Dispatches from the "Are you sure you want to pursue this line of inquiry?" department.

Daily Kos notices that, fresh out of the gate, the RNC windage on Edwards is: He's Second String and he's short on minutes played. To call this level of debate high-schoolish would be an insult to high schoolers. It would also defy the definition of "debate"...

[McCain] from the March 18th edition of CBS' The Early Show:

Look, I don't want to be Vice President of the United States, I do not want to leave the Republican party, I would not be Vice President of the United States on either ticket. I told President Bush when he asked me in 2000 if, when he asked me if I was interested, I said I was not interested.

Ummm, you don''t ask unless you're gonna offer. Cheney was Dubya's VP- and cabinet official vetter--a consultant to the campaign--who finally offered himself up when all the initial choices didn't make the cut or said "No." So, yeah, Cheney wasn't first choice, either. So what? It's really a bullshit line of reasoning, but hey, Ed Gillespie or some other RNC wizard thunk it up first.

Kos continues:

"The most-oft repeated criticism of Edwards is that he "doesn't have experience". We'll, E.J. Dionne shares this moment from 2000:

When you hear Republicans disparage Sen. John Edwards's lack of experience, remember the words of Sen. Orrin Hatch, spoken to George W. Bush at a debate on Dec. 6, 1999.

"You've been a great governor," Hatch declared of his rival for the Republican presidential nomination. "My only problem with you, governor, is that you've only had four and going into your fifth year of governorship ... Frankly, I really believe that you need more experience before you become president of the United States. That's why I'm thinking of you as a vice presidential candidate."

Which is exactly what Edwards was chosen for yesterday.

There you go. Vice President. The same job our 32nd VP, John Nance Garner, said "wasn't worth a warm bucket of piss." (Yes, Piss. Pre-FCC media of the day changed it to "Spit.")

Kos ends his post with a simple "Checkmate," but it might be useful to also to point out that Texas' Governor is a weak executive position by design. Oddly enough, Texas' Lt Governor has most of the legislative and administrative power. The Guv makes speeches, throws out baseballs, and wields a veto pen. For example, it's the same pen Bush as Governor used to veto the Texas Legislature's Patient Bill of Rights law; a veto which was easily overridden by a supermajority of the legislature following their constituents' strong desire for the law. Naturally, Bush now includes his "support for" and "passage of a patient's bill of rights during my administration" on his resume.

Maybe we can progress to who flip-flops higher and more gracefully after we nail down "1st Choice, or 2nd?" and "too little experience, or just right?"