By the End of the Third Week of September

When I last wrote on this wonderful, glorious, entirely entertaining and historic election I set forth the proposition that John McCain needed to find a favorable issue; his problem being that he's on the wrong side of both the economy and Iraq.

He has quite obligingly done so, and in a manner that reminds me very much of those characteristics that I admire about John McCain, and even more so of those that should terrify anyone with a brain in their head.

John McCain has, bless him, rediscovered his pro-life/anti-choice position on abortion. Never mind that no single position on any single issue has been so thoroughly and profoundly determined to be the minority position of the American electorate. Never mind that: Big John no doubt thought about it himself, and decided that he didn't care. He's a riverboat gambler, he found himself dangerously behind in the race and he threw the dice on the thought that if he's going to lose, dammit he's going to lose by standing up for what he believes in. So far as that goes, good for him!

Unfortunately, for McCain, the reality goes a bit deeper than these first hurried glances…

...but the short term results have been spectacular. I think that it's also important to understand that McCain's big gamble-naming Sarah Palin his vice presidential choice-was an act of desperation, and one whose chickens may soon and ceaselessly be coming home to roost.

Worse, for McCain, is that Palin has absolutely eclipsed him (and let's be honest, everyone else) in the eyes of the media and public over this past week. The chickens, then, when they return home, are going to look more like Pterodactyl-elephants.

Palin and Abortion

Palin's position on abortion goes well beyond the fact that she's generally pro-life/anti-choice. That simple position has proven to be acceptable to the national electorate, so long as moderates don't believe that the candidate will actually do anything to disturb the status quo (the Bush presidents, for example). Palin's undoing may start with her most immediate strength-that people believe she may actually do something about things. If they do believe that, it is not inconceivable that they might ask themselves, "What?"

Palin believes that abortion should be illegal, even in the event of rape or incest. Much has been made that Palin "walks her talk" because she gave birth to a child with a disability, and because her teenaged daughter will give birth just after the election. Of course neither Palin has ever suffered rape or incest, and so it cannot be said of them, fortunately, that their walk is quite as big as their talk.

Before I go further, I should say that Ms Palin's position on abortion is at least admirable insofar as it could not possibly be calculated to gain admiration or approval on a national level. I am not suggesting that Ms Palin is a phoney (at least on this issue), but I am afraid that the truth is something worse.

During my time as a newspaper reporter I was assigned, because of my legal background, to cover an incest trial. Without divulging more disgusting information than absolutely necessary I have to say that the father in question was a low-life with absolutely no credibility or remorse, and that the young lady was incredibly courageous in facing him down. It was, I believe she understood, the only way that she could get…even a first chance, really. Other than the father and his lawyer, there was not a dry eye in the place by the time that the trial neared the heart of testimony, and there was an unbridled roar from the gallery as the father was led off to prison.

I believe that he was quite fortunate to be led off to prison, as I believe that it is probable that his acquittal would have led to a riot and lynching. I cannot tell you that I would not have been one of the lynchers.

That Ms Palin believes that that girl should be forced to bear the child of that father strikes me as the most disgraceful position ever set forth by any candidate for any office that I've ever had the opportunity of voting on.

By the End of the Third Week of September

I suspect that Ms Palin's public approval will have disappeared under the avalanche realization that she has been one of the most desperate politicians licking at the edge of the pork barrel trough, and by the many inconsistencies between her record and rhetoric that are now emerging in something more than a trickle.

If the media is as fair to her as it has been to Barack Obama, Ms Palin will also be vilified for the fact that the pastor of her church perceives Jesus Christ in terms of a bloodthirsty military leader, and the Iraq debacle a crusade in furtherance of the objective interests of God.

It is also quite possible that it will turn out that the books Ms Palin wanted banned from the Wasilla library included classics and children's tales, and such other issues that are only of much interest to the extent that they might suggest issues beyond themselves. If Ms Palin is disqualified in the arena of public opinion on such grounds, it will be….not unfortunate so much as a disservice to ourselves.

It is more important, I believe, to give Ms Palin, Mr McCain and the Republican Party the unqualified message that we do not believe that rape is an act of God, or that incest is an act of God, and that we're not willing to believe that anyone who does understands much about any of it.

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