Some Political Thoughts...

I didn't have a chance to blog over the weekend, so here's a collection of random political thoughts.

• I'm glad I'm not the only one who found it ironic that some republicans prayed for rain during Obama's speech, yet their convention was delayed due to a hurricane.
• This whole Palin thing reminds me of Harriet Miers. Am I crazy about this?
• This NY Times Article about the person who updated Palin's Wikipedia page calls the author "ethically suspect." This, I totally don't get. The whole point of Wikipedia is that everyone contributes to its contents, even people who serve to gain from it. As long as the content is kosher, who cares who added it? The editing process worked well in this case, as some of the "flattering content" was removed by a later editor, yet the factual contributions remained. To me, this is a success story.
• I found this NY Times Article on the "vetting process" for Palin to be pretty unnerving. See what I mean:

  Up until midweek last week, some 48 to 72 hours before Mr. McCain introduced Ms. Palin at a Friday rally in Dayton, Ohio, Mr. McCain was still holding out the hope that he could choose a good friend, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, a Republican close to the campaign said. Mr. McCain had also been interested in another favorite, former Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania.
  
  But both men favor abortion rights, anathema to the Christian conservatives who make up a crucial base of the Republican Party. As word leaked out that Mr. McCain was seriously considering the men, the campaign was bombarded by outrage from influential conservatives who predicted an explosive floor fight at the convention and vowed rejection of Mr. Ridge or Mr. Lieberman by the delegates.
  
  Perhaps more important, several Republicans said, Mr. McCain was getting advice that if he did not do something to shake up the race, his campaign would be stuck on a potentially losing trajectory.
  
  With time running out — and as Mr. McCain discarded two safer choices, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, as too predictable — he turned to Ms. Palin. He had his first face-to-face interview with her on Thursday and offered her the job moments later. Advisers to Mr. Pawlenty and another of the finalists on Mr. McCain’s list described an intensive vetting process for those candidates that lasted one to two months.
  
  “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,” said a Republican close to the campaign. “This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe or Ridge.”

  Terms like "reckless" and "gambling" come to mind when I read this article. I'd like to think I'd use these same phrases if Obama had pulled this kind of maneuver .

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