Maverick No More

When the Salt Lake City Tribune is willing to print op-eds linking you with your wingnut running mate and calling you both "extreme", you've lost the "maverick" meme:

Examination of Sarah Palin's fitness to run the U.S. government - the only proper test for a vice presidential nominee - is compromised by her continuing negotiation with John McCain about which interviewers are safe for her to talk with, and what she may say to them.

This is no surprise, given Palin's extremist views. While Palin's ascension may delight the fundamentalist right, Republican political operatives seeking to retain power fear the electorate will turn against Palin's sunny brand of extremism if the implications of her views become known. That would sink McCain's bid for the White House, since he selected her.

So the Republican ticket concentrates on myth-building regarding Palin's purported confrontation with the "old boys network" while she served first as a small-town mayor and, recently, as Alaska governor. They couple that effort with staccato distortions of Barack Obama's positions and statements. That "blizzard of lies," as New York Times columnist Paul Krugman recently noted, foretells the kind of administration McCain and Palin would form, one whose use of dishonesty as a tool to manipulate public opinion would rival that of the Bush White House.