When freak and unforeseen events occur, there’s always some pundit, wag, or crackpot who warned that it would happen. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, there was the issue of National Geographic magazine that warned New Orleans would be nearly wiped off the map by a tropical storm a year before the prophecy was fulfilled.

In the case of John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate–will it, too, end in disaster?–the call was made by Douglas Burns at our sister site Iowa Independent, way back in June. Yes, while other political reporters were mulling whether Obama would give Hillary the nod, Burns was looking ahead to the Republican convention and pondering what “Sarah Barracuda” would bring to the GOP ticket.

You can read all about it, learn more about Palin’s backstory, and offer your apologies to Burns for thinking he was nuts, at Iowa Independent.