Yay. Hopefully the grownups will finally be back in charge.

I always felt that the main reason Obama would not consider putting Clinton at the bottom of the ticket is that it would have opened the possibility for a governance nightmare. It really has seemed clear from the outset of the campaign that Obama (and, ftm, Clinton, Dodd, Biden, Edwards) was actually interested in being president in order to govern.

I didn't have the same feeling about the Republican candidates. Romney, maybe. But nobody who was actually interested in governing the country would have picked Palin for the VP slot. It recalls Agnew, but Nixon had a well-defined governance plan in place that left out the veep. McCain just flippin' freelances.

"William Ayers: Funded by Republicans

The Annenbergs-- Republicans. Bankrolled William Ayers with $50 million

But Walter and Leonore weren't just giving money to educational foundations started by William Ayers. They were also giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee and various other Republican groups, as well as to a whole host of Republican candidates, including the following:

George W. Bush $4000
Mitt Romney $5000
Strom Thurmond $1000
Fred Thompson $500
Rick Santorum $3000
Rick Santorum-- former Republican Senator. Received $3000 from Ayers' backers.

Why would billionaire Republican philanthropists give millions of dollars to a program that was working with William Ayers? Why would George W., Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and all those other Republicans accept money from the people who were funding this William Ayers-associated group? Why won't McCain discuss these connections between the Republican Party and Ayers?

Here's the icing on the cake: just yesterday, the McCain campaign put out a press release bragging about the fact that Leonore Annenberg has endorsed him for president. Yes, you heard it-- a McCain backer bankrolled William Ayers with millions of dollars.

More icing: You know that Republican Arnold Weber I mentioned earlier? The one that served on the board of the CAC with Barack? Not only did he work with William Ayers in the 90's, he has also donated at least $1000 to the McCain campaign. That's right-- McCain is accepting money from associates of William Ayers, and so far has not given the money back.

I'm feeling a little cheated. Months ago I was promised an October surprise. It's already October 9th, and all I've heard is that Barack knows a guy who's been working with McCain supporters and Republicans since the mid 90's."

More: http://www.republicansforobama.org/?q=node/3027

More than the details of McCain's Palin selection give you a clear understanding of exactly why she was chosen.

Her scandalous governing and associations aside, can you imagine having information, which was likely available, that would foretell her failures at some of the most basic of expectations of a national candidate?

You here of 2012 aspirations. This candidate running in four years is unimaginable. Nothing would do more to mobilize centrists and moderates to elect a democratic candidate president.

McCain's decision-making process:

"Screw it! Let's do it! USA! USA! USA!"

He's just muddling through it like he muddled through the Navy, his time in Congress, and how he buys houses.

Why doesn't he say anything at his rallies when people use hate speech? He's just muddling through it.

ALL OF IT.

McCain: "POW!"
Palin: "Ya betcha!"

End of conversation. . .

John M said that the only factor in choosing a VP is if they are totally qualified to be President. Are you calling a POW a liar???

McCain realized that he was not ABLE without Sarah.

It still boggles my mind that he had only brief interfaces with her before selecting her.

Has any VP running mate in the history of the US been so casually chosen?

Biden was clearly chosen because his judgement and ability to string sentences together was never in question.

If you're asking me to join you to help govern, and not just help you get elected, then I'm interested. If you're asking me to help you get elected, I can do that other ways, but I don't want to be a Vice-President who is not part of the major decisions you make.'"

Wow ... this is strange.

Last night, The Mrs and I were discussing the major differences between the VP candidates, and she asked why the hell McCain chose Ms. Moose. My reply:

"The GOP selects people they think can win an election. Democrats select people who they think can actually govern."

Good to know I was on the mark.

It also is a big reason why our country has gone in the crapper these last 8 years: the GOP doesn't give a shit about doing what's best for the most. They're about doing what's best for them and their friends.

No thoughts at all to getting things done and making life better for as many Americans as possible. Just whatever makes that 20% or so of nut cases happy and donating to campaigns.

Thankfully, people are starting to catch on and are getting sick of it.

"Can you imagine McCain and Palin having that conversation?"

Why, yes---it would be a discussion between a xenophobic cat that is rabidly anti-dog, and a xenophobic dog that is rabidly anti-cat. McCain would have his war-whtout-end, and the Palinistas would have their Armageddon. They'd wipe each other off the face of the planet, and the good guys (us) would inherit the Earth, the Universe, and Everything.

