The Twenty Fifth Amendment

C. Where in the Hades is Vice President Dick Cheney? Has anyone seen or heard from him? Did he run away from home? Is the door on the bunker accidently locked from the outside? Is he out scouring the backcountry of our dear ally Pakistan for Bin Laden? Has he shot that SOB in the face? Is this the November 2nd surprise, Cheney shaking the decapitated, bloody, elusive melon on Meet The Press for all the wussy doubters on a Sunday morning? Drunken Politics North has no inside information.

Oop, there's my flagpin...

Speaking of hard-core wild big game hunters, is there no place in an Obama Homeland Security Department for a moose killer? Recently, Governor Palin explained the job description of the Vice President. According to a certain Fancy Wardrobe Snow Machine Queen, the magic invisible ink asterisk on the Constitution implies that the VEEP assists in the creation and negotiation of legislation. Gettin' in there and creatin' policy with them Senators, you betcha. That loud *smack* sound is Senator Joseph Biden knocking himself out with a self-inflicted forehead slap. Senator John McCain and some top staffers have now thrown Governor Sarah Palin under the bus. When your staff goes on open background in the New York Times and The Washington Post stating your VP pick has gone rogue, 10 days prior to the election, psssst rogue, roguey-rogue, the excuse is in.

One way or another, eventually it would be fascinating to hear the rationale behind her ascension from McCain himself. She's whipped up the ugliest pitchfork elements of a very very new, foamy rabid Republican Party. And the case could easily be made that Alaska's Governor has not added a single vote that wasn't already sympathetic to the George Wallace legacy turned Republican voter wing. Dig through the data, maybe the silliest move ever made by a potential POTUS. Even the Senator Larry Craig Christian fundamentalists are thinking, 'whoa, whoa whoa...vetting anyone?' As strange as this sounds the party of Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower,Charles Hagel, Nelson Rockefeller, William F. Buckley, George Will, David Brooks, Jacob Javits, Arnold Schwarzenegger, GHWB, Robert Dole, Richard Milhouse Nixon, P.J. O'Rourke, Lincoln Chafee, a whole bunch of Wall Street Nouveau Socialistas and Ronnie 'Morning in America' Reagan, has stepped way way out over the edge. Let's just see how long this new xenophobic jingo snake-handlin' nutbag luncheon lasts.
Even Spiro T. Agnew is blushing in the grave.

J. The most interesting part about Palin going off-topic is the perception that she's trying to set herself up for a 2012 run on the top of the ticket. At some point, someone is going to have to pull her aside and explain that exceptionally heavy unfavorable ratings do not bode well in a national election. The more Caribou Barbie speaks, the more the GOP looks like it could very easily split into two parties- the fiscal conservatives and the evangelicals. The other option here would be for the Libertarians to really extend their outreach efforts and try to recruit more disaffected Republicans into their ranks.

The funny thing is, there are certain places where the Libertarian candidate is affecting the state outcome. In Montana, the Obama/McCain race is razor thin, and Bob Barr is pulling a few percentage points. But, McCain has an even bigger challenge in the Big Sky Country- Ron Paul. That's right, our favorite candidate-with-a-blimp is still on the Montana ballot, and he's polling in the 4-5% range. If the Libertarians and fiscal conservatives cause Montana to flip blue, hilarity will ensue.

But, back to Palin. If the McCain campaign knows anything, it's definitely not how to stay on-topic, and the fact that she's making them nervous is a telling sign. I absolutely cannot wait for the books that will come out on this campaign. The Republicans had, in the past, been far better at the game than they showed this year. If Johnny Mac had been allowed to choose Lieberman or even Mittens Romney as his running mate, this would be a much tighter race. It's not like it would have been difficult to get the evangelicals to fall into line. It would have taken one sentence- "OK, vote for the pro-choice Democrat with the odd name". Maybe a speech by Huckabee, just to be on the safe side. Just like the diehard Hillary supporters, they would have made some noise, then gone right back to supporting their own self-interest.

Personally, I hope Palin doesn't get the hint, and decides to make a 2012 run- because the GOP primary would eat her alive. The freewheeling nature of the early debates could absolutely embarass her. There would be no shortage of Republicans who thought they would be a better running mate for McCantankerous, who would be more than happy to lay a few hammer-shots to her face.