McCain calls up a freshman for the tournament

[Andy Brunelle]

Back in the 1990s when Neil McCarthy (neighbor of mom & dad) was coaching the BK boys basketball team to their nine successive appearances in the state tournament, he had a knack for identifying a freshman that he would call up for the tournament to give the kid a little exposure to tournament pressure and to stir things up a little. Sometimes this worked (John Hild in 1992; Tommy Steiner in 2001) as the youngster would respond to the opportunity, would play hard, and be something of an impact on the floor for a quarter or two during a game. The idea also flopped at least one, with Steve Tracey in 2002, who incidently went on to be one of the best guards in school history.

Coach McCarthy's maneuvers came to mind today when I learned that John McCain has tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice President nominee. Palin's experience of 18 months as Alaska Governor and a few years as mayor of a town of 9,000 puts her at the equivelant of a freshman getting called up for a state tournament. Only in this case it's a two-on-two match and she's going to be on the court all the time. This is not a limited playing time deal where she can come in to stir things up for a quarter and then sit on the bench. We'll see how she handles it; and it's clearly a larger gamble on McCain's part than the times McCarthy would elevate a player.

I think on the straight politics of it, this choice was a result of McCain being boxed in by 1- not being able to pick his first choice (Lieberman); 2- wanting to avoid the fellow he does not like at all (Romney), who was also disqualified because he too is a multiple home owner; 3- Gov. Ridge, like Lieberman is pro-choice so he was out due to a need to placate the Republican base; 4 - For whatever reason Gov. Pawlenty of Minnesota did not measure up, probably because he would not match up well against Senator Biden.

[Gwen Brunelle]

From talkingpoints memo-

Did John McCain really just suggest that the Prime Minister of Spain might be one of America's enemies? One of those international leaders he'd refuse to meet with?

Does he want to liberate Spain too?

The passage in question is at the end of the interview linked here (with translation into Spanish) ...

http://www.cadenaser.com/internacional/articulo/mccain-elude-decir-...

[Michael Brunelle]

I couldn't find the English translation here, but it says that McCain would not say that he would meet with Rodriguez Zapatero, despite being pressed by the Spanish journalists for an answer. He would only say say he would meet with "friends of America", and not with its enemies.

In my opinion he is afraid to say yes because Zapatero is a Socialist, and because Spain withdrew its troops from Iraq (although not from Afghanistan). Agreeing to meet with Zapatero would probably upset his own Republican base more than the Demos, although the Dems might find a reason to criticize him for it too.