Maybe I should double down, and reaffirm that this blog has stated for the entire year that the United States is not ready for an African-American President.
That being the case, John McCain could have chosen anyone he wanted to be his Vice President.
And he chose Sarah Palin.
***
I saw Sarah Palin's speech at the convention, and she's a rock star.
Palin claims to be an agent for change.
And in between naps, I heard excerpts of John McCain's speech at the convention, and he expressed the thought that we are Americans first, and partisans second, which is a sentiment that Republicans at the convention did not seem to want to hear.
Democrats do not believe a word that comes out of McCain's mouth anyway.
McCain claims to be an agent for change.
Change?
The Bush Administration has spent the last 2 years basically running McCain's agenda for him.
Sarah Palin wouldn't exist as a successful governor if she wasn't living in a state controlled by Big Oil, a state that would be impossible without Bridges to Nowhere and huge Federal subsidies.
Since the government today is already giving John and Sarah everything they could possibly want, what kind of change could they be seeking?
***
Judging from the look and tone of the Republican National Convention, I dare say its the kind of change that says that America is a country made for a certain kind of white person.
And, according to these Republicans, if you are not a certain kind of white person, you are no kind of American.
And these Republicans didn't even control the Republican party until last week. If they had, Mike Huckabee or maybe even someone like Pat Robertson, would have received the Presidential nomination.
But thanks to John McCain and Sarah Palin, these Republicans control the party now.
And when a Republican like Sarah Palin says change, she is talking about a government run by a certain kind of white person communicating with a certain kind of God.
Sarah Palin is talking about government based on ecstacy.
And beyond the fact that McCain did not vet Sarah Palin politically, neither McCain, nor the media, nor even the religious right that has taken her to its bosom, bothered to vet her spiritually.
If the War in Iraq is a "holy mission," as Sarah said. If government financing for pipelines in Alaska is God's way of bringing people together, as Sarah also said, then the question that needs to be asked is not whether she has enough political experience to be President.
I mean, cripes, we spent 8 years, as the song says, with ..... We spent 8 years before that with the ex-Governor of Arkansas. How qualified do you need to be?
No. The question that needs to be asked is that if you are going to run an Administration based on what God wants, what makes Sarah Palin qualified to determine what that is?
Or am I being uppity for even asking?
***
I had not previously thought that America was ready to elect an African-American as President.
However, Sarah Palin puts the question to the most extreme test.
I am not sure why McCain put this misery on himself. It is kind of like the misery Al Gore put on himself when he refused to let Bill Clinton campaign for him.
Like Al Gore, John McCain's ego is getting in the way of his goal.
***
I still expect McCain to win the election. However, where I previously felt that the country was not ready to vote for Obama in a fair election, now I'm not so sure.
In this new 21st century America, I think there are more of us "wrong kinds of people" than Sarah Palin's "right kind of white person worshipping the right kind of God".
All conjecture of course. The Republican U.S. attorneys, and, if necessary, the Supreme Court, assures us that nothing resembling a fair election touches America in November.
(For one thing, I still don't know where all these newly registered African American voters are supposed to go to vote.)
***
And then, as President, McCain will have the same problem that Obama avoided when he refused to consider Hillary as his Vice President.
McCain will have a Vice President with a different, and stronger, power base than McCain has.
McCain will be able to fight his wars, of course. And maybe that's all he cares about. Although I am still not sure where he gets his soldiers from.
But if he is thinking of getting anything else done, forget about it. Unless of course, he runs it by Sarah, and she approves.
Maybe, like all Republican politicians, McCain believes that a President should be an elected king.
Well, John McCain will be a King alright.
King Lear.
Who gave his kingdom away to his daughters.
And walked around in a storm -- all Sound and Fury -- signifying nothing.
And 250,000,000 Americans will play the Fool.
