Did McCain's people even research the basics of his pick?

McCain supposedly likes Palin because she "stopped the Bridge to Nowhere." Palin's claim:

(APPLAUSE)

If our state
wanted a bridge, I said we'd build it ourselves. Well, it's always,
though, safer in politics to avoid risk, to just kind of go along with
the status quo. But I didn't get into government to do the safe and
easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is
built.

Five minutes on Google gives you the truth:

Republicans Sen. Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young championed the
project through Congress, securing more than $200 million in funds for
the bridge between Ketchikan, on Revillagigedo Island, and Gravina
Island.

Congress stripped the earmark – or stipulation – that the money be used
for the airport, but still sent the money to the state for any use it
deemed appropriate.

The state took about half for other projects around the state, and has set aside about $113 million for the Ketchikan bridge.

She didn't say "Thanks, no thanks." She kept the money.

The rank hypocrisy and lies get worse. Turns out Ms. Palin was for the bridge before she was against it. And that maybe she wasn't such a crusading maverick after all — she isn't really against earmarks, she's just against them when there is a little too much scrutiny.

Incredible editorial from her home state newspaper (second largest in the state):

There was also some pandering right from the start. “I told Congress
`Thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere,’ ” Palin reported to
the crowd in Dayton, Ohio. “If our state wanted a bridge, I said, we’d
build it ourselves.”

But the state kept the bridge money. That’s because Alaskans pay
federal gas taxes and they expect a good share to come back, just like
people do in every other state. We build very little by ourselves, and
any governor who would turn that tax money down likely would be turned
out of office.

Here's the report on Palin from the Fairbanks News-Miner (great newspaper name). Read it,

Some claimed that she has gotten a gas pipeline going after three
decades of inaction, which is far from the truth, while others said she
is the most popular governor in the nation, so she must be doing
something right.

What the national pundits didn’t say was that Palin has served as
governor of Alaska during a time of unprecedented oil wealth, which has
helped preserve her popularity.

She has not had to make difficult budget and tax decisions of the sort that cost Murkowski at the polls.

Perhaps the strangest claim repeated endlessly on the news channels
is that she has proven she can cut taxes and reduce the size of
government in Alaska. She may have cut taxes as mayor of Wasilla, but
that's not the same as cutting taxes as governor of Alaska, where there
is no state income tax or sales tax to cut.

I think John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin to be his running mate was the grossest political malpractice I've ever witnessed. I'm thrilled as an Obama partisan, stunned as a lifelong political junkie, by its recklessness.

Why? Because the number one — and best — message from McCain has been that Obama is a "risky bet." That he's not ready to be President.

But because he is 72 years old, has grappled with cancer, and has serious ailments from his time as a POW, there is not an insignificant chance that he will die in office. So we have to consider Sarah Palin not as a running mate, but as a potential President.

Given that, McCain-Palin seems like the "risky bet." Obama-Biden just became the safe choice. For McCain and his people to trade in their one ace card for a new card facedown is political malpractice.

We know nothing about Palin. We don't know what she knows, or doesn't know. If she has good judgment, or bad. If she can manage, or not. If she can inspire our Nation, or not. If she can win a vote outside Alaska. If she knows who is President of Russia. Or France. Or Prime Minister of the UK. Or Japan. Or what countries are in the G-8. Or what the Chairman of the Fed does and who appoints him or her. Or the difference between Sunni and Shia.

We know these things about Obama.

What we know about Sarah Palin is that likes mooseburgers, fishing, and snowmobiling. I'm sure she'd be a hell of a lot of fun to talk to over a beer. But we learned the past eight years that is the wrong standard by which to judge a President.

The nightmare for McCain and his pick is just beginning. When Mark Halperin — not exactly a flaming pinko liberal — questions your judgment for picking Palin, you know you are in trouble.

