August 30, 2008 05:36 AM UTC

Sarah Palin: Double-edged scalpel for CO GOP?

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• by: twas brillig

Let’s say we ignore the obvious goofiness of McCain’s Sarah Palin selection. Will Colorado GOP boss Dick Wadhams be issuing a misty-eyed statement in support of John McCain’s VP pick? It’s hard to see how Wadhams and the state GOP establishment can even pretend to lend full-throated support to “the Dan Quayle of our times.” With the Colorado GOP effectively lined up behind Mitt Romney — the schmuck who went to bat for John McCain after the primary and effectively had his balls handed to him today — they too must be feeling just a bit of that stinging castration after the Sarah Palin pick.

Though it was high in shock value, the Palin pick left bruised feelings among the short-list contenders who were not picked — and infuriated some Republican officials who privately said McCain had gone out on a limb, unnecessarily, without laying the groundwork for such an unknown. Two senior Republican officials close to Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty said they had both been rudely strung along and now “feel manipulated.”

“They now know that they were used as decoys, well after McCain had decided not to pick them,” one Republican involved in the process said.

And when the Palin pick is such an obvious, superficial pander:

John McCain on Friday announced a running mate whom he met only six months ago and with whom he spoke just once on the phone about the position before offering it in person earlier this week.

And this after Barack Obama’s clear enunciation that a VP pick was an indicator of presidential leadership ability. This nature of this selection seriously undermines McCain’s claims of experience and judgement.