Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

So an allegedly "inexperienced" Obama selects Joe Biden, who has served Delaware in the U.S. Senate since 1973, and has a list of legislative accomplishments to his credit along with numerous foreign policy credentials, including extensive international travel and face to face meetings with world leaders.

Sarah Palin served two terms on the city council of Wasillah, Alaska and one term as  mayor of that town of less than ten thousand people.  Palin was elected Alaska's governor in 2004 after an unsuccessful bid to become lieutenant governor two years earlier.

Considering Senator McCain's critical standards in the realm of foreign affairs, where does Sarah Palin fall?

The first major Republican figure to leap forward in praising the selection of Palin, a strong anti-choice advocate, was none other than Ralph Reed.  While Reed can point joyfully toward a candidate that can be expectedly embraced by the Christian Coalition, is she what former backers of Hillary Clinton seek in a VP choice?

A woman's right to choose is a fundamental litmus test for feminists, many of whom were champions of Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy.  Is McCain's thinking so muddled that he believes the choice of a female running mate will alone drive former Hillary backers said to be currently disenchanted with Obama back into the fold?

How does Palin stack up against Joe Biden, a popular favorite of female voters who championed the historic legislation affording protection to women suffering violent attacks, and who has a stellar voting record on a woman's right to choose and the subject of equal pay for equal work?

If McCain truly believes that choosing a woman will blind women, notably Hillary Clinton boosters that he is courting, and will offset notably superior records of Obama and Biden on the issues that matter most to women, he has manifested an abysmal ignorance of female voters and rudely insulted their intelligence in the process.

Meanwhile an ongoing investigation into Governor Palin's firing of Walter Monegan as Alaska Commissioner of Public Safety holds potential repercussions for the Republican ticket.  Palin has been charged with an "abuse of power" by firing Monegan for failure to fire Palin's former brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten.

Palin denies the charge.  Wooten had been involved in an ongoing conflict with Palin's family surrounding a divorce and custody battle with Palin's sister.  Wooten was suspended for 10 days for a variety of charges, including death threats against Palin's father, tasering his stepson, and violating state game laws.  After a union protest the penalty was reduced to 5 days.

While Palin may be innocent of the charge for which she is being presently investigated, such an ongoing incident could serve as a serious distraction to the Republican ticket in concentrating on the upcoming election.

If McCain and his high command were unaware of the investigation then this was a major mistake.  If they decided to roll the dice in spite of it, McCain's political judgment must again be called into question.  

McCain needs this kind of controversy as much as George Bush the Elder needed the fallout relating to Dan Quayle's vice-presidential selection and the resulting flap over his National Guard Service during the Vietnam War, which distracted Republican efforts in the 1988 presidential campaign.