Here are some things that have surfaced since McCain made the announcement of Palin as his running mate:
...Palin had actually supported, not opposed, the Bridge to Nowhere; that the true scope of the "Troopergate" scandal she's enmeshed in is a wee bit larger than she fessed up to; that she raised taxes and public debt substantially as mayor of Wasilla; that she supported a windfall profits tax on oil companies as governor of Alaska; and that she's skeptical about human contributions to global warming.
McCain's team talked to very few people in Alaska who knew Palin, didn't do much (any?) archival research on her, and McCain himself had barely even met her before he offered her the job.
So why did she get the nod? Hard to say. George Bush met with Vladimir Putin for couple of hours back in 2001 and immediately announced that "I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul." McCain, likewise, after campaigning with Sarah Palin for a few hours on Saturday, went on TV the next day to announce, "She's a partner and a soulmate."
...(T)his is vintage McCain at work. His choice of Palin was naive, cynical, reckless, and impulsive.
- quote from blogger Kevin Drum in a 9-1-08 post
McCain's recklessness and impulsiveness were also on display in his reaction to the Russia-Georgia situation. One gets the sense that he will "shoot first, ask questions later."
He seems to lurch from one seeming (to him) crisis to another. McCain's decisions to go to Mississippi to check on preparations for hurricane Gustav and also put the the plans for the Republican National Convention on hold show his tendency to make snap decisions, skipping what could be useful consultation with others who are affected. It reminds me a bit of lighting "fires" so you look like a hero when you put them out.
