Monday, October 27, 2008

What we all really needed

Joan Walsh in Salon on the Sarah Palin $150,000 wardrobe story:

I would disagree with some of my Broadsheet colleagues: I think it's a valid topic for reporting, analysis and criticism. It shows the insanely screwy priorities of the McCain campaign.

Sarah Palin didn't need the best clothing and stylists money could buy; she needed tutoring and coaching on the issues. (She also needed more vetting in August, and what she really needed was to stay as the governor of Alaska, but we won't go there.)

In other Palin news, CNN reports that anonymous McCain staffers are complaining that Palin has gone rogue. I'm actually a bit surprised that this story has taken this long to play out. I thought it was striking that Palin openly criticized McCain's decision to withdraw his campaign from Michigan, if for no other reason than that the fact that she kept talking about it kept an embarrassing strategic decision in the news. (Also, how much confidence does it inspire in a candidate when his own VP pick doesn't seem to trust his judgment?)

Other than the odd sexism of the McCain campaign (Palin is referred to in the story as a "diva"), this story is perhaps best as evidence that the painful and pitiful "team of mavericks" line was bullshit from the start.

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