Editorial: McCain fails to put US first with VP choice

Sen. John McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was not only a terrible choice, but also one that is insulting to women around the country.

The main problem this board has with her candidacy is her attempt to appeal to supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton. Palin gave a rousing feminist speech about breaking the highest glass ceiling in the land, after Clinton’s speech about how she had left 18 million cracks in it.

Do McCain and Palin really think they can capture those leftover Hillary supporters by just throwing a woman onto the ticket? Especially a woman who is the ideological opposite of Clinton and the vast majority of Democrats?

That said, it was apparently a decent political choice for McCain. She has managed to please some of the core elements of the Republican base, including the anti-abortion groups, the pro-gun groups, and the creationist groups, all at once. This board endorsed McCain as the Republican nominee not very long ago, and we looked forward to seeing his pick for the vice presidential nominee. We certainly were not expecting this.

The Republican party has chosen to attack Sen. Obama’s experience, but his nomination was a choice by millions and millions of voters around the country. Democrats chose him after evaluating all of their options. Unfortunately in this situation, Americans don’t get to choose the vice presidential nominee. Palin was never voted on by a national audience. McCain made a reckless choice. So much for putting the country first.