There seem to be cultural differences here.

Democrats consider politics and government to be activities to be conducted professionally. Jobs have specific requirements to be performed, and individuals filling those jobs are expected to be prepared and trained to accomplish those requirements. "Vetting" is an established process with well-known routine procedures to be followed.

Republicans distrust professional politicians and professional government administrators. They want amateurs doing those jobs. The key criteria for filling a job is that the individual be trusted by those who choose the candidate. That trust is acquired in interviews by some magical process of chemistry.

Every professional well-trained personnel/HR person I have spoken to over the last two decades agrees that the interviews in the hiring process do nothing to improve the quality of individuals hired, but that managers will not abandon the interview as a key element of the hiring process.

In McCain's case, that magical, intuitive element is the only part of the hiring process he trusts.I'd bet that is how everyone who works closely with him has been chosen. He looks into their eyes...

The GOP selects people they think can win an election. Democrats select people who they think can actually govern.

I'm not so sure Lieberman proves the point. At least it struck me as far more politically convenient than practical.

Come on, McCain and Palin are meant for each other. After all, the sky in their fantasy worlds is the exact same color.

The GOP selects people they think can win an election. Democrats select people who they think can actually govern.

Lets not get too carried away here. Although Dick Cheney resembles Darth Vader more than any living politician, George W. Bush clearly chose Cheney for governance purposes, not just to get elected.

"George W. Bush clearly chose Cheney for governance purposes, not just to get elected."

***

I think Cheney is actually the one who chose W., not the other way around.

The GOP selects people they think can win an election. Democrats select people who they think can actually govern.

I'm not so sure Lieberman proves the point. At least it struck me as far more politically convenient than practical.

I agree with that. However, given what was known about Lieberman then, as opposed to now (since he hadn't gone off the Neocon deep end in 2000), I think he also was a credible co-governor as well as a political statement.

I'm not so sure Lieberman proves the point. At least it struck me as far more politically convenient than practical.

--Danp

Well, there is always the exception to the rule.

:-)

Although, as ResumeMan points out, Lieberman as least seemed sane back in 2000.

Not sure what the holy hell happened, or if he was just better at hiding the crazy back then, but he doesn't seem like anywhere near the guy he was when running with Gore.

Boring as all hell, not much of an orator, and seemingly pliant for whomever he thinks will be nicest to him, but he at least appeared competent.

The GOP, on the other hand, rarely (if ever) discuss actual governing while campaigning. For them, it's all about personality and hot-button issues.

That mindset is why we've seen so much of our wealth, honor and dignity lost these past 15 years (since Gingrich's "Revolution") -- when all you care about is winning, and the only way you can win is to viciously attack your opponent, you don't have a lot of time or goodwill left over to do policy, think of solutions, and go about governing.

Hopefully that will change with the 2006 and (**crosses fingers**) 2008 butt whoopins. Not sure it will, but there is the hope ...

Here is how the McCain vetting process went:

McCain: I think yer purty.
Palin: Awww, shucks.

"The GOP selects people they think can win an election. Democrats select people who they think can actually govern."

While its a clear difference between the present Democratic and GOP tickets, in that clearly Palin was picked with no regard to governing, while with Biden that certainly appears to have been a concern (though political concerns can't be ignored), I don't think it holds up as much of a generalization: sure, you've got Palin and Quayle on the Republican side and Gore, Edwards, and Biden on the Democratic side, but you've also got Lieberman on the Democratic side (who was clearly picked for purely political reasons as a way to distance from the Lewinsky scandal), and you've got Cheney and Kemp on the Republican side. (Sure, we may not like, especially in Cheney's case, what they brought to the governing table, but we don't want out of governing what Republicans want; while political concerns may have been present--as they certainly were with the choice of Biden--its pretty hard to say that those weren't people who were credible picks for governing competently given the ideological priorities of the party.)

Its not the Republicans have been historically, generally unserious about VP picks, its just that McCain, particularly, has been unserious in his VP pick in this campaign.

I can't even imagine they would know that such a conversation was possible, much less useful. Much less responsible.

And, no, Republicans aren't at all interested in governing. Governing implies government and they don't believe in government. All they believe in is power.