The New York Times confirms pretty decisively what had already become almost indisputable: Sarah Palin was not "thoroughly vetted" by John McCain's campaign, despite their frequent assertions that she was.
How sloppy was the "vetting"? The mayor of Wasilla heard of nobody looking into Palin's background. Even Republican leaders knew absolutely nothing about any vetting efforts.
In Alaska, several state leaders and local officials said they knew of no efforts by the McCain campaign to find out more information about Ms. Palin before the announcement of her selection, Although campaigns are typically discreet when they make inquiries into potential running mates, officials in Alaska said Monday they thought it was peculiar that no one in the state had the slightest hint that Ms. Palin might be under consideration.
“They didn’t speak to anyone in the Legislature, they didn’t speak to anyone in the business community,” said Lyda Green, the State Senate president, who lives in Wasilla, where Ms. Palin served as mayor.
Representative Gail Phillips, a Republican and former speaker of the State House, said the widespread surprise in Alaska when Ms. Palin was named to the ticket made her wonder how intensively the McCain campaign had vetted her.
“I started calling around and asking, and I have not been able to find one person that was called,” Ms. Phillips said. “I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. Not one of them had heard. Alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but I haven’t found anybody who was asked anything.”
On Saturday, Walt Monegan (the man at the center of the "Troopergate" scandal) said that the McCain campaign didn't contact him about it. It's looking more and more likely that McCain's vetters spoke only to Palin about the investigation into her abuse of power.
State Senator Hollis French, a Democrat who is directing the ethics investigation, said that no one asked him about the allegations. “I heard not a word, not a single contact,” he said.
Senator McCain knew that his campaign was in danger of stalling. He decided at the last moment that the best way to revive it - no, no, it didn't involve McCain starting to do things differently - was to choose the most unexpected candidate he could find. That meant he couldn't vet his choice adequately. In other words, he gambled with the country's future.
But have no fear, America. McCain's people are doing the vetting now.
Aides to Mr. McCain said they had a team on the ground in Alaska now to look more thoroughly into Ms. Palin’s background. A Republican with ties to the campaign said the team assigned to vet Ms. Palin in Alaska had not arrived there until Thursday, a day before Mr. McCain stunned the political world with his vice-presidential choice.
After-the-fact vetting. Now that's the sign of a maverick.
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