Prometheus 6

In keeping with my assumption that people's decisions make sense to them no matter how silly they seem to me, I thought about what the hell McCain meant when he said Gov. Palin was fully vetted. And I realized there was another example that worked the same way, only the Decider wasn't McCain.

The Decider was Monica Goodling.

McCain depended on the party machine to have done the vetting. If you check out how she got her first elective office, you'll see she was closely affiliated with the Movement Conservatives from the beginning.

But in the first major race of her career — the 1996 campaign for mayor of her hometown, Wasilla — Palin was a far more conventional politician. In fact, according to some who were involved in that fight, Palin was a highly polarizing political figure who brought partisan politics and hot-button social issues like abortion and gun control into a mayoral race that had traditionally been contested like a friendly intramural contest among neighbors.

Party loyalty was the prime consideration.Loyalty and more than a bit of ruthlessness.

Constitutionally, the veep is a spare tire...in modern times folks recognize that as a waste of talent. Bush got carried away with the delegation thing with Cheney, but with the end of the administration all those powers must revert back to the office of the President. Being a Conservative party, Republicans may decide the Veep's office reverts all the way back to the 1950s. So the candidate doesn't have to have any qualifications at all.If he got really sick he'd probably fire her.