Sure McSame Vetted Her, Right?

Over at TPM, Josh Marshall does some investigative reporting (remember that, America?) and calls shenanigans on today's WaPo story that has the McSame camp insisting Sarah Palin's been vetted "extensively".

But leafing through articles out of Alaska, there's good reason to doubt these claims that Palin received an extensive vetting.

One bit of info from the Anchorage Daily News ...

Former House Speaker Gail Phillips, a Republican political leader who has clashed with Palin in the past, was shocked when she heard the news Friday morning with her husband, Walt.

"I said to Walt, 'This can't be happening, because his advance team didn't come to Alaska to check her out," Phillips said.

Phillips has been active in the Ted Stevens re-election steering committee and remains in close touch with Sen. Lisa Murkowski and other party leaders, and she said nobody had heard anything about McCain's people doing research on his prospective running mate.

"We're not a very big state. People I talk to would have heard something."

Perhaps she's just a hostile or isn't as plugged in as she thinks. But there's also this.

The big bogey for Palin is the ethics investigation into possible abuse of power in her firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. I can see possible reasons why the McCain camp would hesitate to make contact with Monegan. But with credible claims that she abused her office and subsequently lied about her actions, I would think the McCain camp would want to understand that case inside and out. But according to an article in today's ADN, Monegan says that no one from the McCain campaign ever contacted him about Palin.

Impulsive, rash, panicky, too quick, risky. That's been John McSame for his entire political career. Why should this be any different? That is the level of judgment he brings to the White House.

This is going to backfire in a huge manner. Sarah Palin will be pressured to turn down McSame's offer by a large part of the party. I hope she stays. She's not a disastrous candidate because she's a woman and the Democrats absolutely must avoid backhanded misogyny on dealing with Palin. She is a disatrous candidate because she is unqualified on the issues and is under investigation. Attack McSame's judgment for selecting her instead.