Senator McCain’s supporters are valiantly trying to argue that the selection was a bold stroke that shows their candidate is a risk-taking maverick. To us, it says the opposite. Mr. McCain’s snap choice reflects his impulsive streak: a wild play that he made after threats of an all-out revolt if he chose Senator Joseph Lieberman.

“John is an independent man who thinks for himself,” Mr. Bush said via satellite from the White House, in an eight-minute speech intended to reinforce the McCain campaign’s theme that the senator is no clone of the president. “He’s not afraid to tell you when he disagrees. Believe me, I know.”

For weeks, Senator McCain had wanted to name independent Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut as his running mate. But the outrage from Christian conservatives over the possibility that the Republican ticket would be filled out with a supporter of abortion rights became too intense to be ignored.

As intense as the anticipation over Barack Obama’s choice is, it pales next to the hubbub over whether John McCain is going to tap Joe Lieberman, who was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000. This would give Lieberman a unique niche in American history — one politician who was the vice-presidential nominee for both parties. We would speak of it with awe, like that story about the two-headed turtle in Brooklyn.