Palin for VP: Smart?

Deanna thinks that McCain's decision to select Palin is smart because the shock and curiosity it generates will force the Obama camp to relinquish the spotlight and allow the McCain camp to connect to voters with a relevant message. She makes no mention as to what that message might be, but then who could?

Last week I wold have told you that the VP choice was neither smart or dumb; that the VP did not much matter in the election because most of us were choosing the President. Looking back, the choice of a VP has little (if any impact). Look at some winning campaigns with less than star VP choices:

• Nixon won two elections with Agnew who was little know (in '68) and not highly regarded for anything other than delivering punch lines. 
• George H. W. Bush won the 1988 election with Dan Quayle. 
  
• George W Bush won reelection in 2004 even though most Americans viewed Cheney as the second coming of Lucifer.

Palin, however, may be the exception. I think she is a bad choice for McCain for the very reason Deanna likes the choice: because it puts the country's focus on the McCain campaign, where it helps him the least. McCain can't win on the issues and he won't win because people like him better than Obama. If McCain does win the election, he will do it the same way he won the Republican nomination: because voters chose not to vote for the other guy. For McCain to win, he needs to drive down Obama's support and make voter's question the wisdom of electing Obama. With the focus off of Obama, voters can't indulge their fears about electing a black man: bad for McCain. 

With the focus on McCain, voters might begin to question his suitability for the office. If the public begins looking into the half-ass process he went through in selecting Palin, they may begin to wonder how seriously he would treat the Presidency. Should any of the Palin allegations gain traction, or if the Alaskan Legislature's investigation completes before the election with an indictment or articles of impeachment, this will be not just a bad choice, it will be a disastrous choice.

I do agree with Deanna on one point: "Bravo McCain and Co.!"