A lot of people are complaining about Sarah Palin. Some feel insulted by the choice as it appears disrespectful to women. People have spoken about how McCain's lack of knowledge of her contradicts his campaign slogan of country first. And, everyone has pointed out that it blows out his argument of the last 3 months, that he apparently never believed, that experience matters.
But no one has brought this up that I have seen:
The only thing that the news media said about her when the news broke was her title and that she was under investigation for using her office to pressure to have her ex-brother-in-law fired.
I think the news media didn't consider her a potential finalist because like most people, they imagined that anyone under investigation would be precluded from being a VP pick.
Usually, if someone is under investigation, you let the legal process play itself out and figure the truth will be discovered through the investigation. It doesn't always work that way, but some faith in the process is one of the central tenants of this democracy.
Apparently, John McCain felt he knew all about the investigation before the people doing it did. He decided it was no big deal and nothing would come of it, or maybe he thought, 'we can make it go away.'
Either way, McCain is putting himself above the law and disrespecting the process in the state of Alaska.
Why should McCain know better? Is he saying his vetting was more extensive than the investigation? As he only bothered to meet her once before he offered her the job, I'm guessing he didn't extensively interview the other people involved in the case. Even if he did, he can't conduct his own investigation and deem it better than the process in the State of Alaska. (That sounds like a Vladimir Putin trick.)
Has anyone ever picked a VP who was actively under investigation for abuse of power?
This is a stunningly arrogant thing to do.
Even Cheney, who is intensly secretive, doesn't expect popularity when he tries to circumvent the law. He doesn't throw his disdain for the process of law out to the public and expect to gets votes for it. (remember, "So?" when asked about the disapproval of the american public?)
I have heard enough facts on TPM to believe there is a good case against Palin and that her reported lying about the initial facts didn't help her. Still, the process should play out.
If the investigation isn't over by November and (God forbid) their ticket wins, would the process be allowed to continue or could she invoke some retro-active executive privilege?