McCain's steps on a conservative's landmine

Questions on Palin keep coming, underlining sloppy decision

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- What was he thinking?

From the floor of the Republican National Convention to backyard cookouts on Labor Day, Americans are asking how it's possible that John McCain, who had sewed up his nomination back in the dead of winter, could have settled on a running mate so untested, not to mention one who eluded the vetting process so badly.

But that is what happens to a candidate whose preferred choices to round out the ticket get dumped at the 11th hour as a result of a panicked scramble to bring a jolt to the campaign.

The revelation that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's unwed 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant certainly has provided a jolt, though it's hard to imagine that's the kind of jolt that McCain had in mind. As a result of this and other, albeit less titillating disclosures from America's Last Frontier, the Republican convention is abruptly veering off script to say the least.

McCain is reported to have wanted to run with a moderate, centrist partner such as former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge or even Sen. Joseph Lieberman. Both of them support abortion rights, the leading lightening-rod issue on the right.

But when word about them being veepstakes frontrunners seeped into the rightwingosphere, the response suggested McCain was risking an uproar from Christian conservatives at his carefully planned coronation in St. Paul.

Between that news and Barack Obama's stirring address before a TV audience of 40 million people, Vietnam veteran and war hero McCain -- whose maverick political career made him a hero to many Republicans and Democrats alike -- dropped everything and met with Palin, the darkest of dark-horse veep candidates. And it seems he barely checked into her inner world before settling on her as his final choice.

Rather than selecting a political soul mate who shares in McCain's ability to bridge partisan divides at the root of political gridlock, he has chosen a political unknown who appeals to a feared minority in his party. So much for the bid to attract disaffected Hillary voters.