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My contention is that McCain thought Palin was a moderate who liked to distance herself from other Republicans, just like McCain did. He thought her “rogue” attitude was the same as his “maverick” flapdoodle. ... She clearly is philosophically very close to Reagan, and not very close to McCain, and that was my point.

Okay, so you explain that now. I'm not sure McCain knew that Palin was a "rogue" when he picked her. He may just have been trying to balance the ticket with a conservative. I'm also not sure that all the "rogue" stuff is really going to be very effective in governing a country.

Your obsession with following in the same career path is not the point I was making at all. Besides, Reagan was still an actor when he was the age Palin is now. so that’s just a specious argument.

That "young Reagan" and "young McCain" stuff was your thing, not mine. I was using the terms you provided.

My point was that ideology isn't all that matters. Jack Kemp, Bob Dornan, Duncan Hunter, Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes, Herman Cain weren't the new Ronald Reagan.

They may have taken positions similar to his but they didn't have his political skills. Some of them didn't have the experience to be president.

I don't know if Palin has those skills, but from what I've seen she isn't interested in being President or in honing the skills she does have for a campaign any time soon.

Good for her. Politics isn't all there is to life.