Historians and political writers will for years wonder and write about what moved John McCain to select Sarah Palin as his running mate. But perhaps a newspaper clipping from 1988 offers a bit of insight into how McCain thinks about a veep pick.
Two decades ago, another GOP vice presidential nominee was also something of a puzzling choice: Senator Dan Quayle. Many questioned George H.W. Bush’s decision to tap a little-known senator as his running-mate. But some observers thought that Quayle’s looks (he was compared to Robert Redford) would help the ticket with the ladies–female voters, that is. Was that a sexist? Whether or not it was, McCain accepted this perspective. According to a Newsday article from that time, McCain said, “A guy that good-looking just has to be attractive to women,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Twenty years later, did McCain take a similar view when searching for his ticket partner?
