There’s a somewhat bizarre story in the Times of London today that the McCain campaign is hoping that a wedding between a pregnant 17 year-old and her 18 year-old hockey playing boyfriend will boost their electoral chances:

In an election campaign notable for its surprises, Sarah Palin, the Republican vice- presidential candidate, may be about to spring a new one — the wedding of her pregnant teenage daughter to her ice-hockey-playing fiancé before the November 4 election. Inside John McCain’s campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. “It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”

Does the McCain campaign really think that the American public is so stupid that a shotgun wedding in Alaska would divert their attention from a financial and economic crisis that looks like it will last until Election Day and far beyond ?

Would they really force a girl who is already likely going through a difficult time in her life to put herself center stage while the world watches her marry the guy who got her pregnant just so it will boost the political fortunes of her mother and the guy who picked her to be his running mate ?

Consider this quote:

McCain is expected to have a front-row seat at Bristol’s wedding and to benefit from the outpouring of goodwill that it could bring. “What’s the downside?” a source inside the McCain campaign said. “It would be wonderful. I don’t know that there has ever been a pre-election wedding before.”

Certainly not one between a pregnant teenager and her likely-reluctant-to-get-married boyfriend.

If this really happens, it would be the height of cynicism.

