There's a recced diary with a nice hockey metaphor for Sarah Palin. The one on my mind is baseball related.
I was thinking about this: what, according to the GOP-generated storyline, is Sarah Palin? She's a religious conservative, and she's a Washington outsider who's not afraid to take on the good old boys. It strikes me that there's no need to attack her religious cred--Dems aren't getting those votes anyway. But the thing that gives her any appeal outside of that is her supposed maverickiness.
That's where I think she's vulnerable (and I might as well throw the sports metaphor in here). She's not from a different team, she's just a September call-up from A-ball.
The hallmarks of GOP business as usual are all over Sarah Palin's career.
Cronyism. I think this is well-exemplified by the Mat Maid scandal, diaried a few days back. She replaced qualified board members with unqualified friends/cronies, and she funneled public monies into the pockets of others who were also closely associated with her.
Pork. As mayor of a town of less than 9000, Sarah Palin had her own Washington lobbyist. She brought in 6 million in earmarks to her little town. She was a director of Ted Stevens's 527 group, and is seen here praising Don Young. And of course she was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it--and she may not have built the bridge, but she didn't give the money back.
TrainingThe GOP has its own coaches for the farm teams. Though it's not an official party organ, Newt Gingrich's GOPAC pretty well serves that function.
So Sarah Palin trained with the Washington insiders she's supposedly so fervently opposed to.
So she's more of the same--just a rookie phenom brought up from the A-ball with the hopes that she'll bring a little spark to a rather lackluster team.
Palin's maverickiness has been reflecting brightly off McCain, hiding some of his McSaminess. Take the glow off her, and he loses some of his.
And may I close in saying that while weakening Palin is crucial (not at the fringe but in the middle), this is a race against McCain. He needs to be the focus again.