A few days ago we wrote, in all seriousness, that the thing that really worries us about Palin is that she has very W Bush-like tendencies when it comes to cronyism, incompetence and fiscal irresponsibility.
So today's Wall Street Journal has a brief little news article on Palin's interference with an effort to shut down an Alaska state-owned creamery that was losing a ton of money.
After the creamery, located near Palin's hometown of Wasilla, amassed $1.5 million in losses, the chairman of the Alaska Creamery Board sent Palin a letter announcing the plan to shut it down.
Palin then attended a rally of local dairy farmers who objected to the plan. Now, it's not unusual for politicians on both sides of the aisle to take the easy way out in these situations and back the farmers, spending taxpayer money on dubious subsidies.
What bugs us the most--and reminds us of W Bush--is how Palin went about preventing the creamery closure. As reported by the WSJ: Palin "sacked the creamery board and replaced it. The new board, headed by one of her childhood friends, ordered the creamery kept open. Six months later--after the business racked up more than $800,000 in additional losses . . . the new board ordered it closed again."
It's exactly this kind of political cronyism--stuffing government agencies with unqualified and incompetent political friends--that is the hallmark of the Bush administration and why it has been such a colossal failure.
As we've said before, Palin is not the real issue--it's McCain. But for McCain to pick someone like this as his running mate practically on a whim, without really understanding how she governs, reflects very, very poorly on his judgment and character.
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