Many question have been asked about the rationale behind picking a very dark horse choice for the Republican Vice Presidential nominee. Many of the answers to those questions seem to point to a certain desire on the part of Sen. McCain to steal a bit of Barack Obama's thunder from his speech Thursday night. In that regard - as well as pointing out McCain's ability to surprise (be all mavericky!) - it seems to have worked. Yet, there are lingering questions, especially as regards an on-going investigation in to Gov. Palin's firing of the head of the Alaskan State Police over a personal matter (I won't pretend any expertise on the matter, since I only heard of it yesterday). In this matter, it seems, she is very similar to many Republicans, especially in our Forty-Ninth state. Ian Welsh, in a post at Fire Dog Lake, mentions that the McCain campaign is only now, after the introduction of Gov. Palin as McCain's running mate, dispatching people to Alaska to get more details on what is being called "TrooperGate" (unlike the alleged problems then-Gov. Clinton had, these appear to be serious and substantial charges). He then asks a question that should make everyone's eyebrows rise:
[The current inspection of Gov. Palin's bona fides] rather suggests that the campaign didn't vet her properly. Troopergage has been ongoing for some time, even a cursory Google search would have told them they had a problem.
He then concludes:
So much for either "judgement" or, given McCain's inability to use the web, his staff choices. Who does he have advising him, and is it they who are incompetent, or did they warn him and he ignored them? Either way it's not so much Palin whose fitness is in question, it's the man who made the decision to make her his running mate: John McCain
Maverick! indeed.
