Condi shot at Veep killed due to lez rumors?

That’s the straight poop per PageOneQ, saying she was McCain’s first choice.

Those rumors have floated around for years, of course, but, if this story is true, it’s interesting the McCain camp would give them that much weight.

Maybe, behind the smoke …

Update: Here's another thing I don't get. McCain has a gay chief of staff. Has had for years. Apparently not worried about that. Not worried even to the point ofMark Buse being outed. So, why was he that worried about the Rice rumors? Or, did he think Buse would be more “discreet”?

Palin as Eagleton part 2

Yesterday, I said Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was this year’s Tom Eagleton as John McCain’s Veep choice.

Well, it looks like we’re just getting started on how bad Schmuck Talk Express’s™ Schmuckette really is.

AND ... near the bottom of this page, how she may have an Eagleton-like skeleton in her closet.

Over at Washington Monthly, Steve Benen has an excellent roundup of the takes on Palin by both the conservative blovio-sphere and Alaskan politicos and media.

On the first link, when The Corner’s Kathryn Jean Lopez says she won’t vote for McCain-Palin (we’ll see), you know this is a clusterfuck. On the second, here’s your pull quote:

State Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla: “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?”

Sidebar to Ms. Green — Uhh, Palin ran for Lite Gov 2002, and lost the GOP primary. She then ran for Gov in 2006 and won, because, like Martin Niemoller’s famous line, people like you didn’t speak out enough within your own party. As a result, you get this …

Bonus link from TPM: Palin giggled after a talk-radio host called Green a bitch earlier this year.

And Politico reports she is literally the least politically experienced major-party Veep in a century. Maybe, she’s this year’s Adm. James Stockdale, Ross Perot’s infamous 1992 running mate.

For good measure, throw in that she’s an ardent creationist.

AND, AND ...

Her youngest child, the 4-month-old, may not be hers.

There’s even MORE Palin weirdness — some people are speculating her 4-month-old Down’s syndrome child is actually her daughter’s child.

Why the deception? Covering up for her daughter, Bristol, having a child out of wedlock to keep her own Religious Right credentials pure.

But, no, really, she’s Eagleton. Both with Quayle, as a major-party Veep in 1998, and Stockdale in 1992, the country was relatively quiescent compared to today. In 1972, McGovern, for his credibility’s sake, had to get his choice right. Bigotry against depression in 1972 aside, he got neither the choice nor the post-choice handling of the choice right.

That all noted above, I’m VERY curious as to how this is playing on the GOP House organ of Fox News, with the Sunday talking heads. I don’t do the Sunday talkies in general, and wouldn’t watch Fox for its blurred news/analysis if you put a gun to my head, but I’m curious …

And everything said and linked, I will have an in-depth news analysis up later on the Eagleton-Palin comparisons, especially for those of you too young to be familiar with the Eagleton saga.

Here is my in-depth news analysis of the parallels.

McCain Veep: It’s Palin

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is John McCain’s vice-presidential pick. Makes good sense, overall — if you have the convoluted political goals of trying to appear you’re still a maverick, trying to approve you’re a creative political thinker, pandering to the Religious Right, pandering to Hillary’s PUMAs while not actually appointing a woman strong enough or sensical enough to overshadow you.

A woman Veep is certainly an attempt to appeal to Hillary Clinton diehard PUMAs. That’s why I had earlier said Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would be a good choice, as well as her being perceived as a moderate conservative, not a last-ditcher, in today’s GOP. That said, the only way this brazen a pander works is with Clinton supporters dumb enough not to know how firmly Schmuck Talk is planted in the pro-life camp. (Why can't we have a true intelligence test for voting?)

Palin has the advantage of being younger, while I think a young woman will less directly make Schmuck Talk Express™ look old than a younger male Veep would have done. George H.W. in 1988 didn't look that old, and did not have to worry about Quayle like that.

That said, she brings plenty of baggage to the plate. She’s under investigation by the Alaska Lege for allegedly trying to fire her ex brother-in-law as a state trooper, and she has at least tenuous connections to Sen. Ted Stevens, as covered in muck as Prudhoe Bay oil-drilling equipment.

Plus, without meaning to sound anti-family, how well can a 44-year-old mother with five kids handle the rigors of a vice-presidential campaign?

And, how high will the Religious Right’s cynicism go in trying to accept a five-child mother who should be a stay-at-home mom by its lights? These last two points are especially true as her youngest is a four-month-old with Down's Syndrome.

Kay Bailey Cheerleader for McCain Veep?

If a Texan couldn’t make Obama’s cut, maybe one can do for McCain. A number of conservatives of various sorts are reportedly pushing Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Actually, she passes for a moderate conservative in today’s GOP, and without Schmuck Talk Express™ going to a full moderate like Tom Ridge, let alone Joementum Lieberman, could actually soften McCain’s image. (And, at her age, she wouldn’t make McCain look as ancient as would Pawlenty or Romney?)

And, yes, would increase the play for the more disgruntled among Hillary Clinton supporters stupid enough to fall for that bait.