We all knew it was a distinct possibility. After President McCain's inauguration earlier this year, there was always a chance that an elderly president with a history of health scares could succumb under the enormous pressure of the world's toughest job...especially with two wars dragging on, a Great Recession, the health care fiasco, and the ongoing spectre of terrorism.
I would never wish ill to an elderly man; it's just a plain fact that a number of factors -- including age, a history of health scares, and multiple severe stressors related to the job -- could have led to President Sarah Palin.
Some say that it was insanely dangerous to bet on a vice-president who had less than 1 term as governor of a sparsely populated state, with her only prior experience being as the part-time mayor of a tiny town that happened to be the meth capital of Alaska, in offices that appeared to be what James Carville memorably referred to as looking like "a Louisiana bait shop."
Someone who was sprung on America as a virtual unknown 2 months before a national election...someone who was put "on ice" after disastrously incoherent interviews with softball media types like Katie Couric...someone who whipped up rural, small-town white crowds into near lynch-mobs.
But I bet on Sarah Palin as being ready to step in at a moment's notice to serve as President.
Sure, it was mildly unsettling to see her place her hand on the Bible to take the oath of office after a 3-hour-long Assembly of God service featuring a Kenyan witch-doctor and a very long 45-minute session of speaking in tongues.
Sure, when she simultaneously declared war on Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and -- bizarrely -- Monaco, it was kinda scary. But it only served to unite our nation and jump-start our war economy.
Sure, when she appointed Evangelical Christians to all levels of Government and paid a trip to the Library of Congress demanding to review their book catalog, it was mildly unsettling. But hey, that's what an executive does...they execute. Step aside, she's our leader.
And when the PATRIOT Act was expanded to go after bloggers, I guess I didn't really care. I'm opposed to her policies and find her personally repulsive, but... ........................................................
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