I could name at least half a dozen off hand...

And I'm not even running for VP...

Jesus fucking christ, how hard is it to name a magazine or newspaper?

Every time I see her talk, I just get angrier. And the most frustrating part is that the anger seems to always be completely justified. Not that this issue, in and of itself, is really indicative of anything. But at this point, none of this is really "in and of itself". There's just this bizarre pattern of evasiveness and incompetence when it comes to answering even the most basic of questions.

And that's not even my biggest issue. I mean, if she wants to be an idiot, so be it. She's been put in a position where she's way over her head, and a lot of that blame doesn't fall on her. I mean, if I was that oblivious to the rest of the world and someone asked me to be their VP candidate, I don't think I would say no. I can accept that part of it. But there are far bigger things to worry about here. Mainly that at some point the McCain campaign got it into their heads that she could be a competent VP candidate. That absolute lack of judgment is what worries me most about it.

I was just thinking about it today, and it struck me that at some point someone must've sat down and had some sort of conversation with her about something substantive before they offered her the position (I mean, they must've, right?). I was talking to someone and they made a joke about how maybe they just gave her a two minute phone interview. And while it was obviously a joke, I was struck by the fact that in all the interviews I've seen, she's never even made it two minutes without looking ridiculous. I can't imagine she's suddenly become more incompetent than she was when she was being considered, so the only conclusion that's left is that they either didn't take time enough to ask her anything substantive, or they were just so excited to find a woman that they didn't worry at all about her competence. Either way, it's beyond insulting.

The '04 campaign frustrated me pretty regularly with how petty the discourse often became and how often people got away with saying things that were blatantly misleading. But that doesn't even begin to compare to how angry this has made me lately. Honestly, it almost seems like they're just fucking with us to see how much we'll let them get away with. Honestly, I've gotten to the point where that would be kinda comforting. I mean, if they're gonna make a mockery of political discourse, it'd be nice if they were at least in on the joke.

It's gotten to the point where I honestly feel bad for Tim Pawlenty. You just have to imagine he's sitting there, watching these interviews and just going "Really, guys? This is what you turned me down for?"