No, not the one you gutter-dwellers might be thinking of.
Far be it for me, a Canadian, to tell you nice ladies and gentlemen and Republicans south of the border on how to describe a political opponent, but I've been rather amazed that of all the descriptions of Palin and McCain that I've seen over the last week, one rather notable and yet accurate word has been remarkably underutilized, all the more remarkable for the impact of said word when utilized as it can be, and should be, especially on a politician.
The word is coward.
Think about it: why isn't she having any news conferences, or meeting with reporters outside strictly-controlled settings? The long answer involves not willing to look any more foolish than necessary when answering questions she doesn't know much about, avoiding giving the press fodder, whatever. There's a much more succinct answer that Democrats should be using.
She's a coward.
And McCain doesn't want her in those situations so his campaign doesn't suffer? Guess what?
That makes him a coward too.
Scared of reporters? These days, in the US media, that's like being terrified of bunny rabbits, generally emasculated group of suck-ups they tend to be. The only people who are afraid of them are, and I repeat myself, cowards.
Yellow-bellied, gutless cowards. Chickenshit wimps. Fraidy-cats. Boy, is Vladimir Putin going to be scared of a coward who's afraid of appearing on The View because they might ask her a mildly challenging question.
So why aren't people calling them for what they are. Forget liars, since most people assume lying is a chronic characteristic of politicians in the first place. Ah, but a cowardly politician, that's something people can understand.