Vetting: Poor job - Steven Chapman

Chicago Tribune columnist [libertarian] Steven Chapman thinks Palin was poorly vetted.

Originally posted: September 2, 2008 9:51 AM

The poor vetting of Palin

If you're buying a house, you get it professionally inspected before you close. If you're buying a used car, you have a mechanic check it out first. And if you're considering someone to be second in line for the most powerful office on Earth, you vet her thoroughly before you make a decision. Unless you're John McCain.

The alarming news about Sarah Palin is not that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. It's that McCain and his aides didn't do everything they could to know everything they needed to know about Palin before picking her.

Did they know about the pregnancy beforehand? That's not clear. The New York Times reports today that they're not saying.

It also quotes some prominent Alaska politicians saying they never got a call from McCain's people about anything else, either.

"I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders," said Rep. Gail Phillips, a Republican. "Not one of them had heard." The Democratic state senator who is directing the ethics investigation of Gov. Palin--and who may know some things worth knowing--also went untapped.

Of course doing an extensive job of vetting her would have assured the leaking of her name, spoiling the big surprise. But when it comes to the vice presidency, the last thing we need is surprises. And something tells me we haven't gotten the last of the surprises from Palin.

Read the original post and comments HERE.