Well, John McCain's judgement has now been tested. And he's failed that test spectacularly. The most important test of anyone who runs for president is the ability to choose first a running mate, then an administration. On the occasion of his 72nd birthday, in front of a banner that, without irony, read "Country First," McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a hard right-winger who is plainly not ready to step-up in the event of McCain's inability to serve out his term.

This is a stunt pick that is an insult to truly qualified women like Hillary Clinton or Kay Bailey Hutchison and, by extension, to all women. You don't break through a glass ceiling because of gender or race, you do it on the basis of ability,experience, intelligence and judgement -- all qualities that Governor Palin either sorely lacks or has yet to demonstrate. Even Pat Buchanan (who Palin once supported for president) called this "the biggest political gamble, just about, in American political history." And joltin' Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, for once got it exactly right: "If John McCain's campaign thinks he can get Hillary Clinton voters by choosing Palin it is condescending and insulting to women and it is a terrible political faux pax."

Gambling with the nation's future may seem like smart politics to John McCain, but with this pick -- a cynical pick out of far right field -- he's plainly put his country second to his own personal ambition.