Choosing Palin was the price McCain had to pay to get the CNP to support him.

According to Max Blumenthal, putting the extremist social conservative Sarah Palin on his ticket wad the price McCain is paying to get the support of the Council for National Policy to support his Presidential ambitions.

Last week, while the media focused almost obsessively on the DNC's spectacle in Denver, the country's most influential conservatives met quietly at a hotel in downtown Minneapolis to get to know Sarah Palin. The assembled were members of the Council for National Policy, an ultra-secretive cabal that networks wealthy right-wing donors together with top conservative operatives to plan long-term movement strategy.

CNP members have included Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Grover Norquist, Tim LaHaye and Paul Weyrich. At a secret 2000 meeting of the CNP, George W. Bush promised to nominate only pro-life judges; in 2004, then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told the group, "The destiny of the nation is on the shoulders of the conservative movement." This year, thanks to Sarah Palin's selection, the movement may have finally aligned itself behind the campaign of John McCain. "[Snip]

The members of the Council for National Policy are the hidden hand behind McCain's Palin pick. With her selection, the Republican nominee is suddenly -- and unexpectedly -- assured of the support of a movement that once opposed his candidacy with all its might. Case in point: while Dobson once said he could "never" vote for McCain, he issued a statement last week hailing Palin as an "outstanding" choice. If Dobson's enthusiasm for Palin is any indication, he may soon emerge from his bunker in Colorado Springs to endorse McCain, providing the Republican nominee with the grassroots support of the Christian right's single most influential figure.

dday at Hullabaloo describes what happened last Friday this way:

That's all this was about. Forget the press reports grasping at straws trying to figure out this pick, whether it represents a new reform message or was targeted to exurban voters. This was a wet kiss to the religious right. There was only one group doing the vetting. The theocons were waiting for a signal to start up the phone banks and the ground work and now they have it. They probably would have done so anyway, but this was the tipping point.

And so the fact that Todd Palin has a DUI record is just a sign of temptation followed by redemption. The pregnancy of the Palin's 17 year-old daughter, which should show the failures of abstinence-only education (which the Governor opposes firmly supports), just shows the importance of coming down on the side of life (UPDATE: Interesting that the McCain campaign felt the need to mention that the kid made her own decision to keep the baby, since McCain and Palin want to take that choice away from all women). The fact that she thinks the Founding Fathers wrote the Pledge of Allegiance means that she believes this is a Judeo-Christian nation. The fact that she's appeared at a secessionist movement meeting in Alaska means simply that she is appalled by the cultural decline of America.

Oh, she was vetted all right. By the religious right. The question is whether or not Palin's extreme, radical philosophy is distasteful to the wide swath of Americans. In a sane world, the support for creationism and questioning of man-made global warming and rejection of birth control would indeed be disqualifying.

...What this also means is that she was totally forced on John McCain, which must call into question his erratic, shoddy judgment, and his ability to carry out anything but the most extreme agenda.

John Kerry was correct yesterday. McCain is now owned by the Theocon Right-wingers. His media image as a so-called "Maverick" has been tattered by held together by the media who support him, but the announcement of Sarah Palin as Veep shows that he is now in shackles that are held by the extreme Right Wing.

This is about as scary as it gets. As bad as McCain and Palin obviously are, these conservative power brokers want them in office desperately. Once they hold office, the CNP members will control the strings and America will continue the route downhill to a theocracy run as a Presidential Monarchy and controlled by an small but wealthy conservative aristocracy. That's what this Labor Day weekend has been all about.