Noam and Chris have already weighed in on the head-smacking stupidity of Jane Swift, but since the McCain campaign has seen fit to haul her out from whatever rock she's been hiding under these last few years, it's worth asking: is she really the person the McCain folks want defending Palin right now?
Swift, you may recall, was a young and relatively undistinguished Massachusetts state senator when Paul Cellucci, in a obvious political play, tapped her as his choice for lieutenant governor in 1998. In 2001, when Cellucci was appointed ambassador to Canada, Swift ascended to the governor's office, and made such a hash of things that, after less than a year in office, she announced that she wouldn't seek a second full term and abandoned her reelection campaign. It wasn't just that Swift ran afoul of ethics rules by using state employees as babysitters for her three children (a misuse of state resources that sort of reminds you of a certain someone else), she bungled so many routine tasks that she quickly proved she simply wasn't up to the job of governor.
Is this really the person the McCain campaign wants vouching for Palin?
--Jason Zengerle