Petraeus makes sense. Tom Ridge, not so much. Doubling down on Iraq seems quite risky, especially when McCain's numbers are strong elsewhere as well. Didn't I see a recent poll showing that John McCain actually does quite well on the issue of the economy, despite his self-admitted (and truthful) lack of knowledge on the topic? Oh, wait, I did...
Then again, it's not as though McCain's a really great politician. He's great at managing the media, and great at making himself appealingly moderate, but in terms of actually getting stuff done he's not quite so impressive. He is unbelievably superficial. I heard someone say he's actually said far less about the issues than any other major candidate, but Obama's the candidate of fluff? I guess having the press corps spinning for you 24/7 is a bit of an advantage. Still, building a campaign on how well the war's been going means you have nothing if it starts going south. McCain ought to have a plan B is all.
Anyway, with respect to a VP choice, Sarah Palin seems like the best choice from where I sit. She's appealing, young, and a reformist. I suppose it would make for an all-Western ticket, which is just fine by me. I think some regions other than the South should have a shot. Does she pass the "plausible as a president test?" I honestly don't know. Not sure just how many women it would win over--after all, compared to a woman in the White House, a woman in the Naval Observatory is, well, not much at all--but it would be historic in a better way than the current most historic element of John McCain's candidacy: as the oldest major party presidential candidate not running for reelection.
