So Big Mac has done it -- picked a favorite of the religious folks to be his running mate. Picked an obscurity from a state far, far away. But he HAS done it. So, what does this selection mean ?

Four things, chiefly:

1.Big Mac recognizes that Hillary Clinton's women are the great mass of voters who do not have a favorite in the race and thus remain up for grabs, and that he needs many of them to vote for him if he's to win.

2.The era of Cheney-style co-presidency is over. John McCain will govern ON HIS OWN. He will be the boss. The SOLE boss. Sarah Palin will be almost a non-entity in his administration, other than as outreach to women and, perhaps, an advisor on oil issues. Big Mac will turn to his "posse" -- Joe Lieberman, Tom Coburn, Lindsey Graham, Tim Pawlenty, Charlie Crist, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Ridge -- for advice on governing.

3.Big Mac has felt the pressure from the religious folks and has given in to it -- unlike BHO, who did NOT give in to Hillary Clinton. Big Mac has shown weakness here. Even though Sarah Palin's very obscurity assures that she is just a symbol -- and it is instructive, about the religious folks own inconsequence, that they are thrilled, even overjoyed (so it is reported) by a VP pick who is ONLY a symbol, who has basically no folowers of her own -- it is discouraging that Big Mac, of all people, felt the need to give such an important gift to those in the Republican party who most despise him.

My own view is that you give the enemy NOTHING. But perhaps that is what Big Mac feels that he has given his right-wing enemies: nothing, or almost nothing.

Except that by so doing, he has thrown away his strongest argument for why Big Mac should be elected and not BHO: that BHO is Not Ready To Be President. We now have an inexperienced near non-entity a heartbeat away from the Presidency of a man who is 72 years old. The inexprienc of BHO was a WINNING argument, whereas Sarah Palin, at her most favorable for the campaign, is a newbie -- a hope and a gamble.

Still, Karl Rove is not happy today. He wanted Romney. He wanted Business as Usual. Fat cats, big business, oligopoly and neo-con and defense appropriators running everything. And that he has definitely NOT gotten. Saah Palin is about as un-Bush a Republican as you could find, other than BIG MAC himself.

I am just hoping that at the very least, Sarah Palin will make it just a little bit clearer that John McCain will NOT be "more of the same" - which seems to be the Democrats' main theme right now. It is a very weak line of attack , given Mac's record. Who knows ? Maybe Big Mac will win his gamble despite all.

4. The fight to take the Republican party back from the "social conservatives" goes on. Deferred to 2012 or 2016. Put aside while John McCain attends to the business of governing, having assured himself, for the election at least (and not much more) that those Republicans who most dislike him will deliver their followers to his side.

I hope he doesn't end up regretting the move.

UPDATE: I have edited the last paragraph to make it read less internally combative -- in the interests of unifying ALL those citizens who do not intend to vote for BHO, myself included. I have also revisited my opinion of the Sarah Palin pick as set forth here and am still of the same opinion.

Note:

Any opinions expressed here, except as specifically noted, are those of the individual authors or commenters and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of this site, who by the way, actually like people of faith, big businesses that employ millions of Americans, conservatives, Sarah Palin, George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove. ;)