Palin, Uknown

From Huffington Post (but via OG and Daily Kos), it appears that the McCain campaign didn't do much - if any - vetting of VP pick Sarah Palin:

On Saturday, a Democrat tasked with opposition research contacted the Huffington Post with this piece of information: as of this weekend, the McCain campaign had not gone through old newspaper articles from the Valley Frontiersman, Palin's hometown newspaper.

How does he know? The paper's (massive) archives are not online. And when he went to research past content, he was told he was the first to inquire.

"No one else had requested access before," said the source. "It's unbelievable. We were the only people to do that, which means the McCain camp didn't."

Not only is this inconceivable by traditional political standards, but it adds even more credence to the argument advanced by my coworker that McCain make the pick late in the week and as a snap response to the events of the Democratic National Convention.

John McCain: Picking the second-in-command of the most powerful country in the world on a whim. As a reaction. And yet we're to believe it's Obama that lacks the judgment necessary to be President.