Vetting, Party Of One

The stories that keep emerging from the frozen tundra in Alaska get more and more strange, and leave more and more people scratching their heads. There was this underground rumor that Sarah Palin's daughter was actually her granddaughter, based on some evidence that was credible and some evidence that was flimsy, and originally spread by Palin's Republican rivals in Alaska (though it will forever be attributed to some mystery liberal blogger). The McCain campaign tried to shut it down today by admitting that Palin's 17 year-old daughter is pregnant now:

The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin's five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us," the Palins' statement said.

I know that the McCain camp thinks that this ends the debate and there is some kind of nobility here, but teen pregnancy usually doesn't reflect entirely well on the parents, though YMMV. (What this really shows is that abstinence-only education doesn't work at all)

Of similar concern is the fact that Palin thinks the Founding Fathers wrote the Pledge of Allegiance. And the continuing developments in Troopergate. And that she's appeared at a secessionist movement meeting in Alaska. And you have to wonder whether the McCain campaign talked to anyone at all about this.

Actually, I think they did talk to someone - the CNP.

The CNP deliberately operates below the radar, going to excessive lengths to obscure its activities. According to official CNP policy, "The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs before or after a meeting." Thus the CNP's Minneapolis gathering was free of reporters. I only learned of the get-together through an online commentary by one of its attendees, top Dobson/Focus on the Family flack Tom Minnery.

Minnery described the mood as CNP members watched Palin accept her selection as John McCain's Vice Presidential pick. "I was standing in the back of a ballroom filled with largely Republicans who were hoping against hope that something would put excitement back into this campaign," Minnery said. "And I have to tell you, that speech by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin -- people were on their seats applauding, cheering, yelling... That room in Minneapolis watching on the television screen was electrified. I have not seen anything like it in a long time."

Minnery added that his boss, Dobson, has yearned for a conservative female leader like Margaret Thatcher to emerge on the American scene. And while Palin is no Thatcher, "she has not rejected the feminine side of who she is, so for that reason, she will be attractive to conservative voters."

The members of the Council for National Policy are the hidden hand behind McCain's Palin pick. With her selection, the Republican nominee is suddenly -- and unexpectedly -- assured of the support of a movement that once opposed his candidacy with all its might. Case in point: while Dobson once said he could "never" vote for McCain, he issued a statement last week hailing Palin as an "outstanding" choice. If Dobson's enthusiasm for Palin is any indication, he may soon emerge from his bunker in Colorado Springs to endorse McCain, providing the Republican nominee with the grassroots support of the Christian right's single most influential figure.

That's all this was about. Forget the press reports grasping at straws trying to figure out this pick, whether it represents reform or was targeted to exurban voters. This was a wet kiss to the religious right. There was only one group doing the vetting because it's all that mattered. The theocons were waiting for a signal to start up the phone banks and the ground work and now they have it. The question is whether or not Palin's family values and extreme radical philosophy is distasteful to the wide swath of Americans.

UPDATE: Boy, they're dumping everything while the nation focuses on the hurricane. Palin's husband has a DUI record.

UPDATE II: Interesting that the McCain campaign felt the need to mention that the kid made her own decision to keep the baby, since McCain and Palin want to take that choice away from all women.