frighteningly thin resume and tenuous grasp of foreign policy. But surely a campaign that has been charged with being too naïve to manage rogue state dictators can have a bit of fun with the idea that a one-time Miss Congeniality could effectively face down Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or Kim Jong Il. Surely, Obama's "eight is enough" quip ought to apply not only to President Bush's economic and foreign policy travesties, but to the elevation of mediocrity that has characterized his appointment of Michael Brown to FEMA and his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. And surely we can agree that if the McCain campaign was desperate to transparently court voters put off by Hillary Clinton's loss, there is no dearth of women with far greater intellectual, executive, and political abilities--abilities that would allow them to assume the presidency in a heartbeat.

[gammaman01]

A vote for Palin is a vote for Putin!

An astonishingly clueless and partisan political column.
A smart, tough, woman with sixteen years of experience in government, who has accomplished more in two years as governor than Joe Biden has in his entire career in the Senate, not to mention more than Barack Obama, who has accomplished exactly nothing, and she''s being attacked as totally lacking in experience? This kind of bigoted and sexist attack is going to backfire in a big way. As people see and hear Sarah Palin, and learn who she is and what she''s accomplished, they''re going to realize that she would make a better president than either of the men on the Democratic ticket. In fact, I think that, after one or two terms as vice president, she may just BE our first woman president.

[gammaman01]

The best way to save the Republican Party now is to destroy it. In the marketplace of ideas, social conservatism is a viral infection contaminating the GOP. It represents an evolutionary dead-end whose logical conclusion is fascism if not outright totalitarianism. Is it not obvious that the imposition of the evangelical ideology--any fundamentalist ideology for that matter--lies in direct opposition to a free people in a democratic land? Our Constitution, specifically the separation of church and state, no longer serves as a bulwark against the morality police, who seek to impose faith-based notions such as creationism upon those of us with rational minds. Social conservatives aim to constrain freedom of thought, freedom of choice, freedom to pursue happiness. These freedoms live at the heart of an entrepreneurial and economically strong America. No doubt, the diktat the social conservative movement wishes to impose upon ALL us Americans is antithetical to a free market system, and therefore exists as hypocrisy within the Republican platform. Privatize profits, socialize losses, and make religion the opiate of the masses. Indeed, this has been a dark eight years of Orwellian doubletalk. Enough! I%u2019m a Reagan Republican and I%u2019m voting for Libertarian Bob Barr.

[indep2]

Don''t you think Obama made an arrogant choice when he dropped Clinton against the wishes of millions of voters who wanted her on the dream ticket?

He is not going to listen to the people once he gets elected since he chose to ignore now.

I think as a Presidential candidate, McCain made the right choice in Palin as she would shore up his ticket as compared to picking a Washington insider like Biden and talking about change.

[womanvoter]

First, let me thank Peter Scoblic for this clear, focused, and eminently correct assessment. I hope it is widely disseminated.

To Indep2: No, I don''t think Obama was arrogant not to pick Clinton; was McCain arrogant not to pick Romney? There is neither a tradition nor a requirement to pick the runner-up or any of the close rivals. Also, Biden as a Washington insider? Biden is one of the least wealthy Senators; he sleeps in his home state every night and eschews the cocktail circuit; he has less lobbyist contact than most (certainly less than John McCain). He''s an insider in the good sense of having relevant experience and contacts, but not in the bad sense of being corrupt or out of touch.

To nemoagnomen: Smart and tough? Maybe, we''ll have to see. Sixteen years of experience? That''s just a silly characterization. Didn''t you read the article?

[womanvoter]

First, let me thank Peter Scoblic for this clear, focused, and eminently correct assessment. I hope it is widely disseminated.

To Indep2: No, I don''t think Obama was arrogant not to pick Clinton; was McCain arrogant not to pick Romney? There is neither a tradition nor a requirement to pick the runner-up or any of the close rivals. Also, Biden as a Washington insider? Biden is one of the least wealthy Senators; he sleeps in his home state every night and eschews the cocktail circuit; he has less lobbyist contact than most (certainly less than John McCain). He''s an insider in the good sense of having relevant experience and contacts, but not in the bad sense of being corrupt or out of touch.

To nemoagnomen: Smart and tough? Maybe, we''ll have to see. Sixteen years of experience? That''s just a silly characterization. Didn''t you read the article?

[womanvoter]

First, let me thank Peter Scoblic for this clear, focused, and eminently correct assessment. I hope it is widely disseminated.

