McCain: Fucked if he does. Fucked if he doesn't.

[cali]

And fucked by his own impulsivity. The timing couldn't be worse. Heading into the convention, it's all bad news about Palin all the time. Sure the repuke hardcore present a united front. What else are they going to do? And yes, Sarah Palin will be nominated as vp and will probably give a highly "successful" barnburner of a speech that will have the MSM fawning and the delegates and fundies swooning, but that doesn't help enough. It won't negate the flood of bad Palin stories. It's just too messy to be sustained.

If they vetted her and chose to go with her, they're idiots. If they didn't they're idiots. And they're so stuck. No way she can drop out now. To the delegates she's mother theresa in an anorak with a hunting rifle. McCain can't risk the buzz saw of a bloody civil war at the convention.

But... he can't risk the deluge of bad news and keeping a tainted vp candidate on the ticket either. Palin has been a massive flop in every way save one: she thrills the base. His hope was clearly to thrill his base and present her as an independent reformer/maverick. That's a huge failure, and it's now too late to foist that one. She looks like the slightly nutty, messy extremist she is.

She's damaged goods. She's a demolished candidate walking. And she's taking johny "maverick" down with her.

How very satisfying.