The Evil Petting Zoo

Well. That blew up nicely, didn't it?

Y'know, when Palin got nominated, I knew there would be doubts raised about her history. I knew there would be doubts raised about her record (anti-choice, anti-gay, pro-big oil, etc.). I just didn't know there would be a shitstorm on par with Hurricane Andrew tearing through a sewage treatment plant.

I mean, where to begin? You've got Palin's pregnant teenage daughter, which serves as an unfortunate testament to the fact that McCain opposed federal money for teen pregnancy prevention programs. You've got Palin's close ties to a political party that believes Alaska needs to secede from the US. You've got her being for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was... hell, was she ever really against it?

But the best part of this is seeing the wheels slipping off of McCain's campaign. It's not like they've come all the way off, but all attempts to rationalize the Palin pick are proving to be comedy gold. Cindy McCain goes on This Week and argues that Palin has the extensive foreign policy experience of living closer to Alaska than anyone else (hey, my uncle lives up in Maine, does that mean he gets to sit at the next policy meeting?). A McCain spokesperson goes on CNN to proclaim Palin's experience in handling the National Guard; not only does he get driven into the ground, but McCain cancels his appearance on Larry King that night in retaliation for someone actually acting like a journalist. Meanwhile, McCain shows all signs of keeping his wagons hitched to Palin's, if the RNC speeches are any indication.

This is going to be fun to watch, if only for seeing how far it can go forward before falling to pieces.