Do you think the McLame camp knew about this and planed to use it against us?

I think this is a setup that they plan on using.

what do you mean?

How is that our problem?

Everything is not orchestrated by Karl Rove.

Karl Rove is not omniscient.

Karl Rove cannot predict the multiplicity of variables inherent in human existence and behavior so as to engineer a conspiracy dependent upon the thoughts and movements of millions of other independent actors.

The Republicans did not select Sarah Palin for office because she had a 17-year old daughter who is pregnant, just so that the "backlash" against Democrats calling Palin a horrible pick would create a sympathy vote for the McClown ticket.

Sometimes an idiotic pick is just an idiotic pick.

I saw that in a Star Wars Movie.

With the GOP folding like a house of cards before our very eyes, it's probably a bad idea to ascribe anything other than desperation to McCain's choice for VP.

Nevertheless, the similarities between Palin and Harriet Miers are worthy of consideration. Neither was qualified or experienced for the job for which each was nominated. Both received early and bi-partisan criticism. Both are the subject of ongoing scandal investigations.

In Miers' case, the scandals for which she was originally accused--washing Bush's war record clean, for one--paled in comparison to the crimes she was also committing at the time (stacking the deck at the DOJ). Harriet Miers was both a clay pigeon and, we now know, a high-level criminal co-conspirator with the Bush Administration. They didn't think she'd get the nod, but if she did she would be an invaluable controlled asset on the Supreme Court.

I think Palin is something similar. My guess is that she's proven her loyalty to The Man by pulling some other bullshit in Alaska of which we will only hear about later. There will be a lot of eyeballs on her over the next couple of months, so the picture may start resolving itself before the election.

My theory is that the plan was to hold Palin up as a "dangle" before the convention, then to replace her with someone much more old, white, and male at the convention if the reaction to Palin was as virulent as it has turned out to be. The GOP could then hold up their hands and say, "well, we tried...."

Now that the convention itself appears to be a wash--no real problem normally since real votes don't mean much to Republicans--it looks like the "dangle" is going to be put on the list by default. She's too inexperienced to operate on her own, so if the election is close enough to steal and McCain expires or leaves office, someone will have her in pocket.