The questionable readiness of VP picks.

While having a similar attitude to the Presidential nominee is far more important than window dressing, the paramount issue has to be readiness to assume the presidency should anything happen. This should be obvious to all in the GOP who learned to question the McCain campaign's choice of Palin (as well as those who asked the question from the get go). And given the meme that Obama was never "truly" vetted, and of limited experience, you would think that the same questions would continue regarding Paul Ryan. Ryan and Palin are certainly not the first GOP VP picks which don't seem to pass this test; Cheney would pass, of course. But Dan Quayle? And Jack Kemp -- although a smart guy, and Secretary of Housing, was he ready to be President?

In the meantime, the Democrats have been picking pretty solid VP nominees for sometime. Solid in terms of qualifications, but with a certain level of disgust (retrospectively). No members of the House; Senators and Governors since Carter, at least.

Probably not the first time you've heard it, but Ryan doesn't strike me as ready for the Oval Office. He has all sorts of other supporting qualities, but IMHO he's missing on the most important one.

(And as an aside, I hated the timing of the announcement. After being preempted by the Olympics for two weeks, I was really looking forward to this morning's edition of Up! With Chris. But under the circumstances the show reverted to being just a standard cable news show awaiting an announcement.)

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(DISCLOSURE: I work for Abt SRBI. My company does polling. My opinions should not be construed as representing those of my employer.)