Run away and hide

She may be tough, but the McCain campaign is basically conceding that she isn't prepared to the world stage. How else do you justify keeping her away from any reporters? Sexism? Big Bad Liberal Media? Please. If she can't handle a press conference or even a 60 Minutes interview, how is she going to handle a world crises?

Here is Andrew Sullivan:

This is incredible, totally incredible. A vice presidential candidate isn't going to be available to the press for two weeks? Two weeks? In September. We have this total unknown who could be president of the United States next January. And she's in hiding for two weeks. Chris Matthews on this clip says that this is fine. Has he lost his mind? She needs to be in front of the press now. The United States and the world cannot have this total unknown foisted on the presidency without any serious vetting and without any press interaction. This is absolutely third world. Since when is the governor of a state given two weeks in hiding?

The sexism that implies that someone cannot stand up to reporters because she is a woman is appalling. This entire pick, of course, is incredibly sexist, and the handling of her in the last week the most sexist double standard I have ever seen in American politics. Can you imagine Hillary Clinton saying she wasn't going to answer questions for two weeks? Or Margaret Thatcher? Or Kay Bailey Hutchison? Or Elizabeth Dole? And none of these women were ever as close to global power as Sarah Palin now is. This is getting to Manchurian Candidate levels of creepiness. It's deeply sinister and slightly terrifying.

More on Palin vetting here from David Frum:

Again let me stress: I am not denying that Sarah Palin may have great skills. She may well. I am insisting that neither you, nor I, nor John McCain has any valid reason to believe that she does. This is not an argument about the attributes she lacks. It's an argument about the information we lack. I am pleading with my fellow conservatives: Please demand more and better knowledge before you commit yourselves to a political leader. That's all.

From Georgia10 at DailyKos:

As we learn something new about Sarah the Scandal Queen seemingly every hour, it's not surprising that John McCain has warned the press to back off asking questions. Indeed, as McCain's spokesman himself has admitted, Palin is being hidden away from the press because she is destined to "make[] a mistake" that will affect the election (video here):

If she goes out and makes a mistake, that is something that [voters will] care about, and that's something that will haunt [McCain] for awhile, so I think this is a smart move.

A "smart move" for the McCain campaign? How long can they keep Palin at an undisclosed location, cramming for her VP debates, before McCain begins to feel backlash from voters who are tired of more of the same Cheney-style politics? Because while McCain believes it's a "smart move" to hide Palin from the press, the American people aren't that stupid.

And from DarkSyde at DailyKos:

By some accounts Palin is a nice person who has many positive, professional attributes; maybe she is, maybe she does. But that alone doesn't qualify someone to lead a nuclear superpower critically dependent on the development and application of science. In Palin's case, what little we know about her suggests the exact opposite: She appeals instead to a minority of conservatives extremists who not only dismiss science, they proudly hold it in contempt. The most alarming part is that that's precisely why the party faithful are so excited she was chosen to be John McCain's successor. But for the majority of voters, Palin is looking less and less Presidential. And, by definition, if someone's not qualified to be President, they're not qualified to be Vice President.

.