To Indep2: No, I don''t think Obama was arrogant not to pick Clinton; was McCain arrogant not to pick Romney? There is neither a tradition nor a requirement to pick the runner-up or any of the close rivals. Also, Biden as a Washington insider? Biden is one of the least wealthy Senators; he sleeps in his home state every night and eschews the cocktail circuit; he has less lobbyist contact than most (certainly less than John McCain). He''s an insider in the good sense of having relevant experience and contacts, but not in the bad sense of being corrupt or out of touch.

To nemoagnomen: Smart and tough? Maybe, we''ll have to see. Sixteen years of experience? That''s just a silly characterization. Didn''t you read the article?

[womanvoter]

First, let me thank Peter Scoblic for this clear, focused, and eminently correct assessment. I hope it is widely disseminated.

To Indep2: No, I don''t think Obama was arrogant not to pick Clinton; was McCain arrogant not to pick Romney? There is neither a tradition nor a requirement to pick the runner-up or any of the close rivals. Also, Biden as a Washington insider? Biden is one of the least wealthy Senators; he sleeps in his home state every night and eschews the cocktail circuit; he has less lobbyist contact than most (certainly less than John McCain). He''s an insider in the good sense of having relevant experience and contacts, but not in the bad sense of being corrupt or out of touch.

To nemoagnomen: Smart and tough? Maybe, we''ll have to see. Sixteen years of experience? That''s just a silly mischaracterization. Didn''t you read the article?

[womanvoter]

First, let me thank Peter Scoblic for this clear, focused, and eminently correct assessment. I hope it is widely disseminated.

To Indep2: No, I don''t think Obama was arrogant not to pick Clinton; was McCain arrogant not to pick Romney? There is neither a tradition nor a requirement to pick the runner-up or any of the close rivals. Also, Biden as a Washington insider? Biden is one of the least wealthy Senators; he sleeps in his home state every night and eschews the cocktail circuit; he has less lobbyist contact than most (certainly less than John McCain). He''s an insider in the good sense of having relevant experience and contacts, but not in the bad sense of being corrupt or out of touch.

To nemoagnomen: Smart and tough? Maybe, we''ll have to see. Sixteen years of experience? That''s just a silly mischaracterization. Didn''t you read the article?

[gmancubfan]

McCain is clueless in his strategy to win votes, has violated his own edict of putting the interests of the country before politics, and seems bent on losing an election. Why else would he chose a total neophyte to step in and become President should he not be able to complete his term? This odd and unbeleivable running mate choice begs the question: "WHAT IS HE THINKING?" Is this his "ace in the hole" criteria - to pick a woman in order to get some soft votes from the disgruntled Clinton supporters? That won''t work because she is pro-life. Was McCain thinking that his choice would shore up his image as a Maverick? Was McCain thinking that our national securtiy would benefit from having Palin as VP? Given the odds that McCain may not complete his term as President, the thought of Palin stepping in as President would be a laughable scenario fraught with ridicule if it weren''t so downright scary. Should she ascend to the Presidency, we all need to head to our houses of worship and beg God to keep us safe from Iran, Russia, Korea and those arrogent calculating dictators who will surely challenge our national security, because Palin surely will not be equipped to do so. A poodle cannot stand up to rhotweilers.
McCain has not only shot himself in the foot again and again, this time he has blown up his foot with a grenade! and if Ms. Palin gets that 3:00 AM phone call, God help us all!

[destardi]

''last 12 Presidents'' "3 have resigned or died"

Wooooow. You mean in the last almost 100 years, 1 President died of an illness, One president was ASSASINATED, and one President resigned, Nixon.

That is a ridiculous point to history.

2008 is not 1945; it''s not even 1963 or 1974.

The vast amount of information resources and advisors strengthens any Vice Presidential candidate; and with that said, with Nancy Pelosi 3rd in line, what are you obamabushbots so worried about?

Woman haters.

You''re sexist if you don''t vote for McCain/Palin.

And for the record, STOP SPEAKING FOR HILLARY DEMS! I''m a Hillary dem, and I''m voting for McCain/Palin.

obama just got pwned.

[destardi]

Posted by womanvoter at 02:43 PM : Aug 31, 2008
+ report abuse
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WHAT''S ARROGANT, "woman voter (but ready to throw away women''s rights to misogynist dems)" is to COMPARE Hillary''s EIGHTEEN MILLION VOTES to Romney''s paltry showing in the Republican primaries.

