Hillary and the GOP VP

Expanded from an email this morning to The Last Boy Scout:

I think McCain’s VP pick (Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, above) was a misstep. Hillary’s hordes are not so pissed at Obama that they’re gonna vote GOP to put a woman in the #2 slot who disagrees with them on all the female-specific hot-button issues. Does anyone really think Hillary’s cranky post-menopausal fan base are so desperate to have a woman — any woman — in Blair House they’ll willingly throw away their daughters’ and granddaughters’ reproductive rights?

This was a Hail Mary Pass, and I don’t think it’s gonna be well-received (look, Fang just made a sports metaphor!). The base will love it and McCain does still need help with the base, but I doubt her selection will draw any disaffected liberals or left-leaning independents to the GOP’s alleged big tent.

McCain did, however, manage to snitch Obama’s news cycle away from him, but that, as they used to say on HBO's late, lamented “The Wire,” is just The Game.

Addendum 9/10/08: Let me just say that when I get one wrong, I get it really, really wrong. Mea culpa.