McCain Wanted To Choose Lieberman

That's according to Andrea Mitchell on Meet the Press. But the voters (and talk radio show hosts) wouldn't let him.

Some maverick.

He can't even make his own choice so he chooses someone he barely knows, one that Rush Limbaugh, a radio talk show host, pushed. He also called her a "babe."

All that maverick stuff is spin. Ruth Marcus makes the case:

The spin on John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate is that it reinforces his maverick credentials. I see it the opposite way: It undermines them. McCain looks like any other calculating politician, willing to do whatever it takes to win.

The maverick argument is that Palin is an outsider -- the only one of four on the November ballot. "She's not from these parts and she's not from Washington," McCain said in Dayton, Ohio. Palin complements McCain's reformer credentials, having spoken out against corruption and earmarks in a state that has an oversize share of both. She is a young, fresh and, yes, female face. "A running mate who can best help me shake up Washington," McCain said.

But fear not, a vice president under McCain won't be like Dick Cheney, who acted as the real president. It will be a public relations office.Charm is Palin's strongest suit.

Big foreign relations problem? Some old guy in McCain's cabinet will have it covered. McCain gets sick? Some old guy in McCain's cabinet will have it covered. She will be an overpaid token. 

The story also points out that Geraldine Ferraro is still ignorant.

Palin's selection, though, feels like a disappointing retreat to the identity politics of 1984, when Geraldine Ferraro was picked for the Democratic ticket solely because Walter Mondale wanted a woman. On Friday, Ferraro was on Fox News, talking about how "people are looking for a historic campaign," and suggesting that the choice of Palin "might do it."

So women "who are disaffected by how Hillary was treated by the media, by how she was treated by the Obama campaign," as Ferraro sees it, are going to flock to McCain simply because he panders to them with Palin? Because Palin, who just a short time ago was describing Clinton's "whine," lauded her Friday for showing "such determination and grace"? Because, as Palin said, "it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all"?

Ferraro is a very bitter woman