"womanvoter" how many VOTES did Romney get? How many PRIMARIES did Romney win?

It''s an INSULT to compare Romney with Hillary.

Lastly, HOW MANY MAJOR STATES did Romney win at the END of the primary, compared to Hillary''s thrashing of Obama AT THE END of the Primary?

you obamabushbots kill me.

[jimbo554]

Palin scares me to death. What on earth would she do if she were president and a real crisis came up? Call her husband? Call her pastor? Call her mom?

[quatermass2]

krisinal wrote:

How hard was that? Any I don''''t even have a degree!

Not bad - if you were a 3-year old. We''ll "neutralize Iran? And get NATO to engage in war against Russia? You must be smoking some heavy duty stuff indeed. But then, that''s about the level Palin operates on, too. Creationism and gun-totin'', real great qualifications to be next in line to an aging cancer survivor.

[rational_1]

"Perhaps more important than the experience they embodied, these efforts demonstrate that Obama has a worldview."

Ya, Neville Chanmberlain had a worldview too - and we all know how that turned out. Both Palin and Obama have minimal to no foreign policy experience, simply due their ages and backgrounds. No matter how you spin it, that''s simply the case. Compare either to McCain or Biden and neither looks at all experienced. The only difference is that one person with minimal foreign policy credentials is headlining one of the tickets. With Palin we may wonder whether she is ready to deal with foreign policy issues should McCain die, but with Obama we KNOW he absolutely would have to deal with them if elected. Not exactly the same degree of uncertainty.

[tibu987]

Thanks Johnny and Sarah.

Signed, B. Obama and J. Biden

[rational_1]

Palin scares me to death. What on earth would she do if she were president and a real crisis came up? Call her husband? Call her pastor? Call her mom?
Posted by Jimbo554 at 04:42 PM : Aug 31, 2008

Well I certainly hope Obama doesn''t call his pastor if he''s the president. Although I am curious what the black liberation theology response would be to a Russian invasion of the Ukraine.

[tibu987]

McCain did not select Palin as his VP.

The powers in Washington did.

Just look at how uncomfortable McCain is during Palin''s presentation speech.

[tibu987]

No, Sarah Palin has not been to Iraq or Afghanistan.

But she has been to Las Vegas and Orlando.

[quatermass2]

"rational"1 writes:

"Although I am curious what the black liberation theology response would be to a Russian invasion of the Ukraine."

And McCain''s? Bomb? Invade? Shake his fist like a crabby old guy telling those darned kids to stay off his lawn?

[jmurrieta1]

Sorry, the Palin pick isn''t going to get those Ron Paul believers.

Ron Paul is a true libertarian.

Palin is a cardboard cutout who thinks the government should intervene in the most private and personal decisions of your life.

[dashortround]

Yep, just pass the nuclear football on to the Cheerleader after John McCain has his coronary, or his cancer flares up again.

The cheerleader with zero experience will know exactly what to do!

Brilliant...

[imnho]

I did not see in as Arrogant, I saw it as clueless. The lack of experince in ay area that a president has is usually filled by a vast amount of people working for thr Whitehouse who have plenty of experince.

The issuse is judgement. The president or vice-president must be able to take expert advise ad implement it innto sound advise. If he really thinks that this is the best choice he could make then he lacks the judgement to be chief executive.

[paris1969]

Sarah Palin has been to Kuwait in support of the Alaska National Guard troops stationed there ... remember she has been running a state, unlike Obama who has been running for President during his entire term in the Senate. It should only take Palin a few months to have more foreign relations experience than Obama ... I think we can count on McCain being around at least that long!

[ausus-2009]

womanvoter,

Joe Biden goes home at night because he lives in Deleware - just a short drive from Washington DC. It would be ridiculous if he was a Senator from California.

On his finances, he is probably not that wealthy because of his numerous failed bids for the presidency - almost as many as Harold Stassen. At least the Republicans had more sense than to put him on the ticket as Vice-President.

[reuelt]

McCain did the best thing for America.
McCain-Palin is best for America.

I can''t believe a jounalist like this author who thinks he is qualified to judge a Palin - a mom with more CEO experiece and successful change reform than even Obama.

Shame that Obama is paying millions for advertisments to such journalist?

[kaylag04]

History is awesome when it is presented in an extraordinarily selective manner, as in this editorial. Recent governors as president include Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. The historic list includes Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt. All of whom, I suppose, were eminently un-qualified to lead the nation.