They will be playing a lot of defense over the next week because of this pick. It might even be worse than Quayle. Like I said in the last post, reminds me more of putting Mike "Heckuva Job" Brownie in charge of FEMA. Proves McCain does care about politics, and could care less about governance. We have had eight years of that, not sure we can afford another day past January 20, 2009.

What's particularly puzzling is that the Republican Party does include women who could be considered plausible Presidents. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Condi Rice.  Elizabeth Dole.

Why he foreswore one of these more capable, proven leaders for someone with no proven talent or ability to lead at a national level is puzzling.

Because John McCain turns 72 today, and has battled cancer recently, Mark Halperin accurately judges the high bar Palin must get over:

The problem Republicans have trying to tie her meager experience with Obama's is that he has operated under relentless scrutiny in the glare of the national spotlight for the past four years, and as a Presidential candidate for the past 18 months. He has won the votes and confidence of at least eighteen million Democrats from fifty different states. After all that time, and particularly after his speech last night, many millions of Americans have come to believe that he has the judgment, skills, talent and temperament to be President.

McCain's bizarre choice presents a double-barreled problem for him. He now has to convince tens of millions of voters that Palin is at all ready or capable of being President should he die in office.

And because that is such a difficult, perhaps impossible, argument for him to make, it should make all of us question whether John McCain has the temperament, skills, and judgment himself to be President.

Hiring good people is the first test of any great leader. Picking Joe Biden, Senator Obama got an A. John McCain gets an "F" for picking Palin. We've had one "F" student for the past eight years, we just can't afford another.

The contrast between last night and this morning nicely lays out the two, starkly different paths provided by Obama and McCain.

In his speech last night, and over the past 18 months, Barack Obama has shown he is ready to be President, and to lead the Nation.He's relatively new to the national stage, but he's shown leadership and tactical command skills that more experienced politicans could only dream of possessing. Don't believe me, ask Hillary and Bill Clinton.

Contrast what Obama showed us last night with John McCain's judgment this morning, his pick of Sarah Palin to be his running mate, and what it really tells us about his readiness.

The only — the only — way McCain's choice can be explained is as a clever, but none-too-subtle, gambit to pick off disgruntled former Hillary Supporters, and to reassure his far right base. In short, it's a Rovean move.

McCain clearly didn't pick Palin because she has proven talents and abilities to lead our large, diverse Nation. Palin has only governed the state of Alaska — a state with fewer residents than Bakersfield metropolitan area  — for just 20 months. Before that — just before Barack Obama started running for President — she was mayor of a town with 6,000 residents.

For the vast majority of her slight career in local politics, the biggest issue she has grappled with was whether there would be enough snow for the Iditarod.

What John McCain showed us this morning is that he hails from the wing of the Republican Party that puts a premium on clever political gambits, and that doesn't really give a damn about governance. You don't have to pick someone with experience. But you do have to pick someone with demonstrable talents, judgment, and proven ability to make decisions under pressure. When you nominate someone with no proven ability or demonstrable talent
to withstand the rigors of the Presidency, with no proven understanding
of the complex challenges that face our diverse nation, it's clear you
are fundamentally not serious about governing the country.

Barack Obama may not be the most experienced candidate for President, but he has laid out his talents, skills, capacity for judgment and leadership for all to see in the glare of a national campaign for President these past 18 months.

Some people are equating it to the choice of Dan Quayle. That's one thought. I have another. This pick is just like putting Mike Brown in charge of FEMA.  And we know how well that turned out.

Heckuva job, McCain.

Lord, what an unbelievably great night. What a great speech. What an awesome, fearless candidate.

Best in my lifetime. 

Tonight should leave no doubt in any Democrat's mind why he is our candidate for President.

Hand-wringers and Henny Penny's out there: Now man up for the party and put your quivering lips back on straight and get to work electing Obama…

And one more thing. I just love watching all those Republicans out there in a state of apoplexy right now. Delicious.

