Thought on Sarah Palin

We know Sarah Palin is interested in being John McCain’s running mate; we know that enthusiasm for that prospect is growing, to the point that even skeptics are taking notice. Gov. Palin’s most eager supporters are urging Sen. McCain to name her his running mate soon, for maximum benefit. I can think of at least two reasons why he hasn’t, however, even if he is in fact leaning that way (as I hope he is).The first is no doubt the charges recently raised by Andrew Halcro that Gov. Palin has abused her office in some unusually inappropriate ways. Given that Halcro is one of the politicians Gov. Palin beat two years ago in winning the governorship, the charges have rather the appearance of sour grapes, but until such time as they’re refuted (as I would hope and tend to expect they will be), obviously, Sen. McCain won’t put her on the ticket. Should she come through these charges unharmed, I would think that would only strengthen her chances.The second, which is more speculative, comes from my father-in-law, a lifelong Michigander who’s been touting Gov. Palin for VP since back when I was still hoping for Condoleeza Rice. He notes that one of the governor’s major accomplishments was the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, and suggests that she probably doesn’t want to leave Juneau until the pipeline contract is done. If that is in fact an issue, I’d be interested to see Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin play it this way. Let Sen. McCain name Gov. Palin his running mate, and let the governor announce that she has a few matters to finish up before she can go on the road. Then go back to Juneau and tell the legislature that if they want to help the Republican candidate win the White House, they’d better get the lead out. I suspect that at that point, they’d be very willing to finish up whatever she wanted done.(Update: now that I’ve finally had the chance to see Adam Brickley’s video responses to Halcro’s charges—plus the additional thoughts in the third comment on that thread, from Dave ll—and to read the documents in the case [see the yellow sidebar on KTVA’s website], it seems clear to me that Gov. Palin’s actions were in no wise inappropriate. There are definite suggestions in other articles KTVA has posted that the governor’s office was at least applying some pressure on Walt Monegan, the former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner, to fire State Trooper Mike Wooten, her sister’s ex-husband; on the evidence, however, a) that pressure seems entirely justified, and b) Monegan’s refusal does not seem to have been the reason for his firing. Instead, this episode seems rather like an attempted political hit on Gov. Palin by a disgruntled political opponent, Andrew Halcro, and the state troopers’ union, which was unhappy at her efforts to streamline the budget and cut waste. Taken all in all, if this reading of the situation bears out, this should only make her a more appealing running mate for Sen. McCain, not less.)