Less than 2 years ago, Sarah "Who?" Palin was the part-time mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population 8,400. As Andrew Sullivan notes in The Atlantic, her terms as mayor were a disaster for the town: project cost overruns, botched land acquisition, and leaving a town that was without debt when she started to one having $19 million in long-term debt ($3,000 per resident of Wasilla) when she left to become Governor.
What is so troubling about her designation as the McSame running mate is not so much Who?'s lack of credentials - - that's not her fault, and she may end up being a successful governor of Alaska. It's McSame's recklessness and cynicism in picking her over many, many more qualified candidates (including at least 20 women*) in the way that he did simply to rev-up the evangelical base and sway some Hillary voters. He had met her only once before, and she was only interviewed in detail the day before her designation. He wants to put her a heartbeat away from the presidency, and that speaks volumes not about her unfitness, but about McSame's.
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*For starters, Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Elizabeth Dole, and Olympia Snowe, Govs. Jodie Rell and Linda Lingle, and former business executive Carly Fiorina are often mentioned.
(photo: Wasilla City Hall and bakery shop)
