Politico has a very revealing story on the vetting of Governor Sarah Palin.
John McCain’s lead vice presidential vetter said Friday that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin “impressed” in her interview, knocking the senator’s most important questions “out of the park.”
A.B. Culvahouse, a powerful Washington lawyer and former counsel to President Reagan, told an audience of Republican lawyers that for McCain, selecting a vice president came down to three questions: Why do you want to be vice president? Are you prepared to use nuclear weapons? And the CIA has identified Osama bin Laden, but if you take the shot there will be multiple civilian casualties. Do you take the shot?
Now that we have had a laugh, I am really struck by the simplicity of the first question, and the outrageousness of the second.
Why do you want to be Vice President? Are you kidding me? Was the follow up “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” One would think that the vetting of a VP nominee would be more strenuous than a typical job interview for a mid level associate position. But, given the stories that came out later about Sarah Palin, I guess not.
The second question is very revealing of McCain and his intentions. I do not think it was a question to test Sarah’s resolve to do what is necessary in a crisis. That is what the third question is for, and that third question is relevant given the threats that face us today, and given the crises a modern President would face. A nuclear launch from the Soviet Union is not among those threats.
So either McCain was living in the past with that question, or he did intend to use nuclear weapons against Iran or North Korea, perhaps preemptively. Why else ask the question? Indeed, in this day and age, we should not be prepared to use nuclear weapons for any purpose. The question is irrelevant. But not to McCain.