A Set Up?

Is the nomination of Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as running mate for Sen. John McCain a set up? Palin isn't even the official nominee, and there have already been more leaks than on the Titanic.

First, allegations that Palin tried to get her sister's ex-husband fired from his job as a state trooper in a bitter custody battle, then accusations that she redacted her Wikipedia entry, next revelations that her teenage daughter is pregnant despite Palin's posturing on abstinence-only sex education programs, and attempts to have sexually explicit materials banned from school libraries. The candidate who ran on ethics is now running from ethics concerns.

The pro-life feminist is, according to the McCain campaign, now portrayed as the victim of a "faux media scandal." But, more people in this country are concerned with faux elections than faux media scandals. Still, the McCain camp is trying to glean every last ounce out of the notion that it is the old boys' network that now seeks to sink the candidacy of the first female on the Republican party ticket.

Forget who this woman is, after all, like the fact that she recently told her congregation that American troops in Iraq were sent "on a task that is from God," according to the Associated Press.

After all, Republican strategists would have one think that it is the liberal press, the Democrats, and leftwing pundits, the old boys in the establishment news outlets, who are out to ruin Palin, not someone who is carefully timing the release of information about a candidate who is largely unknown. Can we afford to believe that?

Let's step back for a minute, and think about who stands to lose the most if more compelling smut on McCain's pick seeps out, over the coming weeks, and she is forced to tearfully step down. Look who then becomes the big, bad sexists standing in the way of the pro-life feminist free market earth mother?

As for vetting Palin, arguably, McCain did all the vetting he needs to do by finding the most implausible woman running mate so that when the well-timed, and carefully orchestrated, leaks come, her exit will logically follow leaving Obama, and the Democrats, scratching their heads, and trying to clean up after her category 4 hurricane.

Maybe the reason McCain only met with her once was so they could agree that she'd take the plunge, in November, and be in much better shape for victory in 2012. For all we know, there is already someone else, like Romney, waiting in the wings to step forward should the Palin fall from Graceland be fait accomplis.

Oh, of course, Big Mac, or Big Gaffe, doesn't have the headlights, or the deer, to mastermind a plan this quintessentially Rovian. But, consider this: Palin's already hired an attorney to represent her, so she's obviously got something in the oven besides a saturday night special.

Look how far we got underestimating Newt Gingrich. It's easier to get rid of fleas than neo-cons. After tonight's acceptance speech, Sarah Palin's face belongs in Webster's under the definition of "radical right."

And, in the end, those who doubt the power, or the competency, of McCain's pick may, ironically, end up enabling yet another stolen election.