The Mills of the Gods

As one McCain aide put it: "We either get Hillary's voters and we win, or we don't. It's not a mystery."
McCain's decision prompts one important question: Huh?

Of course this is a cynical ploy to pick up women voters. The uniquely Republican twist is the way they always choose someone who has no experience or expertise. Because to do otherwise would imply that someone who is not a rich white guy might have intelligence and skills and contributions to make. Thus, the Republican devotion to tokenism.

The impetus is in the quote above. I suspected it, and now it's confirmed.

They have fallen for their own spin, and they don't know it.

The right-wing's reshaping of the media discourse to their own ends has now come full circle. The feverishly faxed talking points about "Democratic disunity" and the "hard core Hillary supporters are going for McCain" have led to this choice. They have acted on their own lies as though they are true.

Those who dwell in a hall of mirrors shouldn't throw stones.

Just as the religious right's prayers for rain during the big outdoor Democratic convention rally has led to a hurricane disrupting the Republican convention. Haven't they learned that vindictive prayers boomerang back on the vicious supplicant?

Probably not, since that is a Wiccan concept. Meanness is an essential component of these faux Christians.

I see this move as an indication that the Republicans, always susceptible to living in worlds that do not exist outside of their pointed heads, have given up harsh reality altogether and have started believing their own lies. Did they forget that this "disunity" talking point was their own creation? That the usual primary hurly-burly of their opponents was only supposed to be spun that way for their own purposes?

Seemingly so.

The Greek philosopher Sextus Empiricus wrote "Though the mills of the gods grind slowly, Yet they grind exceeding small." I have held to this truth these past eight years, more tightly than I had imagined when this wild ride began. There were times when I worried that I would not be around to see that fine grind being sacked up and brewed.

But this karmic cup is steeping just fine, and I look forward to the creamy moment when McCain gets Mondaled. His own most potent talking point for the low-info voter, the claim that Obama doesn't have the experience for the job, has been deeply undercut by his own choice for vice president. And the "heartbeat away" in question has never been so old, unhealthy, and cranky.

Because in making what, for Republicans, is a historic and atypical choice of a woman running mate, they have validated the ability of a woman to run for high office. Not this woman, certainly, because her education, accomplishments, and experience, taken together, is sadly lacking.

But the concept has been planted in the pointy heads. And that's another unexpected consequence they aren't thinking about.

I suppose if John McCain thinks women should leave the kitchen, put on shoes, and stand by to be our President, that's an indication that Republicans think women are capable of the same kind of decisions and responsibility previously only conferred upon rich white guys.

Though, knowing McCain's previously stated position on equal pay for equal work, Palin's vice presidential salary will only be $170,247.

So there.


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