McCain's Plan B

As the New York Times told us yesterday, it has become increasingly apparent that the selection of Sarah Palin was a last-minute rush job. Not that any of us needed to be told that.

“They didn’t seriously consider her until four or five days from the time she was picked, before she was asked, maybe the Thursday or Friday before,” said a Republican close to the campaign. “This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn’t get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe or Ridge.”

I had thought all the talk of Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge were intentional diversions from the McCain camp with the purpose of keeping the media in the dark of the true running mate pick and signaling to moderates that McCain is such a maverick that he at least considered a "pro-choice" "Democrat." Evidently I was wrong. McCain really was hell bent on selecting Lieberman until the right wing honchos set him straight in the preceding week or two.

Responding to the media drawing the obvious conclusions that they didn't fully vet Palin, the McCain camp said, oh no no no, she got a full FBI check. Never mind that a campaign using the FBI to investigate a candidate would be illegal and the FBI denies it. But wait, they point out, she got a questionnaire that other candidates received that had 70 whole questions. If you ask if they followed up to verify any of Palin's responses you'll find that the McCain campaign people have quickly scuttled away.

What does this say about McCain besides that he may have poor judgment when it comes to picking quality people? For me it makes it clear that the campaign had absolutely no Plan B in place for the very real possibility that Lieberman and Ridge would not work out. If they thought that Romney and Pawlenty were too "conventional," certainly they could have had a couple more quality people in the wings they could have spent time vetting? But no! They were stuck and had to scramble to get their shit together at the last minute.

Haven't we learned the negative consequences of having a guy in the White House who doesn't see the value in planning any contingencies? Haven't we learned there is nothing noble about moving forward with plans without modification despite mounting evidence that it's not going to work? Haven't we learned, now marking the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, that you got to make sure people are up for the job before you give it to them?

John McCain, with 72 years of life experience and having lived through nearly 8 years of the Bush administration, hasn't learned these lessons. Will voters be able to do a better job and not repeat the mistakes of the past?