[firststate]

reuelt
It''s not a news article, it''s an opinion piece. Even though one of the dimmer bulbs on the Fox-GOP channel said she''s a foreign policy expert because Alaska is so close to Russia, she hasn''t given the Iraq war a lot of thought. She may want to go to Atlanta to check out the situation in Georgia after the Russian attacks in person. She would be a 72 year old multiple cancer survivor''s heartbeat away from an office she''s not qualified for.

This particular mom has a child who is going to need more time and attention than most children. While I admire her for living her pro-life philosophy, delivering the child is not the end of her obligation to her son. Refusing an abortion and choosing to deliver a child is only the beginning of the mother''s job. Would she shortchange the vice-presidency or the child?

[kesac4650]

Palin is Pro Life. Conservative on the 2nd Amendment. Knowledgeable about dealing with the Oil Industry, and not because her husband is a blue collar worker for one of them either. She has actually had real jobs, and understands what that means. She Governs a state with a negative income tax that sends out a check to each of it''s citizens each year. She fiscally responsible in the best sense of that phrase.
She has considerably more experience than Obama, who spent most of his adult life tilting against the Democrat Party''s machine in the City of Chicago, and left there after making no real change to the 100+ years of traditions that rule that city still.
Obama has made no change in his time in the US Senate. He has written no bills, and sponsored none.
And of course there is the prettiness factor. Obama was ahead on that one, but just lost that to a girl.

[willcaine]

Another redneck creationist. The Republican war on science goes on and on.

[wtw901]

Inexperienced he says--I am an independant and know that Obama has less experience in life and or politics than Palin--she has executive decision making skills 2 years more than Obama''s zero--the media is ga ga over Obama and blind to truth.

[smurfcrusher]

Very well said, Peter Scoblic.

With her BS Journalism degree, pretty looks and five children, Palin is better suited as a marketing tool - and that is precisely how McCain is using her.

This emphasizes McCain''s lack of judgment.

Contrast her with Barack Obama''s Harvard Law School degree, excellent judgment and intelligence, as well as concern for the average people in this country.

Barack Obama''s years in the Senate and representing 600,000 people is far more relevant to national politics than her term as mayor of 6,000 - or her brief service as Alaska''s governor, elected by a paltry 115,000 people.

People have called her Quayle II. I think this is a fair assessment of how the GOP uses her, but I think she has more intelligence than that.

Still, raising five kids leaves little time for things like understanding politics and the bigger picture. It would be better if McCain didn''t choose a Vice President.

The middle class couldn''t ask for a greater champion than Barack Obama.

[vranger]

I agree with the author''s assesments of the foriegn policy tasks present for the next administration. I shudder to think of what will happen with Mr. Appeasement at the helm. I''ll take Palin over ''let''s be friends with the bad guys'' Obama EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK.

BTW, the author''s analysis of the situations faced by Truman, Johnson, and Ford is nothing but BS. Wheels were in motion for all three and they just went with them, letting the pros on the front lines do their job.

The President doesn''t make decisions in a vacuum. Staffs of very smart people apprise him(/her) of the problems, the ramifications, the potential solutions, and the ramifications of the solutions, and the President get a very good score on the direction to take. He/she really doesn''t have to be an absolute expert on each area (and none ever has been) ... just an attentive listener and good decision maker.

[vranger]

If you don''t believe my earlier statements on Obama and taxes, in 25 January 2007 the Congress voted on an amendment to Internal Revenue code to repeal a 1993 increase in income taxes charged against Social Security benefits. Obama helped to vote this down (along with his democratic party allies).

McCain voted "Yea", in other words, to lighten the tax load on people who must depend on Social Security for their income.

And this is the "nice guy" you Obama supporters want to elect. How are you going to apologize to your parents on Social Security, who are having a hard time making ends meet, that its OK that their taxes are higher because "Obama wants it that way".

[vranger]

On the same day as below, there was a bill to make certain education related tax incentives permanent.

Obama and his democratic party cronies voted that one down too.

McCain voted to continue to provide tax incentives for education.

I guess Obama got his Ivy League degree, but now couldn''t care less if you or your children have a chance to continue your education.

[puldr]

McCain has shown his lack of foresight (same as Bush) in picking Palin as his vp candidate!

