I want someone who is smarter than a 3rd grader

So Mrs. Sarah "never a dull moment" Palin actually did an interview. I'm starting to see why she was better off not talking.

Q: Brandon Garcia wants to know, “What does the Vice President do?”

PALIN: That’s something that Piper would ask me! … [T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.

Really?! Are you telling me that I got it wrong for the last 25 years I have been learning about government? My senior year of American Government in high school was wrong? My poly sci classes I took in college (including one on the Presidency) was wrong? Damn!

Article One, section three: "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided."

Once again, I bow to the greatness of Keith Olbermann:



And Rachel Maddow:



I'm sorry to burst your bubble Governor, but I would like someone running for vice president that has an idea, based in reality and fact, of what their job might just be. Not to mention some depth and a real relationship with their running mate. Normally I would just post a passing hyperlink to this story, but I think it is TOO good not to really point out.

Go and read Jonathan Alter's piece where he talked to Biden. Biden’s Unified Theory of Biden. And not only does it touch on how Obama and Biden talked through what their professional relationship would be like, it was this that really caught my eye:

Biden says Obama reminds him of Bill Clinton in his "confidence, cognitive ability, judgment" and intellectual security—that he can listen and absorb advice without having to prove he's the smartest person in the room, a critical leadership skill. He says he experienced an "epiphany" during a recent conference call on the bailout bill with Bob Rubin, Paul Volcker, Warren Buffett, Paul O'Neill, Joseph Stiglitz, Larry Summers and Laura Tyson. "He [Obama] comes on the call and says, 'Well, folks, sorry I'm late. I've got four questions.' He was in total frigging command! Here's a 47-year-old guy in one of the most complicated economic dilemmas anyone has had to face since 1929 to '33. And it was like, 'Bang! Bang! Bang!' I called him afterward and said, 'You sold me, sucker!' "

I long for smart people to lead, but for those people also not to need to show off just how smart they are. I'm looking at you Al Gore.

So, Biden or Palin. Barack Obama or John McCain.

Lord, it's like asking a kid if he wants ice cream or liver and onions. You tell me what he's going to pick.

Why I can never forgive John McCain

For all the good John McCain has done over his many years, I don't think I can ever forgive him for putting the national spotlight on Sarah Palin.

Now looking back at 2004, after Kerry lost many looked to Edwards to run. He was, for a short time, the party's front runner. Now he didn't keep that very long once everyone just remembered Hillary Clinton.

Now, looking at the landscape of the Republican party, there are only a few names already popping up to run in 2012, barring John McCain actually winning in 14 days. First, you have Sarah Palin, whom just debuted on SNL:





It was while I was watching the Weekend Update skit that I finally understood why she went on the show. It wasn't going to help her and John win the election, but it was going to have people talking about Sara Palin on SNL. And in a year, no one will remember what she did on SNL, but they will remember she went on and took the jokes to her face. That will make people like her. And she has several years to hit the books and bone up on every weak point she has. And I don't doubt she will do it. So, like most everything she does, her going on SNL was all about Sara Palin and little about McCain/Palin.

And with only Mitt Romney and maybe Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana to really likely to come out early, being where she is now gives Palin way too much time to mold her image with the party's base. Now, mind you this is saying that there is a Republican party in four years. I have great feelings that the party is coming apart, and someone needs to come forward to save it (McCain couldn't) before it gets too far gone.

Odds are not in Palin's favor for being the front runner for long, but her media coverage and message will shape the dialog forcing any other major challenger to at least deal with it. Her popularity with the Republican base is strong, and while she may become the head of a new, more conservative, party rising from Republican ashes, she now has her eyes set much higher than Governor of Alaska. And come February of 2009, Sara Palin will only be 45 years old. She ain't going anywhere, and she is going to spend most of those days thinking of ways to get into the White House herself.

If we, god help us, have to see Palin running against Obama in 2012 it will all be John McCain's fault. You can't even blame America for nominating her in my weird fantasy; America loves its redneck, straight-talkin' mavericks.

So, John McCain, I blame you. And I'm not sure I can ever forgive you.