Before I start, a quick question: Does anyone know if Mike Castle has reacted to his moderate buddy, McCain picking a certified right-wing wack job for Veep? He was outraged right? Probably.
Now then…The Palin spin is dizzying because most Republicans know what a huge screw-up the pick was. It is circle the wagon’s time and Republicans sure know how to do that. However, there are still a few honest Republicans around. Listen to Norm Ornstien, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
I am troubled by (McCain’s choice), not the least because of the way it was done — last minute, impulsive, with the presidential candidate barely knowing his choice and without an extensive vetting done well in advance. The ethical issue is also troublesome, just from what we know on the record. Gov. Palin is by all accounts honest when it comes to money and taxpayer dollars, but either she or her close subordinates used government power to try to settle a personal vendetta — if she did not do it, but her subordinate did (from the audio tape on record), she clearly should have fired him and did not. Given the Patriot Act, the enhanced surveillance and other powers being exercised by the federal government, having someone willing to use or tolerate the use of the power of the state for personal vengeance is pretty unsettling.
Here is what wikipedia says about the AEI:
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) is a conservative think tank, founded in 1943. According to the institute its mission is “to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism — limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate.”[1]
AEI has emerged as one of the leading architects of the second Bush administration’s public policy.[2] More than twenty AEI alumni and current visiting scholars and fellows have served either in a Bush administration policy post or on one of the government’s many panels and commissions.[3]