[element51]

vranger....So as long as the person is a republican it doesn''t matter how much experiance they bring to the job. No worries...just consult with the experts and make a decision based on what they tell you. But you people have been screaming your heads off for the last year that Obama doesn''t have the "experiance" to be president. Your whole arguement is nothing but partisian BS. I''m not ready to have a backwoods beauty queen a heartbeat away from the oval office. I also have read in some of the other posts on CBS where you people absolutely deny the truth about Palin''s support of the bridge to nowhere until the feds pulled out. She stated two days ago that she was against it from the beginning. She lied. But you don''t want to be confused with the truth. You people are incredible.

[paris1969]

firststate wrote: " Refusing an abortion and choosing to deliver a child is only the beginning of the mother''''s job. Would she shortchange the vice-presidency or the child?"
... her husband has taken the greater responsibility for the children ... men can raise children too!

[vranger]

No, element, YOUR argument is BS.

Obama has made it clear that HIS mind is already made up on these issues. He favors higher taxes, appeasment of dangerous enemies, socialized medicine, taking the secret ballot away from Unions ... ad nauseum. If elected, he has commited himself to heading down a road that''s going to be very dangerous for our nation security and our economy.

My discusion involved the concept of a VP taking the wheel and holding a course.

The fact that you couldn''t understand that, or more likely just did but just plain wanted to twist my words, put you on a par with what the DNC CONSTANTLY does. ROFL

[vranger]

PS element.

I notice that you didn''t have much to say on the subject of Obama''s votes (along with the rest of the democratic party Senators) against education and against seniors. You can''t explain away those votes. He made them, its in the public record, and they were heinous in their implications.

[tawpdawg111]

Maybe he was doing her and she blackmailed her way onto the ticket.

[tawpdawg111]

Blackmail....that is the only rationale I can come up with to put Miss Congeniality in a position where she may have to face off with Vladimir Putin.

[indep2]

To womanvoter:

Biden is a Washington insider. He''s been there longer than McCain. If Obama cannot pick a qualified VP who can change the system (read outsider), how do you expect him to change the world? To me it seems like politics as usual.

If you think Obama is not arrogant, why would you think McCain is (by agreeing with this article)?

You said:
"First, let me thank Peter Scoblic for this clear, focused, and eminently correct assessment. I hope it is widely disseminated."

[kaelinda]

It''s easy to see from the posts here that many Republicans didn''t watch the Democrat National Convention. Probably because their minds are already made up and they aren''t interested in facts that might possibly change their minds.

Now I wonder how many Democrats will listen to the Republican National Convention. Or, will listen with an open mind.

Anyone who has made up his mind this early in the season, without watching the debates and hearing each candidate speak for him or herself is simply a closed minded partisan of party politics. PAY ATTENTION, people! This may be the most historic election in the history of the country, and you''re treating it like a 7th grade popularity contest!

[horse3farm]

Obama is a creep, period. Be very afraid if he is elected. Remember he said in his book when push comes to shove he would have to side with the Muslims. Palin has more guts and knowledge than Obama. Obama makes me sick.

[betty2700629]

that''s just for fun,no real influnce,Oh by the way I have met many mature *** women at--B O O M E R C U P I D .COM/--boomercupid has become more and more popular for meeting mature men and women.

[im4honesty]

Stop worrying, Sarah speaks in ''tongues'' and believes in the healing power of Oral Roberts. She will make a splendid president when Mr. Magoo croaks.

[oneworldusa]

McCain chose Palin to take some of Hillary''s voters from Obama in a desparate attempt to save his chances for election. Plus, he needed someone younger to take over in the event he can''t complete that one term.

Palin has been a very effective Alaska governor, I''ve heard and read for months, but during a news interview a few months ago she said she wasn''t interested in being Vice President because she was making progress in her state and there was a lot of work that needed to be done. (Funny, Tim Kaine said the same thing, must be the anecdote of the day for VP candidates who want the job but don''t want to act like they want it in case they don''t get it. Actually, former Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe ((fake college degree that he didn''t rightfully earn)) said the same thing when he was under consideration for the position in Charlotte.)

McCain would have been much better off from an experience but youth perspective to choose Eric Cantor, but he blew it. Palin is a great governor, but she has no more experience than Obama, so there.

[kevingrze]

Stupid but loud on issues is the Repug style. The last 8 years have been a disaster, a 72 year old confused man along with a gov from Alaska with zero experience will be no different. Scary to think some Americans can''t think and look at history.

[waynester9]

I find it amazing that the author of this article has the ability to look into someone''s heart and judge arrogance or hubris. You can criticize the VP selection on its merits or lack thereof, but to say that McCain is being arrogant is really unfair.