What choosing Palin says about John McCain

Short answer: nothing good. McCain has managed the bizarre feat of being both stupidly rash and coldly cynical at the same time.

Greg Sargent at TPM has a pretty thorough rundown of just how completely disastrous the choice is starting to be for McCain, and that's what happens when you don't vet your VP before you pick her, but I think even more important than how terrible she turned out to be is what it says about McCain that he made that choice.

This is a man who's running on experience and judgment. Pick me, not that other guy, he's saying, because that other guy doesn't know what he's doing. With me you'll get steady, sober, experienced leadership.

Not so much. This seems to have been a last-minute decision, made without all (or even more than a few) of the facts. One of McCain's own advisers said this:

"This was really kind of rushed at the end, because John didn't get what he wanted. He wanted to do Joe [Lieberman] or [Tom] Ridge."

John didn't get what he wanted. He was, apparently, finally persuaded, days before he had to make a decision, that if he picked Lieberman or Ridge, who are pro-choice, his base would revolt.

So, instead of picking someone he had thoroughly vetted, like Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney, who would have been acceptable to his base but also reasonably qualified, or pushing the decision back a week so he could really investigate Palin, he just picked her, having spoken to her twice in his life. He has literally known her for fewer months than he has houses.

Some people voted for George W. Bush in 2004 based on reasoning like this: 'Well, I don't agree with him, but I know where I stand with him.' It seemed poorly reasoned to me, but apparently a lot of people found it compelling. Bush would be wrong, but he would be wrong predictably. Apparently a lot of people find that reassuring.

Those people should be very worried about John McCain. Choosing Palin says that McCain, when he can't get exactly what he wants, is inclined to make important decisions rashly and without seeking out any of the relevant facts. He lacks even Bush's sense of political self-interest. He's liable to do a lot of inexplicable and random things as president, many of which will be as disastrous for the country as Palin is shaping up to be for his campaign.

As Matthew Yglesias observed:

One is reminded that one of the principal powers of the presidency is the power to appoint people — federal judges, ambassadors, cabinet secretaries, subcabinet officials, FEC members, the Amtrak board, all kinds of things. Presidents don’t always put the best people in these positions, but normally they give the matter some thought. Even an unqualified crony gets his job because somebody knew him. Is McCain going to just pick people at random in order to “shake things up?” Not bother to do any vetting in order to preserve the element of surprise?

McCain has achieved the strange feat of making Barack Obama simultaneously the "change" candidate and the "safe" choice.