A McCain campaign official tells Politico, "This is going to finally put her back into a position where we see her like we saw her the first couple weeks. She was herself. She was authentic, and people related to that."
Maybe I missed it, but when was she herself in the first couple of weeks? She's been stumblin' and bumblin' from her very first interview. She has never once held a press conference. She's been nothing if not consistent.
All Palin did during that mythical "authentic" time was deliver (and regurgitate verbatim at campaign stops) the speech that advisers had prepared long in advance for whoever McCain named as his running mate. With a few custom lies mixed in, of course. Y'know, to make it her own.
So pardon me if I'm a little confused when the right-wing talking heads tell us the McCain campaign just needs to "let Sarah be Sarah." As if she has an encyclopedic knowledge of Supreme Court cases but just chose to look like an idiot? It reminds of the episode of Seinfeld when Elaine says of Newman, "Perhaps there's more to him than meets the eye." Jerry unhesitatingly replies, "No, there's less."
Who has changed since those first two weeks? Us. We all have a new depth of our knowledge of Palin's lies, abuse of power, denial of science, and general disinterest in national and international affairs. What those conservative commentators want is for us to go back to the way we were in those first days -- to forget all of Palin's terrifying shortcomings and go back to seeing Palin as a two-dimensional hockey mom.
Good luck getting that toothpaste back in the tube.
Even on TV, they are saying that there is limited upside for her, but she has the potential for doing a lot more damage.
If Republicans were really attracted to intelligent, capable leaders, would they have elected Bush...twice?