Taking hits from conservatives

A good question from a WaPo article:

Yet others, including some sympathetic Republicans, have begun to quietly question whether McCain and Palin are well served by strategists so firmly anchored in the Bush establishment when the candidates are presenting themselves as a "team of mavericks" and agents of change. One Republican with long-standing ties to the Bush administration described the situation as a paradox in which Palin is especially vulnerable.

"If the McCain campaign is trying to prop up Palin as its change agent, and its inoculation against the 'third Bush term' rap, then why on earth is she surrounded by a cast of Bush advisers?" said the Republican loyalist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Since she's been selected, every single one of the senior aides that she's brought on board had prominent roles in Bush's White House or on his campaigns, or both."

It's an easy set of answers. First, they were declared winners in the last 2 elections so they are experienced. Secondly, she ideologically worships Bush and is willing to lie, just like he is, at all costs to win elections. Third, she IS Bush III. Consider a certain lack of curiosity or experience in the world, a value of loyalty and secrecy over all else, a vindictive streak, a lack of honesty, and all founded on the fact that she can make a decision and stick to it because her/his vision of the world is embedded with a moralist view. Right or wrong, damn the torpedos. She's a Republican wet dream.

Speaking of experience, George Will, conservative columnist and not to be confused with a Republican one, has some words on that topic today.

Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?