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Can McCain's Palin Mistake be Corrected?

As in, can she withdraw from the race for one reason or another, making way for McCain to choose someone else? I don't intend to read the rule books to figure that out, but it should be something McCain might have to consider for many reasons. If she does withdraw her VP candidacy, she probably will need to do it before accepting her party's nomination in their convention in a few days. That is unlikely, so this whole post is a futile exercise. Nevertheless, I would like to list the many reasons Palin is the wrong choice for McCain.
  1. Her apparent inexperience in anything non-Alaskan - She has demonstrated that she has no clue about international affairs. Over the last year, she has admitted that she pays little attention to national and international issues because she is too busy governing Alaska.
  2. Untested nationally - She has not been tested on the national stage like Romney and Huckabee. Making the transition from being a 20-month governor of a state with a population of 700,000 to a VP of a nation of 300+ million is an astounding challenge.
  3. Her 17 year-old daughter's pregnancy - It is not totally damaging, but the negative publicity can't help
  4. The bridge-to-nowhere lie - What she advertised as an example of her anti-corruption stance turned out to be false.
  5. Her non-appeal to women - Even tough she was intended to bring it the votes of Hillary's supporters, they could see through the pandering.
  6. Too far to the right - Could she be more "conservative" if she tried? Look at her stance on a lot of social issues. Abortion. Gay rights. Pledge of allegiance in schools. Teaching creationism in schools. Teaching abstinence over safe sex practices.
  7. Environmental policies - While McCain tries to appear like someone who cares about the environment, her view of environmental issues resemble that of Bush in that she thinks they are not real. She does not align with the large majority of Americans who consider environmental issues very relevant. That could hurt McCain.
  8. Shady past - she is under investigation for abuse of power. Reports from an independent investigator are due right before the Nov 4 elections.
  9. McCain does not know Palin - They have no personal history or relationship. He talked to her twice, for a span of 30 minutes before offering her the VP role. That is just nuts by anyone's standards.
Of course, McCain seriously erring on the most important decision of this presidential campaign so far does not bode well for his candidacy greatly. He has to make a decision between sticking with Palin and losing or ditching her to seek a very potent and capable VP like Romney.

Clearly, McCain's decision must have been very impulsive. If his team did serious vetting, they would have thought twice before picking Palin. This really puts their judgment and decision-making abilities in questions. Imagine them making decisions like this in the White House. The world could be in great peril.

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