Does Sarah Palin = Alan Keyes?

[tinrobot]

Obama seems to have this knack for letting his opponents self destruct while he rises above it.

Think back to how Obama won his senate seat. The sitting senator, Jack Ryan dropped out because of a sex scandal related to his divorce from actress Jeri Ryan. To replace him, the GOP drafted Alan Keyes, who seems to have been put into the race mostly because of the color of his skin. The GOP didn't seem to mind that he was a complete nutcase.

It was barely a contest, and the voters picked Obama over the nutcase by a huge margin.

So now we have a similar situation. McCain can't pick one of his centrist buddies, so he defers to the GOP and is saddled with a candidate put into the race mostly because of her gender. The GOP didn't notice this woman was a scandal plagued nutcase.

If history is a guide, then I suspect this election will go in much the same way as 2004.

(of course that's no excuse for complacency)