"Viscera are not the seat of wisdom"

George Will's take on Gov. Sarah Palin as Sen. John McCain's VP pick. He seems to be taking a slightly different line on her than he did Sunday on whatever talk show it was. I always like George Will better in print than on TV, because he seems more deliberative. I like deliberative-ness.

Will is an old-school, small-government conservative - the kind I like, because they have brains and they force me to use mine. Competition is good for businesses, and it's good for policy, too. You're not likely to hear George Will spreading rumors about how Obama's mother's sister's next door neighbor said she hated America one time after too many Alabama Slammers. I respect that he worries about Senator Obama's short resume when it comes to international issues - hey, I worried about that, too.

In today's column, Will writes about how experience isn't the be-all, end-all; it must be coupled with demonstrated judgment. He pulls out presidents Buchanan and Nixon as examples of highly experienced leaders who nevertheless turned out to be horrible presidents.

"Clearly, experience is not sufficient to prove a person "qualified" for the presidency. But it is a necessary component of qualification.

So are two other attributes. One is character. Richard Nixon was qualified by his experience as congressman, senator and vice president, but disqualified by character. The second is a braided mental rope of constitutional sense and political common sense....

Among the four candidates for national office, perhaps only Palin might give a Madisonian answer -- one cognizant of the idea that the federal government's powers are limited because they are enumerated -- if asked to identify any provision of the Constitution, other than the First Amendment, that imposes meaningful limits on congressional or executive authority to act.

If so, she would be a good influence on Washington, including McCain. But is there any evidence that she has thought about such matters? McCain's selection of her is applied McCainism -- a visceral judgment by one who is confidently righteous. But the viscera are not the seat of wisdom."

That's a mighty big "if." Wait - I can see the words forming in your mouth, don't even go there. I say again: Obama went through more than 50 primary elections, 20 debates and has managed one of the best-run campaigns in recent years. That's what made me overcome the concerns I had about his experience - what Will calls character and the "braided rope" of common sense and understanding of the law. I haven't seen that demonstrated from Sarah Palin yet.

And if this is a preview of how a President McCain will make vitally important decisions, I'm scared sh*tless right now.