I'll have more to say tomorrow. For now, I'll enjoy the buzz of the night. There will most certainly be tough times in the next 60 days, but this was one fabulous convention, and one hell of a speech.

UPDATE: I should have included a plug for this fabulous review from Andrew Sullivan. Here's his lede:

It was a deeply substantive speech, full of policy detail, full of
people other than the candidate, centered overwhelmingly on domestic
economic anxiety. It was a liberal speech, more unabashedly,
unashamedly liberal than any Democratic acceptance speech since the
great era of American liberalism. But it made the case for
that liberalism – in the context of the decline of the American dream,
and the rise of cynicism and the collapse of cultural unity. His
ability to portray that liberalism as a patriotic, unifying, ennobling
tradition makes him the most lethal and remarkable Democratic figure
since John F Kennedy.

It's a small thing, but what an awesome, great touch to have Shawn Johnson (Gold Medal winner on the beam, if you weren't paying attention) do the Pledge of Allegiance, and Jennifer Hudson sing the National Anthem.

Nice start to an historic, great day for the country.

There have been some great speeches this week at the DNC — Ted Kennedy on Monday in a heroic journey from the hospital to the convention; Hillary helping repair the breech and Montana Gov. Schweitzer delivering a throaty, red-meat and funny talk, both on Tuesday; and the dynamic trio of Kerry, Clinton (Bill), and Biden last night.

But the most important — and effective — speech this week has been Michelle Obama's. Because she filled in some important blanks about the Family Obama, not just for viewers and voters but for members of the media. It is now crystal clear to every person watching on television, or in Denver — including 15,000 members of the press — that Michelle Obama's childhood is incredibly, typically, American. Most people can relate to it. Most people can't relate to being born into a $100 million dollar fortune, like Cindy McCain.

And as people think about it, just a little, they might start to get pissed off. How dare John McCain attack the Obamas at elitists given what Michelle told us about growing up on the South Side, and what she and her brother had to overcome to be the people they are, and how she showed her awesome pride in her family, community, and country.

She and Barack represent the best traditions of America. Being born with little in terms of wealth but a lot in terms of loving families, working hard, doing both good and well, and giving back.

As American's hear more about their story, and how it is so similar to theirs, and as they hear more about John and Cindy McCain's eight homes, 10 houses, huge fortune, they might even get pissed off that John McCain ever dared to attack them as elitists and out of touch.

Because if John McCain will stoop to that, and feels completely comfortable with that level and degree of hypocrisy, what won't he do?

Late update. Gallup now reports a nice bounce for Obama, with a 48-42 lead. We shouldn't read anything into that, the election will be close and down to the wire and the polls will bounce all over the place between now and November. But… but, maybe just a glimmer of hope that taking the time to introduce Barack and Michelle this week is important, might just pay off, and that the hand-wringing Henny Penny pleas for attack-attack-attack from some Dem-leaning bloggers is silly.

It's been brilliantly managed, in my view. I've watched every convention since 1972, attended most of the conventions (Democrat and Republican) between 1976 and 1984, and this has been simply one for the record books.

It started so strong, with Ted Kennedy and the Michelle and Hillary on Tuesday.

Bill Clinton last night was, as so many have already said, the "master." He reminded all of us Democrats why we loved him as a President. I hope we see a lot of this Bill Clinton out on the campaign trail, for both Barack Obama and key Senate and House races, making the case why this year we can't afford four more years of disastrous leadership from a small, minority of out-of-the-mainstream extremists.

John Kerry last night was superb. He really rivaled Clinton in so many ways. Here's his speech.

And I don't think I've seen that many tears on a convention floor as when Joe Biden took the stage. What a genuine, beautiful moment.

Tonight should be interesting. Barack has gotten no shortage of advice, most of it conflicting and most of it probably wrong. He's been brilliant so far finding a way to ignore the backseat-driving of Democratic Party "pundits" and stay true to his own voice. I expect he'll do the same tonight, with his speech coming on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

What a day it is, what a moment it should be.