Despite protestations to the contrary, it has become obvious that Senator John McCain made a losing selection for his vice-presidential running-mate. No matter how one looks at his choice, it was a bad one.

On the one hand, it appears the Senator was like a student who had procrastinated writing a major term paper and suddenly had to do it the night before it was due. By waiting until the last minute, McCain ended up selecting a candidate who was not properly vetted and was on no one's "Top 100" list of vice-presidential possibilities --- and still isn't.

On the other hand, if McCain knew in advance about Palin's limited experience, her ethics investigation, and her pregnant teenage daughter, he had to understand the liabilities all of these factors would bring --- whether fair or not. Given all the choices available to him, how could he still select Palin?

Was she such an incredible leader that her inexperience (which negates McCain's primary argument against Barack Obama), her ethics difficulties (didn't McCain want ethics to be a cornerstone of his campaign?), and her family challenges (while most Vice Presidents probably have had more than enough time to help raise a grandchild in addition to their own five children, most people see Palin as closer to the presidency than the average V.P. simply due to McCain's age and health).

And while it is not fair to attack Palin and her family over her teenage daughter's pregnancy (since when was politics fair?), the tittering will be a distraction as will the discussions about how certain religions oppose sex education --- and how Bristol Palin is now the poster-child for public school sex education.

At the minimum, the selection of Palin casts a massive cloud over McCain's judgment. McCain appears to have rushed to judgment and selected a running-mate who was not properly vetted or he knew all the facts and used poor judgment to select her. Pretending it is not relevant will not make it go away.

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Aaron Harber hosts "The Aaron Harber Show," seen Tuesdays at 8:00 pm and Wednesdays at 5:00 pm on PBS Station KBDI-TV Channel 12.  Please go to www.HarberTV.com for more information.  Send your comments and topic suggestions for both columns and TV shows to Aaron@HarberTV.com.  You also may view programs on a 24/7 basis via the "Broadcast Videos" section of the Website.  Many of Aaron's columns are available on the Website on the page entitled "Aaron's Opinions."  (C) Copyright 2008 by Aaron Harber and USA Talk Network, Inc.  All rights reserved.

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