Timothy – it wasn’t McCain who came cap in hand to Palin. It was his handlers, and I’m not trying to be clever here. The recent New Yorker piece clearly documents the way that Palin began putting feelers out (she hired PR people to get her into the East Coast media) and the way the Conservative Media “discovered” Sarah while on an Alaskan Cruise. Come Convention time the marriage was stitched together in an act of desperation. McCain wanted Leiberman, and his handlers argued him out of it: citing Palin’s erstwhile popularity in Alaska, her conservative views and the factor of disenchanted Hilary supporters. It looked like a game changer – and for a week, it was. But that was before Palin aquitted herself so apallingly in that Kouric interview. Coming the same week as the economic meltdown, McCain faced the perfect storm.
