Pallin Pick -- Too Clever by Half

By Keith R. Schmitz

One could imagine the gnome from hell Karl Rove rubbing his fat paws over his ingenuity in getting war hero John McCain to pass on buddy Joe Lieberman for the circus clown Sarah Palin. In retrospect one could ponder the missed opportunity however, of if the idea is to pick a woman to sop up Hillary voters while Rove didn't pick Condie. That could have been a two-fer.

But no there is evidence that the election Rove needs to win to avoid prison time may be slipping away and that the Hillary herd is not turning in McCain's direction:

Sandy Goodman was deeply disappointed when Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't get the Democratic nomination, then again when she was bypassed for the VP spot. So Goodman, a longtime Florida Democrat, flirted with thoughts of shunning Barack Obama, and perhaps even voting Republican.

Then John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, and suddenly things became clear to Goodman: The Republicans had no place for her.

What? The evil genius is loosing his magic?

Evidence so far shows that Palin is not drawing a lot of support from voters outside the Republican base.

An ABC News poll released Friday found the selection of Palin makes people likelier to vote for McCain by just 6 percentage points _ half the 12-point margin by which Sen. Joe Biden makes them more likely to support Obama.

And as for Clinton supporters, eight in 10 said they'd vote for Obama in November, according to a Gallup Poll conducted last weekend after McCain announced his selection of Palin.

Sorry Karl. Women are not dumb. Well, maybe we can think of one.