This is a short diary because I am having trouble locating a video of the rally. In Iowa today, McCain held a rally with a curious young woman in the prime position behind him over his left shoulder.
Wearing a beige/white and black floral print dress, hair swept up in a familiar 'do, and transparent framed glasses and eye makeup, she kept drawing my eye with her initial reactions to McCain's talking points. "Theatrical" is an understatement. I tend to space out anyway when he's on my TV, but she was making me wince in confusion.
Then, while McCain was building the body of a point, she would blink, nod and survey the audience, attempting to draw attention to herself. So strange.
And then it happened. McCain brought up Sarah Palin. Almost immediately, the woman began to give a pageant wave to the crowd and started mouthing the words "Thank you! Thank you!" Between cheers. It was absolutely bizarre.
They keep replaying clips of the rally on MSNBC which show her, but not much of her odd behavior so far.
My first reaction - before the wave and mouthing of "thank you," was that she was a psychological plant. Her presence back there was a reassuring image for the TV audience. "Think Sarah, dear viewers."
But after the outburst, I think she is proof that the McCain campaign has lost a good portion of control over the message. This woman was a plant and an actor, mocking Sarah Palin, and she got access to the platform.
If anyone else caught the rally, I'd be interested to hear your opinions. If I can find a video or a picture I will add it to the thread.
EDIT: Thanks to spyguy999 for linking to a YouTube video of her thanking the crowd. Or scroll to the comments for the imbedded version.